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σαγήνη

sagḗnē

G4522 noun

SILEX Entry

Definition

A large dragnet, a type of fishing net drawn through the water or along the sea bed to catch fish. The primary lexical meaning is a seine or dragnet, specifically a large net used for enclosing and hauling in large numbers of fish. By extension in context, refers figuratively to a method or instrument for gathering or encompassing multiplicities (as in certain parables).

Semantic Range

large fishing net, dragnet, seine used for commercial or communal fishing; instrument or method for gathering together various items or people (figurative)

Root / Etymology

Likely derived from a root related to σάγμα ('packsaddle') and ultimately from σάττω ('to pack, load'), with the connection being the concept of something that contains or gathers together. However, the precise relation is uncertain; the form σαγήνη appears in Greek as early as classical periods, possibly of pre-Greek or Semitic origin.

Historical & Contextual Notes

Sagēnē is a specific technical term for a large fishing dragnet, distinguished from smaller individual nets like ἀμφίβληστρον or σειρά. In classical Greek (e.g., Herodotus, Aristotle), it refers to a dragnet used both for river and sea fishing. In the New Testament, the term appears notably in Matthew 13:47 in the Parable of the Dragnet, where the net's indiscriminate nature is emphasized as it gathers fish of every kind; English translations typically render it as 'net,' but this misses the technical specificity and scale implied in the Greek. The imagery in the Septuagint and other Hellenistic sources uses sagēnē primarily in literal contexts of fishing technology, not in cultic or ritual settings. Its presence in Koine Greek confirms its continued use in the vocabulary of daily life around the Mediterranean, with the connotation of something that gathers broadly and inclusively. Later rabbinic and patristic literature also retains the term, often referencing its metaphorical sense introduced in Christian usage.

Original Strong's Gloss (1890)

from a derivative of (to equip) meaning furniture, especially a pack-saddle (which in the East is merely a bag of netted rope); a "seine" for fishing:--net.

Root Family

σαγήνη (sagēnē) — dragnet, seine, enclosing net, gathering instrument

Root σαγην- to net, to gather, to enclose

Word Forms

1 distinct form

SIDANCE Surface Transliteration Morphology Common SIBI-P1 SIBI-P2 Occurrences
G4522-01 σαγήνῃ sagene N DAT F SG a net to a dragnet to a dragnet 1

Occurrences in Scripture

1 occurrence

SIDANCE Reference Word Transliteration Morphology Common SIBI-P1 SIBI-P2
G4522-01 Matthew 13:47 σαγήνῃ sagene N DAT F SG a net to a dragnet to a dragnet
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