Quick Definition
θάλασσα, ης, ἡ n.f. the sea, lake
Strong's Definition
probably prolonged from 251; the sea (genitive case or specially)
KJV Usage: sea
UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament
noun, f. | -ης | ἁλίζω
1.69 · Geographical Objects and Features · Bodies of Water
the sea a generic collective term for all bodies of water (in this sense θάλασσα[a] is contrasted with the sky and the land) This generic sense of θάλασσα[a] may be expressed in some languages as ‘extensions of water’ or simply as ‘water.’ In other instances it may be necessary to employ a phrase such as ‘lakes and oceans,’ while in certain languages a term for ocean also has a generic sense of any extensive area of water.
MAT 18:6 · MAT 21:21 · MAT 23:15 · MRK 9:42 · MRK 11:23 · LUK 17:2 · LUK 17:6 · LUK 21:25 · ACT 4:24 · ACT 14:15 · ROM 9:27 · 2CO 11:26 · HEB 11:12 · JAS 1:6 · JUD 1:13 · REV 5:13 · REV 7:1 · REV 7:2 · REV 7:3 · REV 10:6 · REV 12:12 · REV 14:7 · REV 18:17 · REV 18:19 · REV 20:8 · REV 21:1
1.70 · Geographical Objects and Features · Bodies of Water
sea, lake a particular body of water, normally rather large The use of θάλασσα[b] to refer to a lake such as the Lake of Galilee (MAT 4:18; MRK 1:16) or the Lake of Tiberias (JHN 21:1) reflects Semitic usage, in which all bodies of water from oceans to pools could be referred to by a single term. Normal Greek usage would employ λίμνη lake, pool (1.72).
Many languages make a clear distinction between different types of bodies of water. The three principal bases for differentiation are (1) fresh, brackish, or salty, (2) relative size, that is, large versus small bodies of water, and (3) existence of an outlet. On the basis of this third type of distinction, a term to designate the Sea of Galilee would need to be different from that used in speaking of the Dead Sea, since the Sea of Galilee has an outlet while the Dead Sea does not. Considerable care must be exercised in the choice of terms for such bodies of water, since failure to select the right terms may result in serious distortion of geography and therefore considerable misunderstanding of the geographical setting of biblical events.
MAT 4:15 · MAT 4:18 · MAT 4:18 · MAT 8:24 · MAT 8:26 · MAT 8:27 · MAT 8:32 · MAT 13:1 · MAT 13:47 · MAT 14:25 · MAT 14:26 · MAT 15:29 · MAT 17:27 · MRK 1:16 · MRK 1:16 · MRK 2:13 · MRK 3:7 · MRK 4:1 · MRK 4:1 · MRK 4:1 · MRK 4:39 · MRK 4:41 · MRK 5:1 · MRK 5:13 · MRK 5:13 · MRK 5:21 · MRK 6:47 · MRK 6:48 · MRK 6:49 · MRK 7:31 · JHN 6:1 · JHN 6:16 · JHN 6:17 · JHN 6:18 · JHN 6:19 · JHN 6:22 · JHN 6:25 · JHN 21:1 · JHN 21:7 · ACT 7:36 · ACT 10:6 · ACT 10:32 · ACT 17:14 · ACT 27:30 · ACT 27:38 · ACT 27:40 · ACT 28:4 · 1CO 10:1 · 1CO 10:2 · HEB 11:29 · REV 4:6 · REV 8:8 · REV 8:8 · REV 8:9 · REV 10:2 · REV 10:5 · REV 10:8 · REV 12:18 · REV 13:1 · REV 15:2 · REV 15:2 · REV 16:3 · REV 16:3 · REV 18:21 · REV 20:13
UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament © United Bible Societies, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Thayer's Greek Lexicon
θάλασσα [cf. B. 7], -ns, 7, (akin to ads [better, allied to ταράσσω etc., from its tossing; ef. Vanitek, p. 303]; Sept. for D>), [fr. Hom. down], the sea; [on its distinetion from πέλαγος see the latter word]; a. univ.: Mt. xxiii. 15; Mk. xi. 23; Lk. xvii. 2,6; xxi. 25; Ro. ix. 27; 2Co. xi. 26; Heb. xi. 12;,Jas.i.6; Jude 13; Rev. Vil. 1-3, ete.; ἐργάζεσθαι τὴν θάλ. (see ἐργάζομαι, 2 a.), Rey. xviii. 17; τὸ πέλαγος τῆς Bad. (see πέλαγος, a.), Mt. xviii. 6; joined with γῆ and οὐρανός it forms a periphrasis for the whole world, Acts iv. 24; xiv. 15; Rev. v. 13; x. 6 [L WHbr.]; xiv. 7, (Hage. ii. 7; Ps. exlv. (exlvi.) 6; Joseph. antt. 4, 3, 2; [e. Ap. 2,10,1]); among the visions of the Apocalypse a glassy sea or sea of glass is spoken of; but what the writer symbolized by this is not quite clear: Rev. iv. 6; xv. 2. b. spec. used [even without the art., cf. W. 121 (115); Β. § 124, 8b.] of the Mediterranean Sea: Acts x. 6,32; xvii.14; of the Red Sea (see ἐρυθρός), ἡ ἐρυθρὰ θάλ., Acts vii. 36; 1 Co. x. 1 sq.; Heb. xi. 29. By a usage foreign to native Grk. writ. [ef. Aristot. meteor. 1, 13 p. 351%, 8 ἡ ὑπὸ τὸν Καύκασον λίμνη ἣν καλοῦσιν of ἐκεῖ θάλατταν, and Hesych. defines λίμνη: ἡ θάλασσα καὶ ὁ ὠκεανός) employed like the Hebr. Ὁ" [e. g. Num. xxxiv. 11], by Mt. Mk. and Jn. (nowhere by Lk.) of the Lake of Γεννησαper (4. V-): ἡ θάλ. τῆς Ταλιλαίας, Mt. iv. 18; xv. 29; Mk. 1. 18; vii. 31, (similarly Lake Constance, der Bodensee, is called mare Suebicum, the Suabian Sea); τῆς Τιβεριάδος, Jn. xxi. 13 τῆς Γαλιλ. τῆς Τιβεριάδος (on which twofold gen. ef. W. § 30,3 N. 3; [B.400 (343)]), Jn. vi.1; more frequently simply ἡ θάλασσα: Mt. iv. 15,183 viii. 24, 26 8q- 325 xiii. 1, etc.; Mk. ii. 135; ii. 7; iv. 1, 39; ν. 13, ete.; Jn. vi. 16-19, 22, 25; xxi. 7. Cf. Furrer in Schenkel ii. 322 sqq.; [see ΓεννησαρέτἼ.
Mounce Concise Greek Dictionary
θάλασσα thalassa 91x
the sea, Mt. 23:15, Mk. 9:42; a sea, Acts 7:36; an inland sea, lake, Mt. 8:24
Abbott-Smith Greek Lexicon
θάλασσα, -ης, ἡ,
[in LXX chiefly for יָם;]
the sea: Mt 23:15, Mk 11:23, Lk 21:25, Ro 9:27, He 11:12, Ja 1:6, Ju 13, Re 7:1, al.; τὸ πέλαγος τῆς θ. (v. Tr., ut infr.), Mt 18:6; ὁ οὐρανὸς κ. ἡ γῆ κ. ἡ θ., of the whole world, Ac 4:24, al. (Hg 2:7); θ. ὑαλίνη, Re 4:6 15:2; of the Mediterranean, Ac 10:6, 32 17:14; of the Red Sea, ἐρυθρὰ θ., Ac 7:36, I Co 10:1, 2, He 11:29; of an inland lake (as Heb. יָם), θ. τ. Γαλιλαίας, Mt 4:18 15:29, Mk 1:16 7:31; τ. Τιβεριάδος, Jo 21:1; τ. Γ. τ. T., Jo 6:1; of the same, simply ἡ θ., Mt 4:15, Mk 2:13, al.
SYN.: πέλαγος, the vast expanse of open water"; θ., "the sea as contrasted with the land" (Tr., Syn., xiii).
