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Bible Lexicons
Old & New Testament Greek Lexical Dictionary Greek Lexicon
Strong's #692 - ἀργός
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- free from labour, at leisure
- lazy, shunning the labour which one ought to perform
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ἀργός
(A), ή, όν,
I
1. shining, glistening, of a goose, Od. 15.161; of a sleek, well-fed ox, Il. 23.30; in Hom. mostly in the phrase πόδας ἀργοί, of hounds, swift-footed, because all swift motion causes a kind of glancing or flickering light, 18.578, Od. 2.11, etc.; κύνες ἀργοί Il. 1.50, 18.283, cf. D.S. 4.41, Corn. ND 16.
2. white, Arist. Top. 149a7.
II parox. as pr. n., Ἄργος, ὁ, name of a dog, Swift-foot, Od. 17.292: also of the herdsman Argus (i.e. bright-eyed, A. Pr. 567 (lyr.), Supp. 305) who was so called from his eyes being ever open and bright. (By dissimilation from Αργρός, cf. Skt. ṛjrá-, = (1) shining, (2) swift, Vedic pr. n. [Rnull ]ji-śvan-, lit. = possessing κύνες ἀργοί.)
ἀργός
(B), όν, later ή, όν Arist. EN 1167a11, Mete. 352a13, Thphr. Lap. 27, Ath.Mech. 12.11, etc.: (contr. from ἀεργός): — prop.
I
1. not working the ground, Hdt. 5.6; idle, lazy, opp. ἐργάτις, S. Ph. 97, cf. Ar. Nu. 53, etc.; γαστέρες ἀ. Epimenid. 1; ἀ. ἐπιθυμίαι Pl. R. 572e; ἀ. τὴν διάνοιαν ib. 458a; τὸ πρὸς ἅπαν ξυνετὸν ἐπὶ πᾶν ἀ. Th. 3.82; ἂν ἀ. ᾖ if he have no trade, Antiph. 123.3; πότερον ἀνθρώπου οὐδέν ἐστιν [ἔργον] ἀλλ' ἀργὸν πέφυκεν; Arist. EN 1097b30: c. gen. rei, idle at a thing, free from it, τῶν οἴκοθεν from domestic toils, E. IA 1000; πόνων σφοδρῶν Pl. Lg. 835d; γυναῖκας ἀργοὺς ταλασίας ib. 806a; ἀ. αἰσχρῶν slow to evil, A. Th. 411; ἀργότεραι ἐς τὸ δρᾶν τι Th. 7.67; ἀ. περί τι Pl. Lg. 966d.
2. of things, δόρυ E. Ph. 1387; of money, lying idle, yielding no return, opp. ἐνεργός, D. 27.7 and 20; of land, lying fallow, Isoc. 4.132, X. Cyr. 3.2.19, Thphr. HP 9.12.2; opp. πεφυτευμένος, IG 7.2226 B (Thisbe, iii A.D.); διατριβὴ ἀ. in which nothing is done, fruitless, Ar. Ra. 1498 (lyr.), Isoc. 4.44; χρόνον ἀργὸν διάγειν Plu. Cor. 31. Adv. ἀργῶς, ἐπιμέλεσθαι X. Mem. 2.4.7; ἔχειν D. 6.3: Comp. and Sup. ἀργότερον, -ότατα, X. Oec. 15.6 and 1. ἀ. λόγος, name of a sophism, Chrysipp.Stoic. 2.277, cf. Plu. 2.574e.
II Pass.,
1. unwrought, ἁρμός, κυμάτιον, IG 1.322b23,59; πυροὶ ἀ. unprepared for eating, Hp. VM 13; ἄργυρος Paus. 3.12.3; βύρσαι undressed hides, Ath.Mech. l.c.; unpolished, Thphr. Lap. 27.
2. not done, left undone, κοὐκ ἦν ἔτ' οὐδὲν ἀ. S. OC 1605; ἓν δ' ἐστὶν ἡμῖν ἀ. E. Ph. 766; οὐκ ἐν ἀργοῖς not among things neglected, S. OT 287; τὰ μὲν προβέβηκεν ἀμήχανόν ἐστι γενέσθαι ἀργά Thgn. 584.
3. unattempted, μάχη Pl. Euthd. 272a.
4. Astrol., τόπος ἀ., name of the 8t h of the 12 'houses', Ptol. Tetr. 128, Paul.Al. M. 4; πλανήτης Plot. 2.3.3; ζῴδιον S.E. M. 5.15.
