Ac 17:18 'What will (RV 'would') this babbler say?' The Gr. word translated 'babbler' means one who picks up a precarious living, like a crow. 'The language of such persons,' says Bp. Chase, 'was, and is, plentiful and (on occasion) low'; but it is possible that the Athenians applied the word to St. Paul not on account of his speech, but his looks. In that case the modern coinage 'carpet-bagger' would give the sense.

This is literally 'master of the tongue,' Ec 10:11 : the verse may be translated, "If the serpent bite without enchantment, then the 'charmer' hath no advantage." In Ac 17:18 the word is ??????????? lit. 'seed picker;' a word of contempt; one that picks up idle tales, a gossip, chatterer; 'base fellow,' margin.