κάμηλος G2574
Camel; the large domesticated animal, used in proverbial sayings and descriptions of ascetic clothing.
Kamelos is the Greek borrowing of the Semitic word for camel (Hebrew gamal), referring to the familiar beast of burden of the ancient Near East. In the NT it appears in two memorable settings: the proverbial saying about a camel passing through the eye of a needle, used by Jesus to illustrate the difficulty wealth poses for entering God's kingdom (Matt 19:24; Mark 10:25; Luke 18:25), and the description of John the Baptist's clothing made of camel's hair (Matt 3:4; Mark 1:6). Jesus also uses it in his rebuke of the Pharisees who 'strain out a gnat but swallow a camel' (Matt 23:24). Every language renders it with its own loanword from the same Semitic root -- Spanish 'camello,' French 'chameau,' German 'Kamel.'
Senses
1. camel — The camel (Camelus dromedarius or C. bactrianus), a large domesticated pack animal of the ancient Near East. All six NT occurrences fall into two clusters: the hyperbolic proverb about a camel through a needle's eye illustrating how hard it is for the rich to enter God's kingdom (Matt 19:24; Mark 10:25; Luke 18:25; cf. Matt 23:24), and John the Baptist's garment of camel's hair signaling his prophetic austerity (Matt 3:4; Mark 1:6). The word itself is a Semitic loanword preserved almost identically across languages. 6×
AR["الإِبِلِ", "الجَمَلَ", "الْإِبِلِ", "جَمَلٌ"]·ben["উট", "উটকে", "উটকের", "উটের,", "উটের-পক্ষে"]·DE["Kamel", "κάμηλον", "καμήλου"]·EN["a-camel", "camel", "for-a-camel", "of-camel"]·FR["chameau"]·heb["גָּמָל", "לְ-גָּמָל", "לְ-גָמָל"]·HI["ऊँट-का", "ऊँट-के", "ऊंट", "ऊंट-को", "ओओन्त-क"]·ID["unta", "unta,"]·IT["cammello"]·jav["unta", "unta,"]·KO["낙타-가", "낙타-의", "낙타가", "낙타는"]·PT["camelo", "de-camelo", "de-camelo,"]·RU["верблюда", "верблюду"]·ES["a-camello", "camello", "de-camello"]·SW["kupitia", "ngamia", "wakimeza", "ya-ngamia,", "za-ngamia"]·TR["deve", "devenin", "devenin,", "deveyi"]·urd["اونٹ", "اونٹ-کا", "اونٹ-کو", "اونٹ-کے"]
Related Senses
H7200 1. Qal: to see, perceive (1257×)G4771 2. you (singular address) (1077×)H8085 1. Qal: hear, perceive aurally (921×)H0859a 1. you (2nd person masculine singular pronoun) (743×)H0398 1. eat (consume food) (697×)H4191 1. die (Qal: natural/general death) (645×)G3708 1. see, perceive visually (419×)G0191 1. hear, perceive sound (360×)H???? 3. (352×)G3708 2. behold, look (exclamatory) (256×)H7272 1. foot (body part) (236×)H8354 1. drink, consume liquid (209×)H3205 1. Qal active: bear/give birth (female subject) (204×)H3205 2. Qal active: beget/father (male subject) (198×)H2421 1. Qal: live, be alive (177×)H8085 2. Qal: listen, heed, pay attention (172×)H2416a 1. alive, living (state/attribute) (146×)H2416e 1. life, lifespan, lifetime (145×)G2198 1. be alive, have life (133×)H8193 1. lip, lips (body part) (123×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
κάμηλος [ᾰ], ὁ and ἡ (as in Refs 5th c.BC+, camel, Camelus bactrianus and C. dromedarius Refs 4th c.BC+; τοὺς ἔρσενας τῶν κ. Refs 5th c.BC+; κ. ἀμνός a camel-lamb, i.e. young camel, NT+5th c.BC+; compare κάμιλος. __2 ἡ κ. camelry, Refs 5th c.BC+. (Semitic word, cf. Hebrew gāmāl.)