κόκκος

From the study of John 12:24

Range of meaning

κόκκος means a single grain, seed, kernel or berry (as in the 'mustard seed', Matt 13:31). σῖτος means wheat, or grain in general when it is stored or traded. Together they mean 'a grain of wheat', one kernel.

Against the English

KJV 'a corn of wheat' was accurate in 1611, when 'corn' in British English meant any grain or a single kernel. Most modern readers, especially Americans, hear 'corn' as maize, a New World crop unknown in first-century Judea. 'Grain' (ESV, WEB) and 'kernel' (BSB, NIV) give the right picture.

How it drifted

'Corn' narrowed to mean maize in American English from the colonial period onward. The KJV wording now gives a wrong picture to many readers.

Used elsewhere in the period

Wheat was the main cereal of Roman Palestine and the basis of the economy. In the LXX σῖτος translates Hebrew dagan (grain). Paul uses the same image of a bare kernel 'of wheat or of some other grain' sown and 'made alive' (1 Cor 15:37). A rabbinic tradition (b. Sanhedrin 90b, attributed to Rabbi Meir) argues that if a grain of wheat buried bare comes up clothed in many coverings, the righteous buried in their clothes will surely rise. This shows the wheat seed was a recognised Jewish picture of resurrection, although the source is later than John.

From the study of Luke 17:6

Range of meaning

Kokkos is a single grain, seed or kernel. Sinapi is mustard, most likely black mustard (Brassica nigra), whose seed is about a millimetre across.

Against the English

'Mustard seed' is accurate. BSB's 'the size of' and NIV's 'as small as' spell out the comparison, which is fair because smallness is the point. The Greek simply says 'like a grain of mustard'.

Used elsewhere in the period

In rabbinic sources 'like a mustard seed' is the stock phrase for the smallest measurable amount (e.g. Mishnah Niddah 5:2, of a drop of blood the size of a mustard seed). Jesus elsewhere calls it the smallest of the seeds sown in a field (Matt 13:31–32; Mark 4:31).

From the study of Matthew 13:31

Range of meaning

'Kokkos' is a grain, kernel or berry. 'Sinapi' is mustard. In first-century Palestine it was most likely black mustard (Brassica nigra), a fast-growing annual that can reach 2–3 metres beside the Sea of Galilee. Its seed is about 1 mm across.

Against the English

BSB and NIV 'a mustard seed'. KJV, WEB and ESV 'a grain of mustard seed' keep the single 'grain' (kokkos). The difference is small. A modern reader may picture the condiment or a small garden herb, not a plant that shot up taller than a person.

Used elsewhere in the period

Jewish sources use 'like a mustard seed' for the smallest measurable amount: e.g. m. Niddah 5:2 and m. Tohorot 8:8 on minimal quantities of impurity. Jesus uses the same proverb in Matt 17:20 ('faith like a grain of mustard seed'). Pliny the Elder (Natural History 19.170) notes that mustard, once sown, spreads so readily that the ground is 'scarcely possible to get free of it'.