στρουθίον

From the study of Matthew 10:29

Range of meaning

This is a diminutive of strouthos ("small bird"), so roughly "little bird". Greek writers used it for sparrows and for small birds in general: the kind caught with nets, snares or birdlime and sold for food. Context gives the diminutive a sense of smallness and cheapness rather than affection.

Against the English

Every major English version has "sparrow(s)". That is a fair rendering, but it can suggest a backyard songbird that people watch for pleasure. The first hearers pictured a market stall where small wild birds were sold, plucked or still alive, as the cheapest meat a poor family could buy.

How it drifted

This is less a drift in meaning than a change of setting. Most modern Western readers have never seen small wild birds sold as food. Hymns like "His Eye Is on the Sparrow" have also made the sparrow a symbol of tender watching, when in the verse it is mainly a symbol of being nearly worthless.

Used elsewhere in the period

The word appears in the New Testament only here and in the parallel at Luke 12:6–7. In the Greek Old Testament (LXX), strouthion translates the Hebrew tsippor ("small bird", e.g. Ps 84:3 [83:4 LXX]; Ps 102:7; Lev 14:4–7, where small birds are used in the cleansing rite for skin disease). Diocletian's Price Edict (AD 301) lists small birds sold in bunches of ten among the cheapest poultry. Adolf Deissmann used this evidence to illustrate the Gospel saying.

From the study of Luke 12:6

Range of meaning

A small form of strouthos ('bird, sparrow'). It means a little bird in general: house sparrows and similar small birds such as finches and larks, caught with nets and snares. The Greek does not pin down one species, and neither does the Hebrew word behind most Greek Old Testament uses (tsippor, 'small bird').

Against the English

All the major English versions say 'sparrow', which is a fair translation. A modern reader may picture only the house sparrow. In the first century it was more 'any tiny bird you could buy by the handful to eat'.

Used elsewhere in the period

Greek Old Testament (Septuagint): Psalm 83:4 (84:3 in English Bibles), 'even the sparrow (strouthion) has found a home' near God's altars; Psalm 101:8 (102:7), 'like a sparrow alone on a housetop'; Tobit 2:10, where sparrow droppings blind Tobit. In the Gospels it appears only here, in Luke 12:7, and in the parallel Matthew 10:29–31. Adolf Deissmann pointed to Diocletian's Price Edict (301 AD), which lists sparrows among the cheapest birds on sale, priced by the bunch of ten.

From the study of Luke 12:7

Range of meaning

A diminutive of strouthos, 'bird'. It means a small bird, especially the sparrow. Market sellers would have used it loosely for small birds caught or snared and sold as food.

Against the English

'Sparrows' is right. A modern reader may picture a garden bird watched from a window. The first hearers pictured something sold by the bunch, plucked and roasted: the cheapest flesh in the market, food for the poor.

Used elsewhere in the period

LXX Ps 84:3 (83:4), 'the sparrow has found a house'; Ps 102:7 (101:8), 'like a lonely sparrow on a housetop'; Tobit 2:10. Diocletian's Price Edict (301 CE) lists sparrows among the cheapest birds sold in bulk (noted by Deissmann, Light from the Ancient East). In the NT the word appears only in Matt 10:29, 31 and Luke 12:6–7.