Greek word · G4425
πτύον
ptyon
winnowing fork
A farmer's tool for winnowing, which means separating threshed grain from its husks by tossing it into the wind. It was a wooden fork with several prongs or a flat wooden shovel. In the New Testament it appears only here and in the parallel at Luke 3:17.
Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Greek New Testament. ·
What it means
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 3:12
- Range of meaning
A farmer's tool for winnowing, which means separating threshed grain from its husks by tossing it into the wind. It was a wooden fork with several prongs or a flat wooden shovel. In the New Testament it appears only here and in the parallel at Luke 3:17.
- Against the English
Most modern versions say 'winnowing fork'. The KJV and YLT say 'fan'. In 1611 that meant the winnowing tool (from Latin vannus, a winnowing basket). Today it suggests something that blows air.
- How it drifted
The English word 'fan' moved from the farm tool for winnowing to any device that moves air, and later to electric fans. A KJV reader today can picture the coming one fanning the floor instead of throwing the grain up with a shovel.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Classical and Hellenistic Greek use the word for the winnowing shovel. The Hebrew Bible pictures the same work: Isaiah 30:24 mentions 'shovel and fork' at winnowing, Isaiah 41:16 says 'you shall winnow them and the wind shall carry them away', and Jeremiah 15:7 says 'I have winnowed them with a winnowing fork'. In these passages winnowing is already a picture of God's judgment.
- Range of meaning
A wooden farm tool for winnowing, which means separating grain from chaff. It could be a fork with several prongs that tossed the threshed mix into the breeze, or a broad shovel that also tossed the grain and then scooped up the cleaned piles. In Palestine both were used one after the other: the fork first (Hebrew mizreh), then the shovel (rachat). Isaiah 30:24 mentions both.
- Against the English
BSB, NIV, ESV and NASB say "winnowing fork"; YLT says "winnowing shovel"; WEB says "winnowing fan"; KJV says "fan." "Fork" and "shovel" are both defensible. "Fan" is a real early-modern word for a winnowing implement, but today it sounds like a hand fan or an electric fan.
- How it drifted
English "fan" goes back through Old English to Latin vannus, a winnowing basket. The Vulgate here has ventilabrum, "winnowing tool." Once farming moved away from hand winnowing, "fan" lost that sense for most readers.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Homer, Iliad 13.588–590: beans and chickpeas leap "from a broad ptyon on a great threshing floor," which is clearly a tossing shovel. Theocritus, Idyll 7.155–156, pictures planting "the great ptyon" on the grain heap when the harvest is finished. In the New Testament the word appears only here and in Matthew 3:12, both from the same saying of John.
Where it appears
Matthew · 1
-
Matthew 3:12 πτύον winnowing fork [is]
His winnowing fork is in His hand to clear His threshing floor and to gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
Here: The wooden tool used to throw threshed grain into the wind so the chaff blows off. The clause has no verb: the tool is already in his hand, so the work is about to begin.
Luke · 1
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Luke 3:17 πτύον winnowing fork [is]
His winnowing fork is in His hand to clear His threshing floor and to gather the wheat into His barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
Here: The wooden tool used to toss threshed grain into the wind, or to shovel it once separated. There is no verb "is." Greek leaves it out, and the picture is simply: the tool is already in his grip.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.