Bethesda
English
Etymology
From Aramaic בֵּית חַסְדָּא (bēṯ ḥasdā, “House of Grace”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /bəˈθɛz.də/
Proper noun
Bethesda
- (biblical) A pool in Jerusalem mentioned in the New Testament.
- A number of places in the United States:
- A census-designated place in Independence County, Arkansas.
- An unincorporated community in Chatham County, Georgia.
- An unincorporated community in Greene County, Georgia.
- An unincorporated community in Douglas Township, Page County, Iowa.
- A census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland.
- An unincorporated community in Davidson County, North Carolina.
- An unincorporated community in Durham County, North Carolina.
- A village in Goshen Township, Belmont County, Ohio.
- An unincorporated community in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
- An unincorporated community in Williamson County, Tennessee.
- An unincorporated community in Wayne County, West Virginia.
- An unincorporated community in the town of Genesee, Waukesha County, Wisconsin.
- A place in Canada:
- A community in the town of Innisfil, Simcoe County, Ontario.
- A hamlet in the town of Whitchurch-Stouffville, Regional Municipality of York, Ontario.
- A village in Saint Paul parish, Antigua, Antigua and Barbuda.
- A place in Wales:
- A town and community in Gwynedd, historically in Caernarvonshire (OS grid ref SH6266). [1]
- A small village in Llawhaden community, Pembrokeshire (OS grid ref SN0917).
Derived terms
Translations
pool in Jerusalem
Noun
Bethesda (plural Bethesdas)
- (poetic) Any location whose waters are supposed to have curative properties.
- 1903, Thomas De Witt Talmage, Richard S Rhodes, Evils of the cities:
- ...those who are afflicted with rheumatic, neuralgic, and splenetic diseases, go, and are cured by the thousands. These Bethesdas are scattered all up and down our country, blessed be God!
- 1978, Garry Wills, Values Americans live by:
- Time was when this Bethesda too was curative, a sweet oasis in a parched and driven city. The day we went we found the fountain had been shut off.