G5020 — ταρταρόω (tartaroo)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: G5020
Original: ταρταρόω
Transliteration: tartaroo
Pronunciation: tar-tar-o'-o
Part of Speech: Verb
Root: Τάρταρος (Tartaros) — the deepest abyss of Hades; a Greek cosmological term for the lowest underworld pit
Occurrences: 1 in NT
First Occurrence: 2 Pet 2:4 — "but cast [them] down to hell, and delivered [them] into chains of darkness"
Hapax Legomenon: YES — appears only once in the entire Bible

Lexicon Definition¶

From Τάρταρος (Tartaros — the deepest abyss of Hades); to incarcerate in eternal torment.

The form ταρταρώσας (aorist active participle, nominative singular masculine) is the only NT occurrence — used to describe God's act of casting sinful angels into this lowest pit.

Louw-Nida Semantic Domain¶

Domain: 001003 — Regions Below the Surface of the Earth
Parent Domain: 001 — Geographical Objects and Features
Other words in domain: ἄβυσσος (G12), ᾅδης (G86), βάθος (G899), γέεννα (G1067), ἐξώτερος (G1857), ζόφος (G2217), καταχθόνιος (G2709), λίμνη (G3041), σκότος (G4655)

UBS Semantic Domains (search_relationships.py)¶

[001] Geographical Objects and Features — the broader semantic bucket that includes abyss / underworld location language.

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation	Count	%
cast down to hell	1	100%

Single verse; total unique occurrences: 1.

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
2 Peter	1	1.6

Confined to 2 Peter, a letter dealing with false teachers and divine judgment. The term is used in a chain of three OT examples of judgment (fallen angels, the ancient world of Noah, Sodom and Gomorrah — 2 Pet 2:4–6).

Semantic Categories¶

1. Divine Incarceration of Sinful Angels¶

The sole usage describes God's judicial act of casting fallen angels into the deepest pit, where they await final judgment.

2 Pet 2:4 — "For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast [them] down to hell (ταρταρώσας), and delivered [them] into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment"

The aorist participle ταρταρώσας treats this as a completed historical act. The accompanying phrase "chains of darkness" (σειραῖς ζόφου) emphasizes confinement and sensory deprivation. The purpose clause "reserved unto judgment" indicates an intermediate state pending final sentence, not the final punishment itself.

Common Collocations¶

No stable collocation profile can be established from a hapax legomenon. gather_word_data.py returned no repeatable content-word collocations because G5020 appears in only one verse (2 Pet 2:4).

Domain Neighbors (Louw-Nida 001003)¶

Strong's	Lemma	Total vv	Primary KJV Translation
G12	ἄβυσσος	9	bottomless pit
G86	ᾅδης	10	hell
G899	βάθος	6	depth, deep
G1067	γέεννα	12	hell
G1857	ἐξώτερος	3	outer
G2217	ζόφος	3	blackness, darkness
G2709	καταχθόνιος	1	under the earth
G3041	λίμνη	10	lake
G4655	σκότος	31	darkness

Word Family / Root¶

Τάρταρος — Greek cosmological term (not in NT/LXX) for the lowest abyss beneath Hades, borrowed from Greek mythology (Homer, Hesiod). Peter uses the derived verb to invoke this familiar underworld geography for Jewish-Greek audiences.

Synonyms¶

No direct synonym surfaced in search_relationships.py for this NT hapax.

Antonyms¶

No antonym surfaced in search_relationships.py.

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared Translation	Key Difference
ᾅδης (haides)	G86	both rendered "hell" (KJV)	ᾅδης = the broad realm of the dead (all who die); tartaroo = the deepest pit, specifically for imprisoned supernatural beings
γέεννα (geenna)	G1067	both rendered "hell" (KJV)	γέεννα = the place of final eschatological judgment, primarily for humans; tartaroo = intermediate confinement of fallen angels pending judgment
ἄβυσσος (abyssos)	G12	overlapping underworld domain	ἄβυσσος = the bottomless pit (Revelation's demonic realm, also LXX for tehom); tartaroo = the specific imprisoning act or location of the deepest abyss

Hebrew Source¶

No Hebrew source identified. G5020 has no LXX usage — this is a NT-only coinages with no Hebrew/Aramaic counterpart in biblical literature. The concept of a layered underworld with a deepest pit appears in intertestamental Jewish literature (1 Enoch 10:4–6 imprisons Azazel in a pit) but not in OT Hebrew vocabulary.