CELLAR

sel'-er, sel'-ar (krupte; 'otsar): Krupte is found only in Luke 11:33, and is rendered "cellar" in the Revised Version (British and American); the King James Version has "secret place." In this passage it doubtless means a cellar beneath a house. Etymologically the Greek word means "a covered place," and in classical Greek its usage includes vaults and crypts as well as cellars. It seems evident that it was only the larger houses in Palestine in which cellars were used with any frequency. It is shown by the excavations that in rebuilding a town which was in ruins the old houses were sometimes utilized as cellars for the new. 'otsar, is rendered cellar only in 1 Chronicles 27:27 f. It is an erroneous rendering, the correct meaning being stores, or supplies, of wine and oil.

George Ricker Berry

From the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Edited by James Orr, published in 1939 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.