Vincent's NT Word Studies
10. Pressed upon (epipiptein). Lit., fell upon.Plagues (mastigav). Lit., scourges. Compare Acts xxii. 24; Hebrews xi. 36. Our word plague is from plhgh, Latin plaga, meaning a blow. Pestilence or disease is thus regarded as a stroke from a divine hand. Plhgh is used in classical Greek in this metaphorical sense. Thus Sophocles, "Ajax," 279: "I fear that a calamity (plhgh) is really come from heaven (qeou, God)." So of war. Aeschylus, " Persae," 251: " O Persian land, how hath the abundant prosperity been destroyed by a single blow (en mia plhgh). The word here, scourges, carries the same idea.
Robertson's NT Word Studies
3:10 {Pressed upon him} (epipiptein autwi). Were falling upon him to such an extent that it was dangerous. They were not hostile, but simply intensely eager, each to have his own case attended to by Jesus. {That they might touch him} (hina autou haywntai). If only that much. They hoped for a cure by contact with Christ. Aorist subjunctive. It was a really pathetic scene and a tremendous strain on Jesus. {As many as had plagues} (hosoi eicon mastigas). Strokes or scourges, terms used by us today as a paralytic stroke, the influenza scourge. Our word plague is from plege (Latin _plaga_), from plegnumi, to strike a blow. Common in ancient Greek in this sense. See #Mr 5:29,34; Lu 7:21 for the same use of mastiges and also 2Macc. 9:11.