StrongerBible

toinun

τοίνυν

GreekG5106“therefore, then, ...”

Appears 4 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Luk 20:251Co 9:26Heb 13:13Jas 2:24
Compound of
toíτοί an enclitic particle of asseveration by way of contrast; in soothG5104
nunνῦνnow150G3568
Word studyResearch-gradeTOY-noonconjunction

What toinun means

therefore, then, accordingly: a connecting word that draws a conclusion from what was just said and presses it on the listener

TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled

Toinun is a small connecting word, like "so," "then," or "accordingly" in English. It signals that what follows is the logical result of what came just before. In that much it overlaps with the far more common Greek word for "therefore" (oun). What sets toinun apart is a built-in nudge toward the person being addressed. It is built from two pieces, the second meaning "now" and the first an old word of direct address that carries the sense "I tell you, mind this." So the word does not merely link two thoughts in the abstract: it turns to the hearer and says, in effect, "so then, you see."

That extra edge explains why the word is rare and where it shows up. It belongs to formal speech and argument, the language of orators and debaters, and in the New Testament it appears only in its three most polished writers, in Luke, in Paul, and in Hebrews. Each time, it marks the moment a speaker turns to confront, exhort, or apply: Jesus throwing his opponents' own answer back at them, Paul turning the spotlight onto himself as an example, and the writer of Hebrews pivoting from teaching to a direct call to action.

The word is genuinely single in meaning. The differences from verse to verse, a dialogue's "well then," the opening of a personal application, a call to action, are differences of setting, not of definition. In every case it is the same inferential "therefore" with the same appeal to the hearer.

Luk 20:251Co 9:26Heb 13:13Jas 2:24

What scholars say about toinun

The lexicons and grammars converge tightly: τοίνυν is an inferential particle ("therefore, then, accordingly") drawing a logical conclusion, attested from Pindar onward and absent in Homer (LSJ; Thayer; Abbott-Smith; BDAG; Muraoka, GELS; Louw-Nida domain 89.50; Wallace lists it among the inferential conjunctions). Etymologically it is τοί + νῦν, the appellative enclitic τοί (a fossilized dative of σύ, "I tell you, you know") plus the inferential adverb νῦν (so Thayer, LSJ, Abbott-Smith, BDAG, Moulton-Milligan, Robertson, Word Pictures on Heb 13:13). The grammarians agree on a positional point: classical Attic uses τοίνυν strictly postpositive (never clause-initial; Smyth §1155; BDF §451(6); Robertson; Turner, Moulton-Turner III, 337), whereas Koine relaxes the rule and fronts it. In the NT, 1 Cor 9:26 (ἐγὼ τοίνυν) preserves classical postpositive order, while Heb 13:13 is clause-initial and is cited by LSJ and Thayer as the showcase NT example of the un-classical placement; Luke 20:25 is clause-initial in the critical text (Tischendorf, Tregelles, WH, NA28) but postpositive in the Byzantine/TR. The most significant modern refinement is the discourse-pragmatic distinction between τοίνυν and οὖν developed by Dutch classicists in dialogue with Denniston: van Ophuijsen (Two Studies in Attic Particle Usage, 1993), Wakker (Discourse Cohesion in Ancient Greek, 2009), and Trompelt (Ancient Greek Linguistics, 2017) argue that οὖν operates at the representational level (linking thoughts logically) while τοίνυν operates at the interactional level (linking thoughts logically while appealing to the addressee), an account also adopted by Bonifazi, Drummen & de Kreij (Particles in Ancient Greek Discourse, CHS 79, 2016) and Huitink & Nijk (BMCR 2022.02.39). This explains the NT distribution, confined to Luke, Paul, and Hebrews at sharpened rhetorical pivots. Commentators read each occurrence inferentially with a dialogic or hortatory edge (Marshall, Fitzmyer, Bock, Bovon on Luke 20:25; Fee, Thiselton, Garland, Ciampa-Rosner on 1 Cor 9:26; Ellingworth, Lane, Attridge, Bruce on Heb 13:13). τοίνυν has no entry in TDNT. In the LXX it clusters in books of free or literary Greek (Wisdom, 4 Maccabees, Isaiah), and at LXX Isaiah 3:10 it is a clause-initial free addition with no Hebrew counterpart, a direct parallel to Heb 13:13 (Conybeare & Stock §39; Aejmelaeus).

Where scholars disagree about toinun

The make-up of the word's first element, τοι-. The standard reading takes it as the old appellative particle τοί (a fossilized dative of "you," carrying the force "I tell you, you know"), which is the basis of the modern view that τοίνυν appeals to the addressee; Goodell proposed instead that the τοι- is a fossilized demonstrative dative τῷ. The minority view, if correct, would weaken the interactional account.

  • majorityτοι- is the appellative enclitic τοί (dative of σύ).; LSJ, s.v. τοίνυν; Thayer, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, s.v. τοίνυν; A. T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament, on Hebrews 13:13
  • minorityτοι- is a fossilized demonstrative dative τῷ.; T. D. Goodell, A School Grammar of Attic Greek, §673b
In-depth research

This is a research paper, so it may be hard to read without scholarly background. It is useful if you want to dig even deeper into this word.

Sources

  • LSJ, A Greek-English Lexicon, s.v. τοίνυνlexicon
  • BDAG, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, 3rd ed., s.v. τοίνυνlexicon
  • Thayer, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, s.v. τοίνυνlexicon
  • Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, s.v. τοίνυνlexicon
  • T. Muraoka, A Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint (2009), s.v. τοίνυνlexicon
  • Louw & Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domains, domain 89.50lexicon
  • F. Blass, A. Debrunner & R. Funk, A Greek Grammar of the New Testament, §451(6)grammar
  • H. W. Smyth, Greek Grammar, §1155grammar
  • A. T. Robertson, A Grammar of the Greek New Testament; Word Pictures in the New Testament, on Hebrews 13:13grammar
  • N. Turner, A Grammar of New Testament Greek (Moulton-Turner) III: Syntax (1963), 337grammar
  • D. B. Wallace, Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics (1996), 761grammar
  • J. M. van Ophuijsen, "οὖν, ἄρα, δή, τοίνυν," in Sicking & van Ophuijsen, Two Studies in Attic Particle Usage (Mnemosyne Suppl. 129, 1993), 67-164monograph
  • G. C. Wakker, "Well I Will Now Present My Arguments," in Bakker & Wakker, Discourse Cohesion in Ancient Greek (Brill, 2009), 63-81monograph
  • N. Trompelt, in Logozzo & Poccetti (eds.), Ancient Greek Linguistics (2017), ch. 10monograph
  • A. Bonifazi, A. Drummen & M. de Kreij, Particles in Ancient Greek Discourse (CHS 79, 2016), IV.4monograph
  • L. Huitink & A. Nijk, review of the Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2022.02.39article
  • K. Bentein, "Inferential Expressions and their Social Value in Greek Official Petitions," Acta Classica 59 (2016): 23-51article
  • I. H. Marshall, The Gospel of Luke (NIGTC, 1978), on 20:25commentary
  • G. D. Fee, The First Epistle to the Corinthians (NICNT, rev. 2014), on 9:26commentary
  • P. Ellingworth, The Epistle to the Hebrews (NIGTC, 1993), on 13:13commentary
  • W. L. Lane, Hebrews 9-13 (WBC 47B, 1991), on 13:13commentary
  • D. C. Allison, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistle of James (ICC, 2013), on 2:24commentary

AI-generated word study · claude-opus-4-8

All attested forms of τοίνυν

conj

τοίνυν

Luk 20:25, 1Co 9:26, Heb 13:13, Jas 2:24