τυφόω

From the study of 1 Timothy 3:6

Range of meaning

From typhos, "smoke, vapor, mist." The verb means to wrap in smoke, and so to make someone conceited, to inflate them, or to befuddle them. BDAG gives both "be puffed up, conceited" and the related sense "be blinded, befuddled." The idea is arrogance that clouds a person's thinking.

Against the English

"Conceited" (BSB, NIV, NASB), "puffed up" (WEB, YLT), "lifted up with pride" (KJV). All of these capture the inflated ego. None capture the fog: in Greek this kind of pride is also a kind of delusion, a head full of smoke.

Used elsewhere in the period

Typhos was a set term in Greek moral philosophy. Cynic philosophers in the tradition of Diogenes attacked typhos as the empty, smoky vanity that clouds human judgment, and Philo uses it often for arrogant self-importance. In the Pastoral Letters the word is used for false teachers: 1 Tim 6:4 ("he is puffed up and understands nothing") and 2 Tim 3:4 ("conceited, lovers of pleasure"). Those two places use the perfect tense for a settled condition. Here the aorist form describes the moment of becoming swollen.

From the study of 1 Timothy 6:4

Range of meaning

The verb comes from typhos, "smoke, vapour." Its senses are: (1) to wrap in smoke or befog; (2) to make someone conceited or puffed up; (3) in the passive, to be deluded, stupefied, or even out of one's mind. Arrogance and mental fog belong to the same picture: a head full of smoke.

Against the English

"Proud" (KJV, YLT) and "conceited" (BSB, WEB) catch the arrogance. They lose the second half of the picture: clouded judgement and self-delusion. This is why the next words, "understanding nothing," follow so naturally.

Used elsewhere in the period

Typhos was a favourite target of Cynic and Stoic moral philosophers. For them it was the vain, smoky self-importance that blinds a person to reality. LSJ lists the meanings "conceit, vanity" and "stupor, delusion." In the New Testament the verb appears only in the Pastoral Letters: 1 Tim 3:6 (a new convert who becomes "puffed up"), here, and 2 Tim 3:4 ("swollen with conceit").

From the study of 2 Timothy 3:4

Range of meaning

From typhos, 'smoke, vapour'. Passive: to be wrapped in smoke, so (1) puffed up, conceited, inflated with self-importance; and (2) befogged, deluded, stupefied. Ancient usage often holds both together: conceit as a kind of mental fog.

Against the English

'Conceited' (BSB, WEB, NIV, NASB), 'swollen with conceit' (ESV) and 'puffed up with pride' (NLT) catch the arrogance but lose the smoke picture of being unable to see straight. KJV 'highminded' meant arrogant in 1611 but now sounds like praise. YLT 'lofty' is close to the old sense.

How it drifted

'High-minded' in modern English means having high moral principles, the reverse of what the KJV meant.

Used elsewhere in the period

In the NT only in the Pastoral Letters: 1 Tim 3:6 (a new convert may become 'puffed up' and fall), 1 Tim 6:4 (the false teacher 'is puffed up, understanding nothing'), and here. Cynic and Stoic philosophers made typhos a favourite target: the 'smoke' of empty opinion and vanity that clouds the mind (see Spicq, Theological Lexicon of the NT).