ἀργός, ἀργόν, and in later writings from Aristotle, hist. anim. 10, 40 (vol. i., p. 627{a}, 15) on and consequently also in the N. T. with the feminine ἀργῇ, which among the early Greeks Epimenides alone is said to have used, Titus 1:12; cf. Lob. ad Phryn., p. 104f; id. Paralip., p. 455ff; Winers Grammar, 68 (67) (cf. 24; Buttmann, 25 (23)) (contracted from ἀεργός which Homer uses, from alpha privative and ἔργον without work, without labor, doing nothing), inactive, idle;
a. free from labor, at leisure (ἀργόν εἶναι, Herodotus 5, 6): Matthew 20:3, 6 (Rec.); 1 Timothy 5:13.
b. lazy, shunning the labor which one ought to perform (Homer, Iliad 9, 320 ὁ, τ' ἀεργός ἀνήρ, ὁ, τέ πολλά ἐοργως): πίστις, James 2:20 (L T Tr WH for R G νεκρά); γαστέρες ἀργαί i. e. idle gluttons, from Epimenides, Titus 1:12 (Nicet. ann. 7, 4, 135 d. εἰς ἀργᾷς γαστερας ὀχετηγησας); ἀργός καί ἄκαρπος εἰς τί, 2 Peter 1:8.
c. of things from which no profit is derived, although they can and ought to be productive; as of fields, trees, gold and silver, (cf. Grimm on Wis. 14:5; (Liddell and Scott, under the word I. 2)); unprofitable, ῤῆμα ἀργόν, by litotes equivalent to pernicious (see ἄκαρπος): Matthew 12:36. [SYNONYMS: ἀργός, βραδύς, νωθρός: ἀργός, idle, involving blameworthiness; βραδύς slow (tardy), having a purely temporal reference and no necessary bad sense; νωθρός sluggish, descriptive of constitutional qualities and suggestive of censure. Schmidt, chapter 49; Trench, § civ.]
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ἀργός , -όν
(in late Gk., incl. NT, -ή , -όν ; <ἀ - neg., ἔργον ),
[in LXX: 1 Kings 6:7 (H4551), Wisdom of Solomon 14:5; Wisdom of Solomon 15:15, Sirach 37:11; Sirach 38:28 *;]
inactive, idle: Matthew 20:3; Matthew 20:6, 1 Timothy 5:13, Titus 1:12, 2 Peter 1:8. Metaph., of things, inactive, ineffective, worthless: ῥῆμα , Matthew 12:36; πίστις , James 2:20 (v. Cremer, 259 f.).†
SYN.: βραδύς G1021, slow; νωθρός G3576, sluggish (Tr., Syn., § civ).
Copyright © 1922 by G. Abbott-Smith, D.D., D.C.L.. T & T Clarke, London.
The various connotations of the verb appear in its source, the adj. ἀργός (ἀ ϝ εργός), the opposite of ἐνεργός, ";at work";). Thus in P Lond 915.8 (a census-return of A.D. 160–1) (= III. p. 27) a certain Apollonius is described as belonging to the ";leisured"; class of Memphis (τῶν ἀπὸ Μέμφεως ἀρ ̣γῶν, a ";practically certain"; reading) : cf. for the same description BGU III. 833.5 (A.D. 173–4). In BGU IV. 1078.6 ff. (A.D. 39) a man writes to his sister, ἐὰν λάβω τὰ κερμάμια (? κεράμια), ὄψομαι τί με δεῖ ποιεῖν · οὐ γὰρ ἀργὸν δεῖ με καθῆσθαι. P Lond 1170 verso.474, .483 (see below) has ὄνος α ̄ ἀργός, ";travelling light,"; as against others with loads. In P Flor I. 1.4 al and P Amh II. 97.9 (both ii/A.D.) ἐλαιουργίου ἀργοῦ = ";an oil-press which is out of working order";; similarly P Oxy X. 1269.22 (early ii/A.D.) ἑτέρα (sc. κιβωτός) ἀργή ";another out of use"; (Edd.). In Syll. 533.23 (iii/A.D.), τὸ ἀργόν is opposed to τὸ πεφυτευμένον : so ib. 233.8 (soon after B.C. 229) τῆς χώρας διὰ ] τοὺς πολέμους ἀργοῦ καὶ ἀσπόρου οὔ [σης. In MGr ἀργά = ";too late"; : cf. the note on the development of MGr ἀργῶ above.
The derived noun ἀργία ";holiday"; may be seen in P Petr III. 40 (a)v. 12, and in a diary of Heroninus, steward of property at Theadelphia (A.D. 258–9), P Lond 1170 verso.384 etc. (= III. p. 202) : against each day of the month is entered the work done thereon, but we have the 10th, 21st, and 24th marked ἀργία. It is open to question whether this neutral meaning should not be applied in Wisdom of Solomon 13:13, where ἀργίας and ἀνέσεως seem to stand by parallelism alike for ";leisure"; : cf. RV mg. and our note on ἄνεσις. In that case the workman spends his working hours and the best parts of the wood in making something useful : the leavings of the wood are carved into an idol by his ";holiday diligence"; and the ";skill of his spare time."; Notice might be taken of the neat word-play on ἀργὰ. . . ἔργα in the context (14.5) : it recalls Henry Bradshaw’s brilliant and convincing emendation in 2 Peter 3:10, τὰ ἐν αὐτῇ ἔργα <ἀργὰ > εὑρεθήσεται.
Copyright © 1914, 1929, 1930 by James Hope Moulton and George Milligan. Hodder and Stoughton, London.
Derivative Copyright © 2015 by Allan Loder.
