Νηρί
Nērí
G3518 noun
SILEX Entry
Definition
Proper name; Neri — personal name of a male Israelite in genealogical lists. In the New Testament, this name appears specifically in genealogies and refers to an individual within the lineage of Jesus, signifying a personal designation rather than a descriptive or titular term.
Semantic Range
personal name, individual designation in genealogies; transliterated proper name; Israelite ancestor in New Testament records
Root / Etymology
Derived from the Hebrew נֵרִיָּה (Neriya), meaning 'Yahweh is my lamp' or 'lamp of Yahweh.' The Greek form Νηρί is a transliteration of the Hebrew name, not originally a Greek name.
Historical & Contextual Notes
Νηρί appears exclusively as a personal name in the genealogical record of Luke 3:27, where it represents an ancestor in the Davidic line. The form is a transliteration of the Hebrew name rather than a translation or adaptation. Its appearance in the New Testament reflects the practice of rendering Hebrew personal names into Greek for the purposes of genealogical tracing. The name-pattern (ending in -ια in Hebrew), denoting a theophoric compound, is common in Hebrew but not native to Greek. In both the Septuagint and New Testament traditions, such names are generally preserved as loanwords, retaining their Hebrew character and often their original pronunciation, sometimes with phonetic adaptation. English translations simply carry the proper name forward as 'Neri' without semantic content. There is no evidence that the name bore any meaning in Greek usage outside its function as a personal name. Early Jewish and Greco-Roman sources outside the biblical genealogies do not attest to this form.
Original Strong's Gloss (1890)
of Hebrew origin (נֵרִיָּה); Neri (i.e. Nerijah), an Israelite:--Neri.
Root Family
Νηρί (Nēri) — personal name, proper noun
Word Forms
1 distinct form
| SIDANCE | Surface | Transliteration | Morphology | Common | SIBI-P1 | SIBI-P2 | Occurrences |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
G3518-01 |
Νηρεὶ | nerei | N GEN M SG |
Neri | of Neri | Neri | 1 |
Occurrences in Scripture
1 occurrence
| SIDANCE | Reference | Word | Transliteration | Morphology | Common | SIBI-P1 | SIBI-P2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
G3518-01 |
Luke 3:27 | Νηρεὶ | nerei | N GEN M SG |
Neri | of Neri | Neri |