G3105 — μαίνομαι (maínomai)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: G3105
Original: μαίνομαι
Transliteration: maínomai
Pronunciation: mah'-ee-nom-ahee
Part of Speech: Verb (middle voice deponent)
Root: μάω (máō) — to long for, to desire eagerly; through the idea of insatiate craving
Occurrences: 5 unique verses (6 tokens) in NT
First Occurrence: John 10:20 — "He hath a devil, and is mad (mainetai); why hear ye him?"
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

μαίνομαι — middle voice from a primary μάω (máō, "to long for"); through the idea of insatiate craving: to rave as a madman, to be out of one's mind, to be insane. The word denotes a state of mental derangement perceived by observers — not clinical diagnosis but social judgment that someone's speech or behavior exceeds the bounds of rationality.

Louw-Nida Semantic Domain¶

Domain: 30 — Think
Subdomain: 30.1 — To Think, Thought
Gloss: "to not be in one's right mind; to be insane; to be mad"
Other words in subdomain: ἀνανήφω (G366, "return to one's senses"), ἐκνήφω (G1594, "come to right senses"), σωφρονέω (G4993, "be of sound mind"), μανία (G3130, "madness/insanity"), παραφρονέω (G3912, "be beside oneself")

The domain places μαίνομαι within the cognitive sphere — a disruption of right thinking — rather than in a moral or emotional category.

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation	Count	%
is mad	1	17%
Thou art mad	1	17%
thou art beside thyself	1	17%
I am [not] mad	1	17%
[not] mad	1	17%
ye are mad	1	17%

Every occurrence translates the same core meaning — "to be mad/insane." The KJV renders it variously by person and context but the semantic range is narrow and consistent.

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
Acts	3	0.30
1 Corinthians	1	0.23
John	1	0.11

Concentrated in Acts (3 of 5 occurrences, all in chapters 12 and 26). Absent from the Synoptic Gospels, the General Epistles, and the Apocalypse. Every NT use involves a crowd or authority figure accusing someone of madness — never a narrator's own assessment.

Semantic Categories¶

1. Accusation of Demonic Madness Against Jesus¶

John 10:20 — "And many of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad (mainetai); why hear ye him?" The charge pairs madness with demon-possession — the two explanations crowds reach for when confronted with speech they cannot assimilate. Jesus' claim to be the Good Shepherd who lays down his life provokes this accusation.

2. Disbelief Dismissing an Eyewitness as Delusional¶

Acts 12:15 — "And they said unto her, Thou art mad (mainē). But she constantly affirmed that it was even so. Then said they, It is his angel." Rhoda reports that Peter stands at the gate after his prison escape; the gathered believers dismiss her testimony as madness before proposing a supernatural alternative (his angel). Here μαίνομαι names the reflex of dismissing an incredible but true report.

3. Official Charge Against Prophetic/Apostolic Testimony¶

Acts 26:24 — "Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, thou art beside thyself (mainē); much learning doth make thee mad (mania, G3130)." The Roman governor diagnoses Paul's resurrection testimony as scholarly derangement. μαίνομαι (verb) and μανία (noun) appear together — the full madness word family deployed in a single accusation.
Acts 26:25 — "But he said, I am not mad (mainomai), most noble Festus; but speak forth the words of truth and soberness (sōphrosýnē, G4997)." Paul's rebuttal sets μαίνομαι against σωφροσύνη — madness vs. sound-mindedness. This is the sharpest antonymic pairing in the NT for both words.

4. Outsider Perception of Ecstatic Speech¶

1 Cor 14:23 — "If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned, or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad (mainesthe)?" Paul uses μαίνομαι to describe how outsiders would perceive uninterpreted glossolalia — not as spiritual gift but as collective insanity. The concern is missional: the appearance of madness repels the very people the church should reach.

