θάλασσα

(cf. Buttmann, 7), θαλάσσης, ἡ (akin to ἅλς (better, allied to ταράσσω etc., from its tossing; cf. Vanicek, p. 303); the Sept. for יָם) (from Homer down), the sea; (on its distinction from πέλαγος see the latter word);
a. universally: Mt 23:15; Mk 11:23; Lk 17:2, Lk 17:6; Lk 21:25; Rom 9:27; 2 Cor 11:26; Heb 11:12; Jas 1:6; Jude 1:13; Rev 7:1-3, etc.; ἐργάζεσθαι τήν θαλασσην (see ἐργάζομαι, 2 a.), Rev 18:17; τό πέλαγος τῆς θαλάσσης (see πέλαγος, a.), Mt 18:6; joined with γῆ and οὐρανός it forms a periphrasis for the whole world, Acts 4:24; Acts 14:15; Rev 5:13; Rev 10:6 (L WH brackets); (Hag 2:7; Ps 145:6; Josephus, Antiquities 4, 3, 2; (contra Apion 2, 10, 1)); among the visions of the Apocalypse a glassy sea or sea of glass is spoken of; but what the writer symbolized by this is not quite clear: Rev 4:6; Rev 15:2.
b. specifically used (even without the article, cf. Winers Grammar, 121 (115); Buttmann, § 124, 8b.) of the Mediterranean Sea: Acts 10:6, Acts 10:32; Acts 17:14; of the Red Sea (see ἐρυθρός), ἡ ἐρυθρᾷ θάλασσα, Acts 7:36; 1 Cor 10:1; Heb 11:29. By a usage foreign to native Greek writings (cf. Aristotle, meteor. 1, 13, p. 351a, 8 ἡ ὑπό τόν Καυκασον λίμνη ἥν καλοῦσιν οἱ ἐκεῖ θαλατταν, and Hesychius defines λίμνη: ἡ θάλασσα καί ὁ ὠκεανός) employed like the Hebrew יָם (e. g. Num 34:11), by Matthew, Mark, and John (nowhere by Luke) of the Lake of Γεννησαρέτ (which see): ἡ θάλασσα τῆς Γαλιλαίας, Mt 4:18; Mt 15:29; Mk 1:16; Mk 7:31 (similarly Lake Constance,derBodensee, is called mare Suebicum, the Suabian Sea); τῆς Τιβεριάδος, Jn 21:1; τῆς Γαλιλαίας τῆς Τιβεριάδος (on which twofold genitive cf. Winers Grammar, § 30, 3 N. 3; (Buttmann, 400 (343))), Jn 6:1; more frequently simply ἡ θάλασσα: Mt 4:15, Mt 4:18; Mt 8:24, Mt 8:26f, 32; Mt 13:1, etc.; Mk 2:13; Mk 3:7; Mk 4:1, Mk 4:39; Mk 5:13, etc.; Jn 6:16-19, Jn 6:22, Jn 6:25; Jn 21:7. Cf. Furrer in Schenkel ii. 322ff; (see Γεννησαρέτ).