or is a Biblical quotation in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

that literally means "the

root In vascular plants, the roots are the organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often below the sur ...

evil Evil, in a general sense, is defined as the opposite or absence of good. It can be an extremely broad concept, although in everyday usage it is often more narrowly used to talk about profound wickedness and against common good. It is general ...

greed Greed (or avarice) is an uncontrolled longing for increase in the acquisition or use of material gain (be it food, money, land, or animate/inanimate possessions); or social value, such as Social status, status, or Power (social and politica ...

", or "the root of evil is want". This Latin phrase is a translation of the original Greek manuscripts of the Bible. The Greek text reads "ῥίζα γὰρ πάντων τῶν κακῶν ἐστιν ἡ φιλαργυρία" (1Ti 6:10 BGT) - literally translated into English as "A root of all the evils is the fond love of money". Daniel Wallace states that ῥίζα (root) is qualitative, since it lacks an article. A more idiomatic understanding of this phrase is, "For every possible kind of evil can be motivated by the love of money." Meaning, greed can lead to any number of different kind of evils, not that all evil is rooted in the

love of money In Christian tradition, the love of money is condemned as a sin primarily based on texts such as Ecclesiastes 5:10 and 1 Timothy 6:10. The Christian condemnation relates to avarice and greed rather than money itself. The Christian texts (script ...

. In a more humanist light, it can denote the acts that greed makes men do, and also the want of survival that leads to muggings. It is translated as "the love of money is the root of all evil" in

King James Version The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an Bible translations into English, English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and publis ...

). It has frequently been rendered as "money is the root of all evil". The original source is 1 Timothy 6:10 (St Jerome's

Vulgate The Vulgate (; also called (Bible in common tongue), ) is a late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bible. The Vulgate is largely the work of Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels u ...

translation). The word ''cupiditas'' is ambiguous, as it may also mean ''cupidity'', or ''strong desire''. The Latin phrase is itself a translation from

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

, where the original word ''philarguria'' can only mean ''love of money''. In the medieval poet

Geoffrey Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer (; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for ''The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He wa ...

's Pardoner's Tale in ''

The Canterbury Tales ''The Canterbury Tales'' ( enm, Tales of Caunterbury) is a collection of twenty-four stories that runs to over 17,000 lines written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer between 1387 and 1400. It is widely regarded as Chaucer's ''Masterpiece, ...

'', this lesson was illustrated. However, because of the Pardoner's dubious character, the Latin saying has ironic connotations. The Modern English word ''cupidity'' is described by OED as etymologically cognate with Latin ''cupidus'', eagerly desirous. There can be no ambiguity nor misunderstanding of the force of the word as used by Catullus: Wikiquote:Gaius Valerius Catullus The OED definition of ''cupidity'' is "Ardent desire, inordinate longing or lust; covetousness", placing the weight firmly on the lecherous side of the reference of this word, which came into English from Latin, and perhaps through French. That its biblical reference is to the desire of filthy lucre seems established, but to the Latin-literate medieval people, the other cultural reference, to the desires of the flesh, would have suggested an alternative meaning.

References

{{Reflist New Testament words and phrases Latin proverbs

See also

References