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BOY (the word).—In the Authorized Version this word does not occur in the Gospels, nor indeed in NT, and only three times in OT (Gen_25:27, Joe_3:3, Zec_8:5). We usually have ‘male child’ for a very young boy, and ‘lad’ for an older one, where ‘boy’ would be used in modern English. And Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 has retained the older use in most cases.
But there is in modern English an ambiguous use of ‘boy.’ It sometimes approximates to the sense of ‘servant’ (cf. ‘doctor’s boy’), and in some of our colonies is used of a native male servant irrespective of age. A ‘boy’ in this sense may be grey-headed. This force of the word made it suitable as a rendering of ðáῖò in certain cases. In Mat_8:5-13 = Luk_7:2-10, the centurion’s servant is sometimes described as a äïῦëïò ((Revised Version margin) , ‘bond-servant’) and sometimes as a ðáῖò ((Revised Version margin) , ‘boy’). Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 text keeps the Authorized Version ‘servant’ throughout for both words. A comparison of Mat_8:13 with Luk_7:10 shows that the two words apply to the same person. It is in the centurion’s own speech (Mat_8:6-8 = Luk_7:7) that he refers to the slave who was ‘precious unto him’ (Luk_7:2 (Revised Version margin) ) by the milder word. The narrative (except Mat_8:13) uses äïῦëïò , as the centurion himself does in Mat_8:9, Luk_7:8. The variation is either a natural simple touch, proving the veracity of the narrative, or it is an instance of the highest art. See art. Servant.
As in the above instance ðáῖò = äïῦëïò , so in the narrative of the healing of the epileptic child (Mat_17:14-18, Mar_9:14-27, Luk_9:37-43) we find in St. Matthew and St. Luke (not St. Mark) that ðáῖò can = õἱüò . Here Mat_17:18, Luk_9:42 Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 have ‘boy’ in the text, for the Authorized Version ‘child.’ Similar is the use in Luk_8:51-54, where ἡ ðáῖò is ‘maiden’ and ‘maid’ in Authorized and Revised Versions .
Except where the context requires a different rendering, ðáῖò is usually translated ‘servant’ in both versions, and Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 often points out occurrences of äïῦëïò by putting ‘or bond-servant’ in the margin.
In Joh_4:51 both versions have ‘son’ (= ðáῖò ) where Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 had far better have put ‘boy’ as in the above instance, keeping ‘son’ strictly for õἱüò .
George Farmer.