ἅλων

From the study of Matthew 3:12

Range of meaning

A threshing floor: a flat area of rock or packed earth, often on high, open ground so it could catch the wind. Sheaves were trampled or dragged with a sledge there, then winnowed. By extension the word can also mean the grain lying on the floor.

Against the English

KJV and YLT say just 'floor', which today suggests the floor of a room. Modern versions correctly say 'threshing floor'.

How it drifted

Most modern readers have never seen a threshing floor, and the KJV's 'floor' gives no clue what kind of floor is meant.

Used elsewhere in the period

In the Old Testament the threshing floor is a common picture of judgment and decision: Hosea 13:3 (chaff swirling from the threshing floor), Micah 4:12 (gathered 'as sheaves to the threshing floor'), Jeremiah 51:33 ('Babylon is like a threshing floor'). Ruth 3 is set at Boaz's threshing floor during winnowing. The Temple stood on what had been Araunah's threshing floor (2 Samuel 24:18–25; 2 Chronicles 3:1).

From the study of Luke 3:17

Range of meaning

A threshing floor: a level patch of packed earth or bedrock, usually on open, windy ground, where sheaves were trampled or crushed with sledges and then winnowed. By extension it can mean the grain lying on that floor.

Against the English

Most versions say "threshing floor." KJV and YLT say just "floor," which a modern reader might take for an indoor floor.

Used elsewhere in the period

In the Greek Old Testament it usually translates Hebrew goren. Boaz winnows barley at night on his threshing floor (Ruth 3:2). David buys Araunah's threshing floor, which becomes the site of the temple (2 Sam 24; 2 Chr 3:1). The prophets use it for judgment: Babylon "is like a threshing floor at the time it is trodden" (Jer 51:33); the nations are gathered "as sheaves to the threshing floor" (Mic 4:12); the wicked are "like chaff swirling from a threshing floor" (Hos 13:3); empires become "like chaff from the summer threshing floors" that the wind carries off (Dan 2:35).