muron

The lexical tradition is unanimous that this word denotes a manufactured, perfumed unguent, an oil base impregnated with aromatics, and not plain olive oil (BDAG 661, "ointment, perfume"; Louw-Nida section 6.205; LSJ, s.v.; Michaelis, TDNT 4:800-801; Spicq, TLNT 2:542-544; Moulton-Milligan, Vocabulary, 419). Michaelis stresses that the profane verbs of anointing govern this noun, whereas the sacral verb chrio is reserved for messianic anointing, and Luke 7:46 makes the contrast with elaion explicit. The etymology is contested but does not affect the sense: older scholars derived it from a root smer- ("smear, fat"), while Beekes and Chantraine classify it as a Pre-Greek or Semitic culture-word cognate with smyrna and Hebrew mor. R. C. Trench's Synonyms section xxxviii is the classic statement of the elaion/myron distinction. The Septuagint background shapes its New Testament resonance: Exodus 30:25 applies the word to the holy anointing oil, the Song of Songs gives it an erotic register, and Amos 6:6 and 2 Chronicles 16:14 attach it to luxury and burial. The lexically settled sense leaves two active exegetical debates that concern the passages rather than the word: whether the Bethany anointing is fundamentally funerary (Yarbro Collins, France, Daube) or a messianic enthronement (Marcus, Schussler Fiorenza), with many now reading both in tension (Davies-Allison, Luz, Keener); and the meaning of the adjective pistike in Mark 14:3 and John 12:3. In Revelation 18:13 the word functions as a diagnostic marker of imperial luxury trade (Bauckham, Beale).