αἱ

Alphabet Analysis

The word

1. word🔊 αἱ

   hai

   the
2. sentence🔊 ὥστε αἱ γλῶσσαι εἰς σημεῖόν εἰσιν οὐ τοῖς πιστεύουσιν ἀλλὰ τοῖς ἀπίστοις ἡ δὲ προφητεία οὐ τοῖς ἀπίστοις ἀλλὰ τοῖς πιστεύουσιν

   HŌ-ste hai GLŌS-sai eis sē-MEI-on EI-sin ou tois pis-TEU-ou-sin al-LA tois a-PI-stois hē de pro-phē-TEI-a ou tois a-PI-stois al-LA tois pis-TEU-ou-sin

   therefore the tongues for a sign are not to the believing but to the unbelieving the but prophecy not to the unbelieving but to the believing

Exegesis

The subject of the first clause is hai glōssai {αἱ γλῶσσαι | hai glô-ssai} ‘the tongues’, with the prepositional phrase eis sēmeion {εἰς σημεῖόν | eis sē-meî-on} functioning as a predicate complement that describes their purpose or function “for a sign.”

Root and etymology

glōssa🔊 γλῶσσαgamma–lambda–omega–sigma–sigma–alpha

“tongue, language”

• 🔊 γλῶσσαglô-ssatongue, languageActs 2:11
• 🔊 γλωσσολαλίαgamma–lambda–omega–sigma–sigma–omicron–lambda–alpha–lambda–iota–alphaspeaking in tonguesActs 2:4