βόρβορος
bórboros
G1004 noun
SILEX Entry
Definition
Thick or viscous mud; filth composed of wet earth, often implying something foul or dirty. In some contexts, can refer more generally to dirty or slimy matter adherent to things or people. Semantic range includes literal mud or mire, as well as figurative use for moral impurity or defilement.
Semantic Range
mud, mire, muck, filthy or slimy dirt, moral impurity (figurative), defilement
Root / Etymology
Etymology uncertain. The word appears to be of imitative or expressive origin, possibly onomatopoeic to represent something filthy or slushy. No clear Indo-European etymology is established, and it may have been part of colloquial or non-literary vocabulary.
Historical & Contextual Notes
Rare in classical Greek, βόρβορος appears occasionally in later Greek (Hellenistic, Koine) and in the Septuagint to denote literal mire or mud (e.g., Psalm 39[40]:3 LXX: ἀνέβιβέν με ἐκ λάκκου ταλαιπωρίας καὶ ἀπὸ πηλοῦ βορβόρου, 'He raised me up from a pit of misery and from the mud of mire'). In New Testament usage (2 Peter 2:22), it functions metaphorically for moral filth or pollution, though still drawing on the literal sense of being soiled by mud. The word is not frequent in major classical authors and seems marked for more vivid or vulgar expressions of dirt than more general terms for 'earth' or 'soil' (e.g., γῆ or χοῦς). English translations often render it as 'mire' or 'muck,' but these can fail to convey the word's strong, almost visceral association with filth and moral contamination. No significant semantic shift is attested between LXX and NT contexts, but the figurative metaphor becomes more pronounced in Judeo-Christian writings, often to intensify the contrast between purity and impurity. Distinct from λίμνη ('pond, pool') and πηλός ('clay, mud'), βόρβορος evokes a sense of something particularly repulsive or sullied.
Original Strong's Gloss (1890)
of uncertain derivation; mud:--mire.
Root Family
βόρβορος (borboros) — mud, mire, filth
Word Forms
1 distinct form
| SIDANCE | Surface | Transliteration | Morphology | Common | SIBI-P1 | SIBI-P2 | Occurrences |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
G1004-01 |
βορβόρου | borborou | N GEN M SG |
in the mire | of filthy mire | mire | 1 |
Occurrences in Scripture
1 occurrence
| SIDANCE | Reference | Word | Transliteration | Morphology | Common | SIBI-P1 | SIBI-P2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
G1004-01 |
2 Peter 2:22 | βορβόρου | borborou | N GEN M SG |
in the mire | of filthy mire | mire |