What is the meaning of the word Gethsemane?

Gethsemane is a name of a garden located by tradition at the foot of the Mount of Olives on the East side of Jerusalem. In Hebrew the name is גַּת שְׁמָנִים (gath shǝmānim) meaning “oil press”¹. It is the place of agony where Jesus prayed immediately prior to his arrest and crucifixion.

In the Gospels, Matthew and Mark refer to it as chorion in Greek, “a place” or “estate” (Matthew 26:36) & (Mark 14:32). John speaks of it as kepos, a “garden” or “orchard” (John 18:1)².

Trees in the garden are some of the oldest on earth dating back thousands years and planted from the same parent plant and are capable of growing back even after being cut down to the roots.

References

1. Metzger, Bruce M.; Coogan, Michael D., eds. (1993). The Oxford Companion to the Bible. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. p. 253. ISBN 0-19-504645-5. ↩

2. Meistermann, Barnabas. “Gethsemani.” The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 6. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909. ↩