The noun ναυς (naus) means ship (Acts 27:41 only) and comes from the otherwise unused verb ναω (nao), meaning to flow.

This verb's parent verb, namely ναιω (naio) meaning to overflow or be full, happens to be the same as the also unused verb ναιω (naio), meaning to dwell, which is the parent of the noun ναος (naos), literally meaning dwelling but in practice usually denoting a temple. And in antiquity a temple was not like a modern church that is open on Sunday morning but otherwise closed shut, but a society's ever bustling center, the home of the deity with which society identified, the place where the government was seated (and often conducted) and business was transacted, where the records were kept and sciences were performed.

From the verb κυβερναω (kubernao), to steer a ship, come our words government and cybernetics. So no, the stories of Jason and the Argonauts, Odysseus and Aeneas post-Troy, and even Jonah and Noah and certainly Paul in the final chapters of Acts, are not the mere tales of some adventurous travelers but rather meditations on the very difficult art of government (also see our articles on Athens, Damascus, and the nouns ανεμος, anemos, wind, and ελευθερια, eleutheria, societal freedom or freedom-by-law).

Also note the pun-provoking similarities between our noun ναυς (naus), ship, and the words νους (nous), rational mind, and νεος (neos), meaning new.

From our amazing noun ναυς (naus) derive: