Abarim Publications' online Biblical Greek Dictionary
μνα
The noun μνα (mna) describes a unit of weight, which was used as a major unit of account in the Greek world. The Latin word for it was mina. The mina was commonly silver, and equal to 100 day's wages or drachme (see below) and 1/60th of a ταλαντον (talanton), a talent. A gold mina was worth five times as much as a silver one.
Like many Greek words, the noun μνα (mna) is originally Semitic and relates to the Hebrew verb מנה (mana), to count, and specifically the noun מנה (maneh), unit of account.
The μνα (mna) is mentioned 9 times in the New Testament; see full concordance.
δρασσομαι
The verb δρασσομαι (drassomai) means to grab and specifically with the hand or by the handful (the derived noun δραξ, drax, means a handful; this noun is not used in the New Testament). This verb is part of a poorly attested Proto-Indo-European root "dhergh-", which appears to have reflected a binding (of sheaves) or a closing (of fences).
This curiously specific verb δρασσομαι (drassomai) occurs in 1 Corinthians 3:19 only, where it translates Job 5:13, and specifically the verb לכד (lakad), to capture or seize. With 121 occurrences, this latter verb is rather common. Psalm 9:15 declares: "The nations have sunk down in the pit which they have made; in the net which they hid, their own foot has been caught" (Job 36:8, Isaiah 8:15, Jeremiah 5:26).
Our verb's specific manual element brings to mind Isaiah 40:12: "Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and marked off the heavens by the span, and calculated the dust of the earth by the measure, and weighed the mountains in a balance, and the hills in a pair of scales?"
From this verb derives:
- The noun δραχμη (drachme), literally a handful, and descriptive of a silver coin, the primary unit of account in the Greek world (Luke 15:8 and 15:9 only). The Greek drachma was equal to the Roman δηναριον (denarion), in that either represented one day's wage for a common laborer or soldier. It appears that this coin was named after an earlier economic unit, namely a bundle of six rods of metal bullion (bronze, copper or iron) that a man could hold in one hand. From this noun in turn comes:
- Together with the adverb δις (dis), meaning twice: the noun διδραχμον (didrachmon), a double-drachma. This word occurs twice in Matthew 17:24 only, where it serves as the equivalent of the half-shekel as mentioned in the law of Moses (Exodus 30:12-13).