golgotha means the hill outside Jerusalem where Jesus was crucified. It carries an Arena rating of 1635, earned across 7 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, golgotha ranks #193 of 17,104 for Most Storied Words, #422 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #528 of 17,131 for Scariest Words, #1,250 of 17,127 for Most Vivid Words.
golgotha is pronounced /ˈɡɒlɡəθə/.
Why “golgotha” is a great word
The hill outside ancient Jerusalem where, according to the New Testament, Jesus Christ was crucified. From the Late Latin Golgotha, from the Ancient Greek Γολγοθᾶ (Golgothâ), from the Aramaic גּוּלְגּוּלְתָּא (gulgultā, "skull"), first recorded in English between 1590 and 1600. Unlike "Calvary" (which denotes the theological concept of Christ's sacrifice or its artistic representation) or "necropolis" (which suggests any ancient burial ground without specific sacred charge), Golgotha names the actual place—the place of the skull—and carries the weight of particular, unrepeatable anguish. It is the sun-scorched limestone outcrop where three crosses stood, the dry dust clinging to the knees of mourners, the name that transforms any barren height into a site of ultimate extremity. Where Calvary invites contemplation of redemption, Golgotha confronts us first with the brute fact of suffering: a skull-shaped hill where the worst was done, and nothing can make it ordinary again.
Etymology
* From the Ancient Greek Γολγοθᾶ (Golgothâ) from the Aramaic גּוּלְגּוּלְתָּא (gulgultā). * (rooms of the heads of the colleges; a hat): Punning on "the place of the skulls/heads".
name
- The hill outside Jerusalem where Jesus was crucified.e.g.“"And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha"” — 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, John 19:17:
- The rooms of the heads of the colleges.
noun
- A charnel house.
- A hat.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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