Abarim Publications' online Biblical Greek Dictionary
σαλος
The noun σαλος (salos) describes a rolling or tossing motion, mostly of the sea (or a ship on the sea), but also of the mind (or a person acting up because of his emotions), and for a look at the self-similar link between the planetary ocean, the mind of man and the hydrological cycles of both water and cognition, see our articles on the Hebrew noun מים (mayim), waters, and the Greek nouns νεφελη (nephele), cloud, and ανεμος (anemos), wind.
Our noun σαλος (salos) derives from the Proto-Indo-European root "tewh-", to swell, from which Latin gets tuber, a hump, and protubero, to swell (hence the English protuberance). In the New Testament, our noun is used in Luke 21:25 only, in a reference that obviously exceeds the physical and speaks of turbulence in the global mind of man. From this noun derive:
- The verb σαλευω (saleuo), meaning to rock, sway or oscillate (up and down, left and right, inward and outward, and so on). This verb is not related to the familiar Latin verb salutare, to greet, which stems from the PIE root "sol-", to be whole (hence also ολος, olos, whole). Our verb may describe the motion of the sea, the effects of an earthquake, or the suffering of either by people on them. It may describe a being emotionally shaken or stirred, or to physically totter or reel. It may describe an unusual loosening of things that are normally fixed (teeth, nails). In the New Testament, this verb occurs 15 times, see full concordance, and from it in turn comes:
- Together with the particle of negation α (a), meaning without: the adjective ασαλευτος (asaleutos), meaning unshakable, immovable, uninfluenceable (Acts 27:41 and Hebrews 12:28 only).