γλῶσσα, γλωσης, ἡ (from Homer down), the tongue; 1. the tongue, a member of the body, the organ of speech: Mar_7:33; Mar_7:35; Luk_1:64; Luk_16:24; 1Co_14:9; Jas_1:26; Jas_3:5-6; Jas_3:8; 1Pe_3:10; 1Jn_3:18; (Rev_16:10). By a poetic and rhetorical usage, especially Hebraistic, that member of the body which is chiefly engaged in some act has ascribed to it what belongs to the man; the tongue is so used in Act_2:26 (ἠγαλλιάσατο ἡ γλῶσσα μου); Rom_3:13; Rom_14:11; Php_2:11 (the tongue of every man); of the little tongue-like flames symbolizing the gift of foreign tongues, in Act_2:3. 2. a tongue, i. e. the language used by a particular people in distinction from that of other nations: Act_2:11; hence, in later Jewish usage (Isa_66:18; Dan_3:4; Dan_5:19 Theod.; Theod.; Jdg_3:8) joined with φυλή, λαός, ἔθνος, it serves to designate people of various languages (cf. Winer's Grammar, 32), Rev_5:9; Rev_7:9; Rev_10:11; Rev_11:9; Rev_13:7; Rev_14:6; Rev_17:15. λαλεῖν ἑτέραις γλώσσαις to speak with other than their native i. e. in foreign tongues, Act_2:4, cf. Act_2:6-11; γλώσσαις λαλεῖν καιναῖς to speak with new tongues which the speaker has not learned previously, Mar_16:17 (but Tr text WH text omit; Tr marginal reading brackets καιναῖς); cf. DeWette on Acts, p. 27ff (correct and supplement his references by Meyer on 1Co_12:10; cf. also B. D. under the word Tongues, Gift of). From both these expressions must be carefully distinguished the simple phrases λαλεῖν γλώσσαις, γλώσσαις λαλεῖν, λαλεῖν γλώσσῃ, γλώσσῃ λαλεῖν (and προσεύχεσθαι γλώσσῃ, 1Co_14:14), to speak with (in) a tongue (the organ of speech), to speak with tongues; this, as appears from 1Co_14:7 ff, is the gift of men who, rapt in an ecstasy and no longer quite masters of their own reason and consciousness, pour forth their glowing spiritual emotions in strange utterances, rugged, dark, disconnected, quite unfitted to instruct or to influence the minds of others: Act_10:46; Act_19:6; 1Co_12:30; 1Co_13:1; 1Co_14:2; 1Co_14:4-6; 1Co_14:13; 1Co_14:18; 1Co_14:23; 1Co_14:27; 1Co_14:39. The origin of the expression is apparently to be found in the fact, that in Hebrew the tongue is spoken of as the leading instrument by which the praises of God are proclaimed (ἡ τῶν θείων ὕμνων μελῳδός, 4Ma_10:21, cf. Psalm 34:28 (); (); (); Psa_125:2 (); Act_2:26; Php_2:11; λαλεῖν ἐν γλώσσῃ, Psa_38:4 (), and that according to the more rigorous conception of inspiration nothing human in an inspired man was thought to be active except the tongue, put in motion by the Holy Spirit (κατάχρηται ἕτερος αὐτοῦ τοῖς φωνητηριοις ὀργάνοις, στόματι καί γλωττη πρός μηνυσιν ὧν ἄν θέλῃ, Philo, rer. div. haer. § 53 (i. 510, Mang. edition)); hence, the contrast διατουνως (critical editions τῷ νοι<) λαλεῖν, 1Co_14:19 cf. 1Co_14:9. The plural in the phrase γλώσσαις λαλεῖν, used even of a single person (1Co_14:5 f), refers to the various motions of the tongue. By metonymy, of the cause for the effect, γλῶσσαι tongues are equivalent to λόγοι ἐν γλώσσῃ (1Co_14:19) words spoken in a tongue (Zungenvorträge): 1Co_13:8; 1Co_14:22; γένη γλωσσῶν, 1Co_12:10; 1Co_12:28, of which two kinds are mentioned viz. προσευχή and ψαλμός, 1Co_14:15; γλῶσσαν ἔχω, something to utter with a tongue, 1Co_14:26. (On 'Speaking with Tongues' see, in addition to the discussions above referred to, Wendt in the 5th edition of Meyer on Acts (Act_2:4); Heinrici, Korinthierbriefe, i., 372ff; Schaff, Hist. of the Chr. Church, i. 234-245 (1882); Farrar, St. Paul, i. 95ff.)