Trench — Synonyms of the New Testament
THE connexion of θάλασσα with the verb ταράσσειν, that it means properly the agitated or disturbed, finds favour with 1 I cannot regard as an evidence of such reconsecration the wellknown words of Ignatius, Ad Rom. 7: ὃ ἐμὸς ἔρως ἐσταύρωται. It is far more consistent with the genius of these Ignatian Epistles to take épws subjectively here, ‘ My love of the world is crucified,’ .6. with Christ ; rather than objectively, ‘ Christ, the object of my love, is crucified.’ 2 Consult on ἔρως the noble fragment from Sophocles, preserved by Stobeeus : Νόσημ᾽ ἔρωτος τοῦτ᾽ ἐφίμερον κακόν. ἔχοιμ᾽ ἂν αὐτὸ μὴ κακῶς ἀπεικάσαι, ὅταν πάγου φανέντος αἰθρίου χεροῖν κρύσταλλον ἁρπάσωσι παῖδες ἀσταγῆ. τὰ πρῶτ᾽ ἔχουσιν ἡδονὰς ποταινίους, τέλος δ᾽ ὃ χυμὸς οὔθ᾽ ὅπως ἀφῇ θέλει οὔτ᾽ ἐν χεροῖν τὸ κτῆμα σύμφορον μένειν. οὕτω γε τοὺς ἐρῶντας αὑτὸς ἵμερος δρᾶν καὶ τὸ μὴ δρᾶν πολλάκις προΐεται. §xul1 SYNONYMS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT 43 Curtius (p. 596) and with Pott (Htym. Forsch. vol. ii. p. 56). Schmidt dissents (vol. i. p. 642); and urges that the predominant impression which the sea makes on the beholder is not of unrest but of rest, of quietude and not of agitation ; that we must look for the word’s primary meaning in quite another direction : θάλασσα, he says, ‘ ist das Meer nach seiner natiirlichen Beschaffenheit, als grosse Salzflut, und dem Sinne nach von dem poetischen ἄλς durch nichts unterschieden.’ It is according to him ‘the great salt flood.’ But not entering further into this question, it will be enough to say that, like the Latin ‘mare,’ it is the sea as contrasted with the land (Gen. i. 10; Matt. xxiii. 15; Acts iv. 24); or perhaps more strictly as contrasted with the shore (see Hayman’s Odyssey, vol. i. p. xxxiii, Appendix). Πέλαγος is the vast uninterrupted level and expanse of open water, the ‘altum mare,’! as distinguished from those portions of it broken by islands, shut in by coasts and headlands (Thucydides, vi. 104; vii. 49; Plutarch, Zimol. 8).2 The suggestion of breadth, and not depth, except as an accessory notion, and as that which will probably find place in this open sea, lies in the word; thus Sophocles (id. Col. 659) : μακρὸν τὸ δεῦρο πέλαγος, οὐδὲ TAHT ov : 50 too the murmuring Israelites (Philo, Vit. Mos. i. 85) liken to a πέλαγος the far-reaching sand-flats of the desert ; and in Herodotus (ii. 92) the Nile overflowing Egypt is said πελαγίζειν τὰ πεδία, which yet it only covers to the depth of a few feet; cf. 11. 97. A passage in the Timeus of Plato (25 a, δ) illustrates well the distinction 1 It need hardly be observed that, adopted into Latin, it has the same meaning : ‘Ut pelagus tenuere rates, nec jam amplius ulla Occurrit tellus, maria undique et undique cxlum.’ Virgil, An. v. 8. 2. Hippias, in the Protagoras of Plato (338 a), charges the eloquent sophist with a φεύγειν εἰς πέλαγος τῶν λόγων, ἀποκρύψαντα γῆν. This last idiom reappears in the French ‘noyer la terre,’ applied to a ship sailing out of sight of land ; as indeed in Virgil’s ‘ Phaacum abscondimus arces.’ 44 SYNONYMS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT § xiv between the words, where the title of πέλαγος is refused to the Mediterranean Sea: which is but a harbour, with the narrow entrance between the Pillars of Hercules for its mouth ; while only the great Atlantic Ocean beyond can be acknowledged as ἀληθινὸς πόντος, πέλαγος ὄντως. Compare Aristotle, De Mun.3; Meteorol. ii. 1: ῥέουσα δ᾽ ἡ θάλαττα φαίνεται κατὰ τὰς στενότητας [the Straits of Gibraltar], εἴπου διὰ περιέχουσαν γῆν εἰς μικρὸν ἐκ μεγάλου συνάγεται πέλαγος. It might seem as if this distinction did not hold good on one of the two occasions wpon which πέλαγος occurs in the N. T., namely Matt. xviii. 6: “ It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea” (καὶ καταποντισθῇ ἐν τῷ πελάγει τῆς θαλάσσης). But the sense of depth, which undoubtedly the passage requires, is here to be looked for in the καταποντισθῇ :--πόντος (not in the N. T.) being connected with βάθος, βυθός (Exod. xv. 5), βένθος, perhaps the same word as this last, and implying the sea in its perpendicular depth, as πέλαγος (=‘ maris equor,’ Virgil, Ain. ii. 780), the same in its horizontal dimensions and extent. Compare Déderlein, Lat. Syn. vol. iv. p. 75.
