μωραίνω
mōraínō · G3471 · Greek · 4 occurrences
Meanings
-
to cause to become nonsense
(Causative derivative of μωρία ‘foolishness,’) To cause the content of certain thoughts to become devoid of meaning
Examples1 Corinthians 1:20 Where is the wise person? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has God not made foolish the wisdom of the world?
-
to become foolish, to act more foolishly
(Derivative of μωρός ‘unwise, foolish,’) To become one who does not employ a capacity to understand and thus acts very foolishly
ExamplesRomans 1:22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools,
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to become tasteless, to lose taste
To become insipid or tasteless
ExamplesMatthew 5:13 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by people.
Luke 14:34 “Therefore, salt is good; but if even salt has become tasteless, with what will it be seasoned?
How it’s used In 2 roles
Every occurrence, grouped by the words it is grammatically related to.
the word studied the word it goes with
Who or what does itSubject
4 occurrences in 3 groups
- ἅλαςsalt 2
- θεόςGod 1
- Not stated: they 1
What it acts on, or what is saidObject
1 occurrences in 1 groups
- σοφίαwisdom 1
When two words share a role, as in “Paul and Barnabas said”, the verse appears under each, so a section’s counts can add up to more than the number of occurrences.
MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets, available at https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-greek/, licensed CC BY 4.0; MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets © 2022-2024 by Biblica, Inc., CC BY 4.0. Westminster Leningrad Codex (tanach.us). OpenScriptures Hebrew Bible morphology (hb.openscriptures.org), CC BY 4.0.
Contrasting words 1 word
- σοφίζω sophízō · G4679 · to cause to understand, to cause to be wise, to make wise
- Verb meaning to make wise or give wisdom, the direct lexical opposite of μωραίνω's sense of making foolish or causing to become nonsense. Note: σοφίζω can also carry a sinister sense of forming plausible error ("sophisms"), which complicates the opposition in certain contexts.
In the other Testament 2 words
- תָּפֵל tâphêl · H8602 · tasteless food, insipid food, whitewash
- Hebrew adjective describing something tasteless or insipid, closely matching μωραίνω's sense of becoming insipid/tasteless (especially in the salt metaphor of Matthew 5:13 and Luke 14:34)
- סָכַל çâkal · H5528 · to act foolishly, to make foolish, to turn into foolishness
- Hebrew verb meaning to act foolishly or show foolish behavior, corresponding to μωραίνω's figurative sense of acting as a simpleton or becoming foolish
Semantic domains 3 entries
- To become foolish, to act more foolishly32.56
- This sense denotes descending into moral or intellectual folly. Romans 1:22 says that although claiming to be wise, “they became fools.”
- To cause to become nonsense32.59
- This sense denotes rendering something worthless or absurd. 1 Corinthians 1:20 asks, “Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?”
- To become tasteless, to lose taste79.44
- This sense denotes a literal loss of flavor. Matthew 5:13 warns, “but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again?”
Word family 4 words
Words formed from the same root. They share a form, not always a meaning.
Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon : 1 aorist ἐμωρανα; 1 aorist passive ἐμωράνθην; (μωρός); 1. in classical Greek to be…
1. in classical Greek to be foolish, to act foolishly.
2. in Biblical Greek a. to make foolish: passive Rom 1:22 (Isa 19:11; Jer 10:14; 2 Sam 24:10); equivalent to to prove a person or thing to be foolish: τήν σοφίαν τοῦ κόσμου, 1 Cor 1:20 (τήν βουλήν αὐτῶν, Isa 44:25).
b. to make flat and tasteless: passive of salt that has lost its strength and flavor, Mt 5:13; Lk 14:34.
Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (1889), public domain
Topical studies with this word 2 entries
Meanings adapted from the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament, © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0 and the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew (from the Semantic Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew), © United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0; MACULA Greek Linguistic Datasets, available at https://github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-greek/, licensed CC BY 4.0; MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets © 2022-2024 by Biblica, Inc., CC BY 4.0. Westminster Leningrad Codex (tanach.us). OpenScriptures Hebrew Bible morphology (hb.openscriptures.org), CC BY 4.0.
Sources
eRhema lexical overview, based on the UBS Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew and the UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (© United Bible Societies, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Macula Hebrew and Greek (Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0); released under CC BY-SA 4.0
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