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
λέγω (légō)	G3004	2x	"they said... thou art mad" — the accusation formula
φημί (phēmí)	G5346	2x	Festus's declaration of Paul's madness
Φῆστος (Phēstos)	G5347	2x	the accuser in Acts 26
πολύς (polýs)	G4183	2x	"many [said]" / "much [learning]"
ἔχω (échō)	G2192	2x	"hath a devil" (Jhn 10:20)
ἀλήθεια (alḗtheia)	G225	1x	"truth and soberness" — Paul's counter to the madness charge
δαιμόνιον (daimónion)	G1140	1x	demon-possession paired with madness (Jhn 10:20)
γλῶσσα (glōssa)	G1100	1x	tongues-speaking context (1 Cor 14:23)
ἐκκλησία (ekklēsía)	G1577	1x	the church assembled (1 Cor 14:23)
γράμμα (grámma)	G1121	1x	"much learning" — the cause Festus assigns

Word Family / Cognates¶

Strong's	Word	POS	Usage	Gloss
G3105	μαίνομαι (maínomai)	verb	5 vv	to be mad, to rave
G1693	ἐμμαίνομαι (emmaínomai)	verb	1x	to rage against, be furiously mad (Acts 26:11 — "being exceedingly mad against them")
G3130	μανία (manía)	noun (f)	1x	madness, insanity (Acts 26:24 — "doth make thee mad")

The three form a tight cluster: μαίνομαι is the base verb, ἐμμαίνομαι adds the prefix ἐν- intensifying to "rage at/against," and μανία is the corresponding noun. All three appear in Acts 26 — Paul's trial before Festus and Agrippa — making it the densest concentration of this word family in the NT.

Synonyms¶

Word	Strong's	Relation
ἐξίστημι (exístēmi)	G1839	"to be beside oneself" — broader range (also "to be amazed"); shares the "out of one's mind" sense (Mk 3:21; 2 Cor 5:13)
παραφρονέω (paraphronéō)	G3912	"to be beside oneself in mind" — same Louw-Nida subdomain; 1x in 2 Cor 11:23
ἄνοια (ánoia)	G454	"mindlessness, folly, madness" — noun used of irrational fury (Lk 6:11) and exposed folly (2 Tim 3:9)
παραφρονία (paraphronía)	G3913	"madness" — noun for Balaam's madness (2 Pet 2:16); same semantic range as μανία

Antonyms¶

Word	Strong's	Relation
σωφροσύνη (sōphrosýnē)	G4997	"soundness of mind, soberness" — explicit antonym in Acts 26:25
σωφρονέω (sōphronéō)	G4993	"to be of sound mind" — the verbal opposite; Mk 5:15 (demoniac now "in his right mind") contrasts with the madness state
νήφω (nḗphō)	G3525	"to be sober, watchful" — opposite pole: clear-headed vigilance vs. madness

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared Translation	Key Difference
ἐξίστημι (exístēmi)	G1839	both translated "beside oneself"	ἐξίστημι primarily means astonishment/amazement (16 of 17 uses); only rarely = "insane" (Mk 3:21; 2 Cor 5:13). μαίνομαι always and only means "mad/insane."
ἄνοια (ánoia)	G454	both rendered "madness"	ἄνοια = mindlessness, folly (rational faculty absent); μαίνομαι = raving (rational faculty actively disordered/overridden)
παραφρονία (paraphronía)	G3913	both rendered "madness"	παραφρονία = thinking "beside" (παρά) one's mind — deviating from right reason; μαίνομαι = raving insanity from insatiate craving. Practically synonymous but different etymological framing.

Domain Neighbors (Louw-Nida 30.1)¶

Strong's	Lemma	Verses	Primary KJV Translation
G366	ἀνανήφω	1	"recover themselves"
G1594	ἐκνήφω	1	"awake" (come to senses)
G3130	μανία	1	"mad"
G3912	παραφρονέω	1	"I speak as a fool"
G3913	παραφρονία	1	"madness"
G4993	σωφρονέω	6	"be in one's right mind"

Hebrew Source¶

No Hebrew OT source maps to G3105 in the LXX-NT alignment data. In the LXX, the μαίνομαι word family renders several Hebrew roots for madness/frenzy, including שָׁגַע (shaga', H7696, "to be mad" — 1 Sam 21:13–15; 2 Kgs 9:11; Jer 29:26; Hos 9:7) and הָלַל (halal in its Hithpael/Poal sense, H1984, "to act madly" — 1 Sam 21:13; Ps 102:8), but these connections are lexical-historical rather than direct NT–LXX bridge alignments.