Exploring the Meaning of Argurokopos in Greek

ἀργυροκόπος means “silversmith,” and it appears in the account of the Ephesian disturbance involving Demetrius. In that setting, the word identifies a particular kind of craftsman whose work is directly tied to a local religious economy.

Root and Related Words

ἀργυροκόπος is presented as deriving from ἄργυρος (argyros), “silver” (Strong’s G696), and κόπτω (kopto), “to cut/mourn” (Strong’s G2875). The combination links the designation to work done with silver and to an action described as “to cut/mourn.”

Occurrences

“For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the craftsmen,” (Acts 19:24)

Here ἀργυροκόπος functions as a vocational identifier placed immediately after the personal name “Demetrius.” The verse then expands on what that trade looked like in practice: he is the one “who made silver shrines of Artemis.” The word therefore does more than label him as someone who works with precious metal; it situates him within a recognizable chain of production in which raw material (“silver”) becomes a finished religious product (“shrines of Artemis”).

The narrative effect in Acts 19:24 is to anchor the ensuing conflict in a concrete craft and a concrete market. Demetrius is not introduced as a theorist or a religious official but as a working artisan whose livelihood is connected to manufactured objects. The clause “brought no little business to the craftsmen” sets his occupation within a broader guild-like environment: there are “craftsmen” plural, and his activity generates substantial commerce for them. In this single verse, ἀργυροκόπος helps frame Demetrius as both producer and economic driver—his identity and influence are tied to what he makes and the income it circulates among others who share related work.

The immediate proximity of “silversmith” to “silver shrines” also gives the word a specific coloration in this context. It is a metalworking profession presented as capable of producing religious articles at a scale that results in noticeable business. The word thereby contributes to the depiction of a thriving artisan economy built around the creation of silver objects associated with Artemis, and it prepares the reader to understand why this kind of work could become the flashpoint for public unrest.

Sense and Usage

In its lone attestation, ἀργυροκόπος is used with a straightforward occupational sense, identifying a person by trade. Yet the surrounding wording shows how that trade could be socially and economically significant. Demetrius’s designation as a silversmith is not incidental biography; it explains the kind of goods being produced (“silver shrines”), the sphere of demand they serve (“of Artemis”), and the commercial network affected (“brought no little business to the craftsmen”).

The term thus carries a practical, workshop-level orientation: it points to skilled manual production with valuable material. Because Acts 19:24 explicitly connects the trade to the making of shrines, the word’s sense in this passage is tied to craftsmanship that supplies tangible objects for devotion and, as the verse stresses, generates substantial revenue. This usage highlights how a single artisan’s specialty could stand at the intersection of religion, manufacturing, and local commerce. The word marks Demetrius as someone whose professional identity is inseparable from the material outputs of his craft and from the economic consequences those outputs have for “the craftsmen” as a group.

As a label, ἀργυροκόπος also helps the narrative compress a great deal of information into a single descriptor: naming Demetrius’s trade immediately suggests what he can produce, what resources he works with, and why his voice might carry weight among other workers. Acts 19:24 reinforces this by apposition—“a silversmith” is further specified by “who made silver shrines of Artemis”—so that the occupation and its characteristic product are treated as mutually interpreting. The result is a vivid portrayal of a craft defined by its medium (silver) and recognizable by its output (shrines), set within an economy large enough to be described as “no little business.”

Imagery

Acts 19:24 evokes the world of the silversmith’s workshop and marketplace: silver formed into “shrines,” craftsmen connected by shared trade, and the movement of “business” generated by religious merchandise. In this scene, ἀργυροκόπος brings into view hands-on making and the weight of commerce that can gather around crafted objects.

Sources: Lexical data from Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance and the Translators Brief Lexicon of Extended Strongs for Greek (STEPBible, CC BY). Occurrence data from the Translators Amalgamated Greek New Testament (STEPBible, CC BY). Scripture quotations from the World English Bible (public domain).