A TABLE-WAITER, and then any servant, agent or go-between — the root of 'deacon' and of the whole vocabulary of ministry. ⚠ Matthew 20:26-27 uses it as the lower rung of an ascending pair: whoever wants to be GREAT becomes your diakonos, whoever wants to be FIRST becomes your doulos, your slave. The distinction is real — a diakonos serves and remains free, a doulos is owned — so the second demand is the harder one, and the sentence climbs rather than repeats itself. The New Testament goes on to make the word an office (Philippians 1:1 addresses the overseers and diakonoi at Philippi), but the picture underneath it stays domestic: somebody carrying dishes. → first discussed at Matt 20:26