UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament

Sense 1: olive tree

Semantic entry: 3.9

Semantic domains: Plants

Subdomains: Trees

Definition: tree reaching up to 10 m. high, but usually pruned to around 5 m.; leaves are grayish green above, and whitish underneath; fruit of the olive is about 2 cm. long and a bit more than a cm thick with a hard stone inside and a soft skin that covers the oily flesh; fruit is used for food and oil for cooking, for lamps, for rubbing on the body, for medicine, and in religion (anointing)

Notes: As in the case of other terms for trees which may not be identified by specific receptor-language terms, one can employ a generic expression followed by a borrowed term, for example, ‘a tree producing fruit called olives.’ In the context of RV MAT 21:1 · LV MAT 21:1 · Read together MAT 21:1 and similar passages it is important that ‘Mount of Olives’ not be rendered in such a way as to suggest that it was a mountain consisting of olives or even a mountain consisting of olive trees. A more appropriate expression in some languages is ‘a mountain known for its olive trees’ or ‘a mountain on which many olive trees grow.’ In a number of languages, however, it is important to employ a term such as ‘hill’ rather than ‘mountain,’ since the Mount of Olives near Jerusalem would be regarded in most receptor languages as a ‘hill’ not a ‘mountain.’

Further resources: flora:2.8

Sense 2: Mount of Olives

Semantic entry: 93.616

Semantic domains: Names of Persons and Places

Subdomains: Places

Definition: a ridge to the east of Jerusalem, with the Kidron Valley in between

Collocations: Ἐλαῖαι; Ὄρος τῶν Ἐλαιῶν

Sense 3: olive

Semantic entry: 3.39

Semantic domains: Plants

Subdomains: Fruit Parts of Plants

Definition: fruit of the olive tree; about 2 cm. long and a bit more than a cm thick with a hard stone inside and a soft skin that covers the oily flesh; used for food and oil for cooking, for lamps, for rubbing on the body, for medicine, and in religion (anointing)

Notes: Since in some languages a term for ‘olive oil’ (ἔλαιον, 6.202: ἔλαιον) is better known than the fruit itself, one may employ a descriptive phrase such as ‘the fruit of olive oil’ or ‘the fruit that produces olive oil.’ In certain instances olives are actually known as ‘the cooking-oil fruit.’

Further resources: flora:2.8