γλῶσσα glōssa 50x the tongue, Mar_7:33 ; Mar_7:35 , et al.; meton. speech, talk, 1Jn_3:18 ; a tongue, language, Act_2:11 ; 1Co_13:1 , et al.; meton. a language not proper to a speaker, a gift or faculty of such language, Mar_16:17 ; 1Co_14:13-14 ; 1Co_14:26 , et al.; from Hebrew, a nation, as defined by its language, Rev_5:9 , et al.; lit. a tongue-shaped flail, Act_2:3 language; tongue.

γλῶσσα , -ης , ἡ , [in LXX chiefly for H3956 ;] 1. the tongue, as the organ of speech: Mar_7:33 ; Mar_7:31 Luk_1:64 ; Luk_16:24 , Act_2:26 ( LXX ), Rom_3:13 ( LXX ) Rom_14:11 ( LXX ), 1Co_14:9 , Php_2:11 , Jas_1:26 ; Jas_3:5-8 , 1Pe_3:10 ( LXX ), 1Jn_3:18 , Rev_16:10 ; of a tongue-like object, Act_2:3 2. a tongue, language: Act_2:11 ; joined with φυλή , λαός , ἔθνος , freq . in pl., Rev_5:9 ; Rev_7:9 ; Rev_10:11 ; Rev_11:9 ; Rev_13:7 ; Rev_14:6 ; Rev_17:15 ; λαλεῖν ἑτέραις γ ., Act_2:4 ; γ . λαλεῖν καιναῖς , WH , txt . ( RV , mg ., omit καιναῖς , Mar_16:17 ; λαλεῖν γλώσσαις , γλώσσῃ ( v . ICC , ll c .; DB , iv, 793 ff .), Mar_16:17 , WH , txt ., R , mg ., Act_10:46 ; Act_19:6 , 1Co_12:30 ; 1Co_13:1 ; 1Co_14:2-6 ; 1Co_14:13 ; 1Co_14:18 ; 1Co_14:23 ; 1Co_14:27 ; 1Co_14:39 ; γλῶσσαι ( = λόγοι ἐν γλώσσῃ , 1Co_14:19 ), 1Co_13:8 ; 1Co_14:22 ; γένη γλωσσῶν , 1Co_12:10 ; 1Co_12:28 ; προσεύχεσθαι γλώσσῃ , 1Co_14:14 ; γλῶσσαν ἔχειν , 1Co_14:26 ( Cremer , 163, 679).†

