G3376 — μήν (mēn)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: G3376
Original: μήν
Transliteration: mēn
Pronunciation: mane
Part of Speech: Masculine noun (n-m)
Root: Primary word
Occurrences: 18 unique verses (18 tokens) across 5 books
First Occurrence: Luke 1:24 — "And after those days his wife Elisabeth conceived, and hid herself five months, saying,"
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

A primary word; a month.

Louw-Nida Semantic Domain¶

Domain: 067 — Time
Subdomain: 067.009 — Definite Units of Time: Year, Month, Week, Day, Hour
Other words in subdomain: ἐνιαυτός (G1763, "year"), ἔτος (G2094, "years/years old"), ἡμέρα (G2250, "day"), σάββατον (G4521, "sabbath/week"), ὥρα (G5610, "hour")

Domain Neighbors (067.009 — Definite Units of Time)¶

Strong's	Lemma	Total Verses	Primary KJV Translation(s)
G1763	ἐνιαυτός	12	year, a year
G2094	ἔτος	46	years, years old
G1332	διετής	1	two years old
G1333	διετία	3	two, two years
G2073	ἑσπέρα	3	evening, eventide

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation	Verses	%
months	14	77.8%
month	3	16.7%
a month	1	5.6%

The word is translated uniformly — always "month" or "months" with no semantic variation in the KJV.

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
Revelation	6	1.5
James	1	0.9
Galatians	1	0.7
Acts	5	0.5
Luke	5	0.4

Concentrated in Luke-Acts (10 of 18 uses, same author) and Revelation (6 uses). Absent from the Pauline epistles (except Gal 4:10), the Gospels of Matthew/Mark/John, and the General Epistles (except James). No OT usage — this is the NT Greek word; the LXX uses μήν to translate H2320 (chodesh) and H3391 (yerach).

Semantic Categories¶

1. Duration of Historical Events¶

Months as a measure of elapsed time in narrative. - Luke 1:24 — Elisabeth "hid herself five months" - Luke 1:56 — "Mary abode with her about three months, and returned to her own house" - Acts 7:20 — Moses "nourished up in his father's house three months" - Acts 18:11 — Paul "continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God" - Acts 19:8 — Paul "spake boldly for the space of three months" - Acts 20:3 — "there abode three months" - Acts 28:11 — "after three months we departed in a ship of Alexandria"

2. Calendrical / Chronological Markers¶

Identifying a specific point in time by month. - Luke 1:26 — "in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God" - Luke 1:36 — "this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren"

3. Prophetic / Apocalyptic Time Periods¶

Months as units in prophetic duration statements. - Revelation 9:5 — "they should be tormented five months" - Revelation 9:10 — "their power was to hurt men five months" - Revelation 9:15 — "prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year" - Revelation 11:2 — "the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months" - Revelation 13:5 — "power was given unto him to continue forty and two months"

4. Recurring Cyclical Time¶

Months as a repeating natural cycle. - Revelation 22:2 — "the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month"

5. Calendrical Observance (Negative)¶

Month-keeping as religious observance. - Galatians 4:10 — "Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years"

6. Duration Referencing OT Precedent¶

Months linking back to an OT event. - Luke 4:25 — "the heaven was shut up three years and six months" - James 5:17 — "it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months"

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
τρεῖς (treis)	G5140	7x (39%)	"three months" — duration of stays/events
ἐνιαυτός (eniautos)	G1763	4x (22%)	"a year and six months" — combined time expressions
ἡμέρα (hēmera)	G2250	4x (22%)	"days... months" — time units listed together
πέντε (pente)	G4002	3x (17%)	"five months" — the locust torment duration
ἕξ (hex)	G1803	3x (17%)	"six months" — Elisabeth's pregnancy stage
δίδωμι (didōmi)	G1325	3x (17%)	"power was given... months" — authority granted for a period
ποιέω (poieō)	G4160	3x (17%)	"continue forty and two months" — exercising power
ἐξουσία (exousia)	G1849	2x (11%)	"power... months" — authority for set duration

The most common numeral is "three" (7x), followed by "five" (3x) and "six" (3x). The number forty-two appears in two key Revelation passages (11:2; 13:5) but as a compound with the separate word for "two."

Synonyms¶

G2540 καιρός (kairos) — season, appointed time; overlaps with mēn when a month functions as a defined period within a larger chronology.

Antonyms¶

No antonyms returned by search_relationships.py for G3376.

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared Translation	Key Difference
חֹדֶשׁ (chodesh)	H2320	"month/months"	OT Hebrew; means both "new moon" and "month" — carries lunar/cultic connotations that μήν does not
יֶרַח (yerach)	H3391	"month/months"	OT Hebrew; from root for "moon" — emphasizes the lunar cycle; used for duration periods
יְרַח (yerach)	H3393	"month"	Aramaic cognate of H3391; appears once in Daniel

G3376 is a straightforward time-unit word with no cultic or lunar overtones in NT usage, unlike its Hebrew OT equivalents.

UBS Semantic Domains¶

Code	Domain Label	Notes
067	Time	`search_relationships.py` places mēn in the UBS time domain, fitting its uniform NT use for calendrical duration and date-marking.

Hebrew Source (via LXX)¶

Hebrew Source	Strong's	Co-occurrences	PMI Score
חֹדֶשׁ (chodesh)	H2320	107	30.73
שָׁנֶה (shaneh)	H8141	51	15.80
יֶרַח (yerach)	H3391	7	14.50

The dominant Hebrew source is H2320 (chodesh), which the LXX consistently renders with μήν. The high co-occurrence with H8141 (shaneh, "year") reflects passages where months and years appear together in date formulae.