Moulton & Milligan — Vocabulary of the Greek NT
θάλασσα. BGU II. 4237 (ii/a.D.) (= Selections, p. 90) εὐχαριστῶ | | from Cnidus, Sy// 8152, where a woman devotes to Demeter (cf. 2 Cor 1178) ἔσωσε, P Oxy VII. 1067*9 (iii/A.D.) ἀγόρασόν ᾿ τῷ κυρίῳ Σεράπιδι, ὅτι μου κινδυνεύσαντος εἰς θάλασσαν μοι ὀψαρίδιον ἐκ τῆς θαλάσσης (cf. Jn 2119), and from the inserr. Michel 372" (ii/B.c.) ἐργα[ζ]όμενός τε κατὰ θάλασσαν ἐργασίαν, 7. 52119 (ii/B.c.) κατὰ γῆς καὶ κατὰ θαλάσσας. For references to ἣ ἐρυθρὰ θάλασσα, as in Ac γ35, Heb 117%, cf. P Grenf I. 9% (iii/B.c.) ἐρ]υθρᾶι θαλάσσηι, OG/S 186° (B.C. 62) ὁ συγγενὴς καὶ ἐπιστράτηγος Kal στρατηγὸς τῆς ᾿Ινδικῆς καὶ ᾿Εἰρυθρᾶς θαλάσσης, 16. 190" (B.c. 51) ἐπὶ τῆς ᾿Ινδικῆς καὶ ᾿Εἰρυθρᾶς θαλάσσης : cf. also the intr. to P Ryl 11. 66 (late ii/p.c.). For the adj. θαλάττί--σσ-)ιος, see P Oxy I. 877 (A.D. 342) θαλαττίου ναυκληρίου, ‘a seagoing vessel,” 26. X. 1288® (iv/a.D.) eis διαγραφὴν πλύου θαλασσίας τιτέσματος (/. πλοίου θαλασσίου τελέσματος (?) ) (τάλ.) 6, ‘‘in payment for a sea-vessel, for charges 9 tal.” (Edd.), and for ἐπιθαλάσσιος, P Rev Lxcili5 (B.c. 258) ἐπιθαλασσίαν. In 3 Kings 1835, 85,385 θάλασσα is used = ‘“channel,” doubtless because of its similarity in sound to the Heb. ndyn: see Thackeray Gy. i. p. 37.
Liddell-Scott-Jones — Greek-English Lexicon
θάλασσα (thalassa) — sea. θάλασσα [θᾰ], Attic dialectθᾰλᾰμ-ττα [Refs] (but θάλασσα 22.236 [Refs 4th c.BC+], ἡ: —sea, [Refs 8th c.BC+]: frequently of the Mediterranean sea, ἥδε ἡ θ. [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἡ παρ᾽ ἡμῖν θ. [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἡ ἐντὸς καὶ κ. ἡ. λεγομένη θ. [Refs 1st c.BC+]; ἡ ἔσω θ. [Refs 4th c.BC+]; ἡ ἔξω θ., of the Ocean, [Refs]; ἡ Ἀτλαντικὴ θ. [Refs]; ἡ μεγάλη θ. [Refs 1st c.AD+]; of a salt lake, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; κατὰ θάλασσαν by sea, opposed to πεζῇ, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; opposed to κατὰ γῆς, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; κατά τε γῆν καὶ κατὰ θ. [Refs 5th c.BC+]; τῆς θ. ἀνθεκτέα ἐστί one must engage in maritime affairs, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; οἱ περὶ τὴν θ. sea-faring men, [Refs 4th c.BC+] a sea of troubles, [Refs 4th c.BC+]; ὁ Κρὴς τὴν θ. (i.e. ἀγνοεῖ), of pretended ignorance, [Refs]
2. sea-water, ἔστω ἐν χαλκῷ ἡ θ. [Refs 5th c.BC+]
3. well of salt water, said to be produced by a stroke of Poseidon's trident, in the Acropolis at Athens, [Refs 5th c.BC+]
4. channel, [LXX]
5. χαλκῆ θ. laver,[LXX]
6. θ. κοίλη wooden theatre, [Refs 2nd c.AD+] —For the _Laconian dialect_ form σάλασσα, see at {θαλασσομέδων}.