γλῶσσα [page 128] Most of the occurrences of this noun, which retains both form and meaning in MGr, need no particular comment. P Oxy I. 138 (A.D. 183 or 215) saepe , the monthly meat bill of a cook, tells us that tongue was a favourite article of diet; so also the numerous passages in inscrr. where in the ritual of sacrifice the victim s tongue is mentioned as a special perquisite. The word figures prominently in magical documents. P Lond 124 .31 (iv/v A.D.) (= I. p. 122) βάλλε εἰς αὐτὸ γλῶσσαν βαθράκου shows the frog s tongue playing the same part as tongue of dog in the witches spell in Macbeth : so also ib. 46 .294 (iv/A.D.) (= I. p. 74). There are many curses which bind the tongue of their object : thus Syll 808 (Corcyra) Σιλανοῦ τὸν νόον καὶ τὰν γλῶσσαν τουτεῖ καταγράφω Silanus himself and three witnesses who enabled him to win a suit are cursed with this leaden tablet in mind and tongue. So ib. 809 (Piraeus, iv/iii B.C.) begins Μικίωνα ἐγὼ ἔλαβον καὶ κατ̣έδησα τὰς χεῖρας καὶ τοὺς πόδας καὶ τὴν γλῶσσαν καὶ τὴν ψυχήν . καὶ εἴ τι μέλλειε ( l. μέλλει a confusion with aor. opt.) ὑπὲρ Φίλωνος ῥῆμα μοχθηρὸν φθένγεσθαι , ἡ γλῶσσα αὐτοῦ μόλυβδος γένοιτο , καὶ κέντ [η ]σον α [ὐτ ]οῦ τὴν γλῶσσαν the changes on these formulae are rung in the rest of the document. Deissmann, LAE , p. 306 ff., refers to thirty of Wόnsch s Attic defixiones where the tongue is bound or cursed. He shows that this was supposed to produce dumbness, and interprets Mar_7:35 as release from what was believed to be a daemonic binding. Thumb, Gr. Dial. p. 22, points out that grammarians used γλῶσσα not only for language but also for local peculiarities of speech : thus Δωρὶς γὰρ διάλεκτος μία ὑφ᾽ ἥν εἰσι γλῶσσαι πολλαί , sub-dialects. This leaves us free, if we choose, to reduce very considerably the abnormality of the tongues, which need not always have been foreign languages as Act_2:4 (cf. Act_2:6 ff. ). We find it applied to a real foreign language in P Giss I. 99 .9 (B.C. 80 79) ὕμνοι μὲν ἄι [δονται ] γλώτ̣τῃ ξενικῇ : the ττ goes with ταῖν στήλαιν and other recherchι archaisms to show that the piece is not tainted with vernacular! The tongue of slander appears in P Lond 122 .34 (iv/A.D.) (= I. p. 117) διάσωσόν μου πάνδοτε εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα ἀπὸ φαρμάκων καὶ δολίων καὶ βασκοσύνην πάσης καὶ γλωττῶν πονηρῶν Milton s evil tongues.

γλῶσσα [Etym: deriv. uncertain] "the tongue", Hom. , etc. "the tongue", as the organ of speech, γλώσσης χάριν through love "of talking", Hes. , Aesch. ; ἀπὸ γλώσσης by "word of mouth", Hdt. , Thuc. ; οὐκ ἀπὸ γλώσσης not by "word of mouth", not from "mere hearsay", Aesch. ; so, οὐ κατὰ γλῶσσαν Soph. ; ἱέναι γλῶσσαν to let loose one's "tongue", speak without restraint, id=Soph. ; pl., κερτομίοις γλώσσαις, i.e. with blasphemies, id=Soph. :—for βοῦς ἐπὶ γλώσσηι, v. βοῦς. "a tongue, language", Hom. , Hdt. , etc. "the tongue or mouthpiece" of a pipe, Aeschin.

γλῶσσα, -ης, ἡ, [in LXX chiefly for לָשׁוֹן ;] __1. the tongue, as the organ of speech: Mrk.7:33, 35 Luk.1:64 16:24, Act.2:26" (LXX), Rom.3:13 (LXX) 14:11 (LXX), 1Co.14:9, Php.2:11, Jas.1:26 3:5, 6 8, 1Pe.3:10" (LXX), 1Jo.3:18, Rev.16:10; of a tongue-like object, Act.2:3. __2. a tongue, language: Act.2:11; joined with φυλή, λαός, ἔθνος, frequently in pl., Rev.5:9 7:9 10:11 11:9 13:7 14:6 17:15; λαλεῖν ἑτέραις γ., Act.2:4; γ. λαλεῖν καιναῖς, WH, txt. (RV, mg., omit καιναῖς), Mrk.16:17; λαλεῖν γλώσσαις, γλώσσῃ (see ICC, ll. with; DB, iv, 793ff.), Mrk.16:17, WH, txt., R, mg., Act.10:46 19:6, 1Co.12:30 13:1 14:2, 4-6, 13, 18, 23, 27, 39; γλῶσσαι (= λόγοι ἐν γλώσσῃ, 1Co.14:19), 1Co.13:8 14:22; γένη γλωσσῶν, 1Co.12:10, 28; προσεύχεσθαι γλώσσῃ, 1Co.14:14; γλῶσσαν ἔχειν, 1Co.14:26 (Cremer, 163, 679). † (AS)