βιβλαρίδιον

From the study of Revelation 10:9

Range of meaning

A small scroll or short document. The word adds a diminutive ending to biblion ('scroll, written document'), which itself began as a diminutive of biblos (papyrus, book). In Greek of this period the 'little' sense of such endings was often weak, so the word may mean simply 'scroll' with only a slight sense of small size.

Against the English

The KJV's 'little book' makes a modern reader think of a bound codex with pages. Modern versions give 'small/little scroll', which is accurate. Note that 10:8 calls the same object a biblion, without the diminutive.

How it drifted

In 1611 'book' could still mean any written document, including a roll. Today it suggests a bound volume.

Used elsewhere in the period

Very rare. Outside Revelation 10 it is barely attested (BDAG lists it with few parallels), and copyists produced variant spellings (βιβλιδάριον) and sometimes replaced it with the ordinary βιβλίον. The scene's model, Ezekiel 2:9 LXX, has κεφαλὶς βιβλίου, a 'roll of a scroll', written front and back.

From the study of Revelation 10:10

Range of meaning

A diminutive of βιβλίον (itself a diminutive of βίβλος, 'papyrus, scroll'), so literally a 'little scroll' or 'scrolllet'. It means a written roll of papyrus or parchment, a document. In this period it never means a bound book with pages.

Against the English

KJV's 'little book' makes modern readers picture a bound volume. BSB, NIV, ESV and others give 'little/small scroll', which is accurate. In 10:8 John calls the same object simply a βιβλίον ('scroll'), so the 'little' should not be pushed too hard.

How it drifted

'Book' in the KJV followed the Latin liber/libellus. By the 1600s a book meant a bound volume. Christians had used the bound codex early, but John's imagery is of a roll, like Ezekiel's 'scroll of a book' (Ezek 2:9).

Used elsewhere in the period

The word is extremely rare. It appears almost only in Revelation 10, and the copyists' confusion (βιβλιδάριον, βιβλίδιον, βιβλίον) shows they did not know it well. The scene it belongs to comes from Ezekiel 2:9–3:3, where a hand holds out a written scroll (Greek κεφαλὶς βιβλίου) covered front and back with 'lamentations, mourning and woe' (Ezek 2:10).