συνείδω, σύνοιδα

From the study of 1 Corinthians 4:4

Range of meaning

Literally "to know together with": to share knowledge with someone, to be an accomplice or witness to what they did. Used with a reflexive pronoun ("with myself"), it becomes a fixed phrase: to be privately aware of something about oneself. Most often that something is guilt, so "I am conscious of nothing with myself" is the normal Greek way to say "I know of nothing against me." The noun formed from it, syneidēsis, is the usual New Testament word for "conscience."

Against the English

KJV "I know nothing by myself" was accurate in 1611, when "by" could mean "against" or "concerning". Today it reads as "I know nothing on my own." BSB and NIV put it as "my conscience is clear", which gets the sense right but is a modern idiom. ESV and NASB keep the Greek shape: aware or conscious of nothing against myself.

How it drifted

The KJV wording drifted because the English preposition "by" lost its older sense of "against, with respect to." Modern "conscience" also tends to mean an inner guide that tells you in advance what is right. The ancient word mostly meant looking back and being aware, usually painfully, of what you had done.

Used elsewhere in the period

Plato, Apology 21b: Socrates says he is conscious with himself (synoida emautō) of being wise in nothing, great or small. Job 27:6 (Greek Old Testament): Job protests "I am not conscious with myself of having done anything out of place". It is an innocence claim very close to Paul's. Horace, Epistles 1.1.61, gives the Latin equivalent: nil conscire sibi, "to be conscious of nothing against oneself, to turn pale at no fault." C. A. Pierce (Conscience in the New Testament) showed that in ordinary Greek usage the conscience is mainly the faculty that pains you after a wrong.

From the study of Acts 12:12

Range of meaning

Second aorist participle of συνοράω, 'to see together', meaning to take something in all at once: perceive, become aware of, realize, grasp a situation. The same form appears in Acts 14:6, where Paul and Barnabas 'became aware' of a plot and fled.

Against the English

KJV/YLT 'having considered' and WEB 'thinking about that' suggest that Peter stood and weighed things up. BSB, ESV and NASB ('realized') and NIV ('dawned on him') capture the sudden, clear understanding better.

How it drifted

In 1611, 'consider' could still carry the Latin sense 'look at closely, observe', but modern English hears 'deliberate, ponder'. The Greek is about perceiving, not deliberating.

Used elsewhere in the period

BDAG s.v. συνοράω gives 'perceive, realize, become aware of'. In the Septuagint (2 Maccabees 4:41; 5:17; 14:26, 30) it is used of someone grasping what is going on. Classical writers use it of taking in a situation at a glance.

From the study of 1 Maccabees 4:21

Range of meaning

"To see together, see at a glance, take in all at once". From this comes 'to perceive, realise, understand' a situation. The prefix συν- ('together') suggests putting the pieces together.

Against the English

"Perceived" (KJV, Brenton, WEB) is good. "Seeing" for the second occurrence (KJV, Brenton) is weaker. The Greek repeats the same verb, which signals a second realisation rather than just a second sight.

Used elsewhere in the period

In the NT, Acts 12:12 (Peter 'realised' where he was) and Acts 14:6 (the apostles 'learned of' the plot). It is common in the Septuagint and Hellenistic historians for grasping a military situation.