What would be the initial impression of a Greek person when they heard the word ‘baptize’?

This text is from a letter written by David Gooding in 1986.

The word baptizō in Greek has a number of connotations. The initial impression it would make on a Greek would depend on the context in which the word was being used.

In the active, it can mean 'to dip' or 'to plunge', as in to 'dip oneself in the sea'. With this can be compared the use of the word in the Septuagint translation of what Naaman did in 2 Kings 5:14.

In the passive, it can mean 'to be drowned' or, of ships, 'to be sunk'. On the other hand, used in the active with 'city' as its object, it means 'to flood the city'. It is used in the passive metaphorically as, for example, 'to be soaked in wine' or 'to be submerged in debt'. A baptistērion, i.e. a 'place where one would baptizō oneself, is in classical Greek 'a swimming-bath'.

As with other words, like 'salvation' (sōtēria), the particular meaning which the Christians gave to the word, when they used it of 'baptism', would become clear to a Greek from the way and from the contexts in which the Christians used it.