UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament

Sense 1: to recline, to eat, to be at table, to dine, to sit down to eat

Semantic entry: 17.23

Semantic domains: Stances and Events Related to Stances

Subdomains: Recline [to eat]

Definition: to be in a reclining position as one eats (with the focus either upon the position or the act of eating)

Sense 2: to eat a meal

Semantic entry: 23.21

Semantic domains: Physiological Processes and States

Subdomains: Eat, Drink

Definition: to eat a meal, with possible reference to the fact of the people reclining to eat{N:001}

Notes: In biblical times there were apparently three different positions involved in the eating of a meal. People might, for example, (1) be seated on cushions around a low table or (2) be seated on chairs around a table or (3) recline on couches facing a table. Meals which involved reclining on couches would normally have been more elaborate, but the verbs ἀνάκειμαι[b] and κατάκειμαι[c] have been generalized in meaning to denote the eating of a meal without necessarily specifying the particular reclining position of those who participated in the meal.|For the translator, it may be extremely awkward to speak of ‘reclining to eat,’ since this may have connotations of people who are too lazy to sit up at the table or who are too sick to partake of an ordinary meal. It is for that reason that instead of rendering ἀνάκειμαι[b] or κατάκειμαι[c] as ‘to recline to eat,’ translators use expressions such as ‘to sit down to eat’ or ‘to eat a meal.’

Sense 3: to dine in the place of honor

Semantic entry: 17.25

Semantic domains: Stances and Events Related to Stances

Subdomains: Recline [to eat]

Definition: (an idiom, literally: to recline on the bosom) to take the place of honor at a meal

Notes: These expressions in RV JHN 13:23 · LV JHN 13:23 · Read together JHN 13:23 and RV JHN 13:25 · LV JHN 13:25 · Read together JHN 13:25 would mean that the so-called ‘beloved disciple’ would be at the right of Jesus, since guests at a meal would be reclining on the left side so as to permit freedom of the right hand in dining. It may, of course, be that the same expression could be used of persons sitting at a table rather than reclining on couches.|Literal translations of ἀνάκειμαι ἐν τῷ κόλπῳ and ἀναπίπτω ἐπὶ τὸ στῆθος can result in serious misunderstanding, since they might imply overt homosexuality. There is no justification for reading into such idioms this type of implication.

Collocations: ἀνάκειμαι ἐν τῷ κόλπῳ