BIBLE DICTIONARY + WORD STUDY
How to read this: there is rarely one magic “true meaning” hidden behind an English word. A lexicon records a word’s semantic range. The intended meaning is narrowed by grammar, sentence, author, historical usage and context.
GREEK · G1115
Golgotha — Golgotha
Γολγοθά (Rec. -θᾶ; WH, mg., Γολγόθ, Jo, l.with, Aram. גָּלְגָּלְתָּא = Heb. גֻּלְגֹּלֶת, LXX, κρανίον, Jdg.9:53, 2Ki.9:35); indecl. (exc. Mrk.15:22, -άν), Golgotha, the place of the crucifixion: Mat.27:33, Mrk.15:22, Jhn.19:17.† (AS)
3 tagged verse occurrences · see every occurrence →The common name of the spot where Jesus was crucified. It is interpreted by the evangelists as meaning “the place of a skull” (Matt. 27:33; Mark 15:22; John 19:17). This name represents in Greek letters the Aramaic word Gulgaltha, which is the Hebrew Gulgoleth (Num. 1:2; 1 Chr. 23:3, 24; 2 Kings 9:35), meaning “a skull.” It is identical with the word Calvary (q.v.). It was a little knoll rounded like a bare skull. It is obvious from the evangelists that it was some well-known spot outside the gate (comp. Heb. 13:12), and near the city (Luke 23:26), containing a “garden” (John 19:41), and on a thoroughfare leading into the country. Hence it is an untenable idea that it is embraced within the present “Church of the Holy Sepulchre.” The hillock above Jeremiah’s Grotto, to the north of the city, is in all probability the true site of Calvary. The skull-like appearance of the rock in the southern precipice of the hillock is very remarkable.
Source: Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897). Historical dictionary wording reflects the scholarship and language of its era.
