Greek word · G2971

κώνωψ

kōnōps

gnat

Gnat, mosquito, or similar tiny flying insect. Herodotus (2.95) uses it of the mosquitoes of the Egyptian marshes. Greek natural history associated such insects with wine lees and vinegar, a 'wine-fly' that ends up in cups.

Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·

What it means

a gnat, mosquito , Lat. culex, (Herdotus Historicus), etc. (ML)

From G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Matthew 23:24

Range of meaning

Gnat, mosquito, or similar tiny flying insect. Herodotus (2.95) uses it of the mosquitoes of the Egyptian marshes. Greek natural history associated such insects with wine lees and vinegar, a 'wine-fly' that ends up in cups.

Against the English

'Gnat' is a good rendering. The English, however, loses the point that this insect was ritually unclean. A modern reader hears 'something trivial and gross'. A first-century Jew heard 'something trivial and forbidden'.

Used elsewhere in the period

Lev 11:20–23 classifies winged swarming insects (except certain locusts) as detestable for food, and Lev 11:41–43 forbids eating any swarming thing. Later rabbinic discussion (e.g. b. Hullin 67a) deals with insects found in liquids, and filtered wine was the practical answer.

Where it appears

Matthew · 1

  1. Matthew 23:24 κώνωπα, gnat,

    You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.

    Here: A tiny flying insect, the kind drawn to wine and fermenting liquids. In Israel's food laws it counted as an unclean winged swarming creature (Lev 11:20–23, 41–43), so swallowing one by accident was a real ritual concern. It is about the smallest unclean animal anyone would meet.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.