Abarim Publications' online Biblical Greek Dictionary
καμπτω
The verb καμπτω (kampto) means to curve or bend: the knee so as to rest (or worship), a chariot around a turnpike, a life around its last significant turn, wind around a bay, sailors around a rock. Our verb may be used to describe volatile music, warped reasoning, a move to pity, or even a humbling of a bowed down person.
It's not clear where our verb comes from, but it clearly resembles the familiar Latin term campus, which is understood to come from a Proto-Indo-European root "khemp-", to bend or curve. Another word of note is the Hebrew noun מפה (mapah), flag or banner (hence the word "map", and the "Muppet" show). A flag is an item with which one declared one's allegiance (hence: "his banner over me is love"; Song of Solomon 2:4), and bending the knee to some deity is obviously a very similar affair. This Hebrew noun derives from the verb נפה (napah), to flutter or move to and fro, and the leading "k" of our verb may be explained by the suffix כ (ke, alike).
But whatever the pedigree, our verb is used 4 times in the New Testament, see full concordance, and from it derive:
- Together with the preposition ανα (ana), meaning on, upon or again: the verb ανακαμπτω (anakampto), literally meaning to repeatedly bow or bend, but in practice to turn back again or simply to return. This verb is also used 4 times; see full concordance.
- Together with the preposition συν (sun), meaning together or with: the verb συγκαμπτω (sugkampto), to bend together. This verb is used like the parent verb except that its common subjects are items that usually bend together: arms, legs, fingers, or a whole thing that is entirely bend or compacted: an animal that lies down with its legs folded beneath it, a whole person on a horse, a fetus in a womb. Our verb occurs in Romans 11:10 only.