ἀρτύω G0741
season, make flavorful; to add flavor or preserve through seasoning
This verb means to season food, making it flavorful or preserving it. Jesus uses it metaphorically: if salt loses its saltiness, how can it 'be seasoned' again? It becomes useless (Mark 9:50; Luke 14:34). Paul instructs that speech should always be gracious, 'seasoned with salt,' enabling fitting responses (Col 4:6). The culinary term becomes a metaphor for preserving effectiveness and adding grace. Just as salt seasons and preserves food, believers' words should be marked by grace that makes them both palatable and preserving of truth.
Senses
1. sense 1 — Used of seasoning salt (literally) and speech (metaphorically). Mark 9:50 and Luke 14:34 ask how salt that has lost flavor can 'be seasoned' (ἀρτυθήσεται/ἁλισθήσεται)—rhetorical question showing impossibility. Colossians 4:6 commands speech 'seasoned' (ἠρτυμένος) with salt, gracious and apt for each person. The culinary imagery (French 'assaisonner,' Spanish 'sazonada') conveys adding flavor and preservation, applied to both salt's literal function and believers' gracious, effective communication. 3×
AR["تُمَلِّحُونَهُ", "مُتَبَّلًا", "يُمَلَّحُ"]·ben["সুস্বাদু", "স্বাদযুক্ত-করবে", "স্বাদযুক্ত-হবে"]·DE["ἀρτυθήσεται", "ἀρτύσετε", "ἠρτυμένος"]·EN["having-been-seasoned", "will-it-be-seasoned", "will-you-season"]·FR["assaisonner"]·heb["יְתֻבָּל", "מְתֻבָּל", "תְּתַבְּלוּ"]·HI["सवदिशत", "स्वादिष्ट-करोगे", "स्वादिष्ट-किया-जाएगा?"]·ID["diasinkan", "dibumbui", "kamu-akan-bumbui"]·IT["condire", "ērtumenos"]·jav["badhé-dipunrasani", "dipun-bumboni", "dipun-damel-asin"]·KO["간하겠느냐", "맛을-낸", "맛이-나게-하랴"]·PT["será-temperado", "temperada", "temperareis"]·RU["приправите", "приправлена-будет", "приправленное"]·ES["sazonada", "sazonaréis", "será-sazonada"]·SW["itakolezwa", "likikolezwa", "mtaikoleza"]·TR["lezzetlendireceksiniz", "tatlandirilmis", "tuzlanacak"]·urd["ذائقہدار-کرو-گے", "مزےدار-کیا-ہوا", "نمکین-ہو-گا"]
Related Senses
H8081 1. oil (substance) (180×)H3196 1. wine (fermented grape juice) (141×)H1706 1. honey (54×)H4682 1. unleavened bread/cakes (53×)H2461 1. milk (42×)H8492 1. new wine / must (38×)H0400 1. food, nourishment (36×)G3631 1. wine (34×)H3978 1. food, nourishment (30×)H1314 1. spice / perfume / balsam (29×)H7416 1. pomegranate (fruit/ornament) (28×)H3323 1. fresh oil, olive oil (23×)H2964 1. prey, torn flesh (19×)H3899 2. food, sustenance (19×)G1033 1. food (17×)G5160 1. food (16×)H5561 1. spices, aromatic substances (16×)H0402 1. food, nourishment (14×)G2219 1. leaven (13×)H4478a 1. manna (13×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
ἀρτύω Refs 8th c.BC+, imperfect ἤρτῠονRefs 8th c.BC+, the only tenses in Refs 8th c.BC+future ἀρτύσω [ῡ] Refs 5th c.BC+: aorist ἤρτῡσαRefs 5th c.BC+perfect ἤρτῡκα (κατ-) Refs 4th c.BC+:—passive, perfect ἤρτῡμαιRefs 5th c.BC+aorist ἠρτύθην [ῡ] Refs 2nd c.AD+ —like ἀρτύνω, arrange, prepare, make ready, of things requiring skill or cunning, e.g. of a smith, τὰ δ᾽ ἤρτυεRefs 8th c.BC+ __II in culinary…