Quick Definition
σπερμολόγος, ου, ὁ Adj a babbler
Strong's Definition
from 4690 and 3004; a seed-picker (as the crow), i.e. (figuratively) a sponger, loafer (specially, a gossip or trifler in talk)
KJV Usage: babbler
UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament
adjc. | -ου | σπείρω + λέγω
27.19 · Learn · Learn
ignorant show-off, charlatan (a figurative extension of meaning of a term based on the practice of birds in picking up seeds) one who acquires bits and pieces of relatively extraneous information and proceeds to pass them on with pretense and show The term σπερμολόγος is semantically complex in that it combines two quite distinct phases of activity: (1) the acquiring of information and (2) the passing on of such information. Because of the complex semantic structure of σπερμολόγος, it may be best in some languages to render it as ‘one who learns lots of trivial things and wants to tell everyone about his knowledge,’ but in most languages there is a perfectly appropriate idiom for ‘a pseudo-intellectual who insists on spouting off.’ For a different focus on the meaning of σπερμολόγος in ACT 17:18, see 33.381.
33.381 · Communication · Foolish Talk
foolish babbler (a figurative expression, literally: one who picks up seed; originally a reference to birds picking up seed, but figuratively applied to a person who is an information scavenger) one who is not able to say anything worthwhile in view of his miscellaneous collection of tidbits of information For another interpretation of σπερμολόγος in ACT 17:18, see 27.19.
UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament © United Bible Societies, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Thayer's Greek Lexicon
σπερμολόγος, -ov, (σπέρμα, and λέγω to collect) ; 1. picking up seeds: used of birds, Plut. Demet. 28; Athen. 9 p. 387 f.; esp. of the crow or daw that picks up grain in the fields (Germ. Saatkrahe), Arstph. av. 232, 579; Aristot. h. a. 8, 3 p. 592°, 28, and other writ. 2. of men: lounging about the market-place and picking up a subsistence by whatever may chance to fall from the loads of merchandise (Eustath. on Hom. Od. 5, 490 σπερμολόγοι" οἱ περὶ τὰ ἐμπόρια x. ἀγορὰς διατρίβοντες διὰ τὸ ἀναλέγεσθαι τὰ ἐκ τῶν φορτίων ἀπορρέοντα καὶ διὰ ζῆν ἐκ τούτων) ; hence, beggarly, abject, vile, (a parasite); getting a living by flattery and buffoonery, Athen. 3 p. 85 f.; Plut. mor. p. 456 d.; subst. ὁ on. an empty talker, babbler, (Dem. p. 269, 19; Athen. 8 p. 8544 6.): Acts xvii. 18.
Mounce Concise Greek Dictionary
σπερμολόγος spermologos 1x
pr. seed-picking; one who picks up and retails scraps of information; a gossip; a babbler, Acts 17:18*
Abbott-Smith Greek Lexicon
* σπερμολόγος, -ον
(< σπέρμα, λέγω)
a seed picker;
prop., of birds (Arist., Aristoph, al.);
in Attic slang, of an idler who lives on scraps picked up in the agora; hence, as subst., ὁ σ., an idle babbler: Ac 17:18.†
Moulton & Milligan — Vocabulary of the Greek NT
σπερμολόγος. Although we have no fresh light to throw upon this NT Gar. eip. (Ac 1718), it may be convenient to recall one or two facts in its history. Used originally of birds “picking up seed,” it came to be applied in Athenian slang to an adventurer who gains a ‘‘hand-to-mouth ” living in the markets by picking up anything that falls from the loads of merchandise which are being carried about. Hence it passed into the meaning of one gathering scraps of information and retailing them at second-hand without any real knowledge of their meaning. The AV, RV “* babbler,” which goes back to Tindale, is thus not far from the sense, one who talks idly to no definite purpose: see further Ramsay Paul p. 242 f., and Knowling ad Ac dc. in £GT, and cf. Norden 4gn. Theos p. 333, and E. Meyer Ursprung u. Anfinge iii. p. 91. Some of the older definitions are recalled by Chase Credibility of Acts, p. 205—LEtym. Magnum ὃ εὐτελὴς Kal εὐκαταφρόνητος ἄνθρωπος kal ἴσως ἀπὸ τῶν ἀλλοτρίων διαζῶν: Hesych. φλύαρος : Suites εὐρύλογος ἀκριτόμυθος : Onom. Vetus λάλος. Amongst modern renderings we may mention—“‘ prater ” (xixth century), ‘“‘ beggarly babbler’’ (Weymouth), “fellow with scraps of learning” (Moffatt), ““rag-picker” (Goodspeed).
Liddell-Scott-Jones — Greek-English Lexicon
σπερμολόγος (spermologos) — babbler. σπερμο-λόγος, ον, (λέγω) picking up seeds, of birds, [Refs 2nd c.AD+]: as substantive, rook, [Refs 4th c.BC+]; glossed κολοιῶδες ζῷον, [Refs 5th c.BC+]
2. τὰ σπερμολόγα τῶν παιδαρίων guttersnipes, [Refs 2nd c.AD+]
II. picking up scraps, gossiping, ἄνθρωπος [Refs 1st c.BC+]; also πικρὰ καὶ σ. ῥήματα [Refs 1st c.AD+]
III. as substantive, one who picks up and retails scraps of knowledge, an idle babbler, gossip, [NT+4th c.BC+]