The verb απειλεω (apeileo) means to threaten, or more precise, to hold someone in suspense for either something good (a promise) or something bad (a threat) coming, although in the classics most often something bad was coming or was implied to come.

It's not at all clear where this verb came from, as there are no other words like this one in European languages. But a creative Greek poet may have surmised that this word combined the familiar prefix απο (apo), meaning from or out of, and the word ειλη (eile) or ιλη (ile), a troop or band of men, or the verb ειλω (eilo), to roll up or pack close. These words aren't used in the New Testament, but noun ειλη (eile), may also describe the warmth of the sun and the compound ειλικρινης (eilikrines) describes purity-as-if-made-by-the-sun. Noun ιλη (ile) is used in the compound ομιλος (homilos), a single-minded crowd.

Further creativity may have reminded our Greek poet of the aorist of the verb αιρεω (haireo), to grasp or seize, which assumes the form ειλον (eilon), or even the Hebrew verb אפל ('apal), to make dark.

But whatever the pedigree, our verb is used in the New Testament in Acts 4:17 and 1 Peter 2:23 only. From it derive:

The verb θυλπω (thulpo) literally means to warm or apply warmth to (in order to dry, soften or hatch). This verb was also used figuratively, in the sense of "softening" one's alertness and so deceive that person. But most often, it was used to mean to comfort, cherish or foster, which is how it is used in the New Testament (Ephesians 5:29 and 1 Thessalonians 2:7 only).

The origin of our word is a mystery. There is also an adjective θαλυκροσ (thalukros), warm or glowing, and the "k" of this word appears to be more primitive than the "p" of our verb θυλπω (thulpo) (meaning, the p came from the k and the k came from somewhere else), because it's not uncommon for k's to turn into p's in Greek, although it's not quite understood why this happens. It's also not clear whether, or in which way, our adjective θαλυκροσ (thalukros) is related to the adjective αλυκρος (alukros), lukewarm, from αλεα (warmth), which is a variant of ειλη (eile), sun-warmth which we mention above. Here at Abarim Publications we guess that this latter word has something to do with the familiar noun ηλιος (helios), sun, which we further suspect may have something to do with אלה ('eloah), the Hebrew word for God (see our article on ηλιος, helios, or the name Elijah).

Also as mentioned above, the verb ειλω (eilo) means to roll up or pack close, which is not dissimilar to the verb εντυλισσω (entulisso), meaning to roll, twist or bundle up, which we here at Abarim Publications suspect of having links to the Hebrew verb תלל (talal), to pile up layer upon layer. All this suggests that our verb θυλπω (thulpo) may have been birthed on the intersection of words for sun-warmth and the layering of clothes or perhaps the piling of logs on a fire (or care-givers upon a recipient). But all these are guesses, of course.