Simple

Simple - (Webster's 1828 Dictionary)

SIM'PLE, a. [L. simplex; sine, without and plex, plica, doubling, fold;]

1. Single; consisting of one thing; uncompounded; unmingled; uncombined with any thing else; as a simple substance; a simple idea; a simple sound.

2. Plain; artless; not given to design, stratagem or duplicity; undesigning; sincere; harmless. A simple husbandman in garments gray.

3. Artless; unaffected; unconstrained; inartificial; plain. In simple manners all the secret lies.

4. Unadorned; plain; as a simple style or narration; a simple dress.

5. Not complex or complicated; as a machine of simple construction.

6. Weak in intellect; not wise or sagacious; silly. The simple believeth every word; but the prudent looketh well to his going. Prov 14.

7. In botany, undivided, as a root, stem or spike; only one on a petiole, as a simple leaf; only one on a peduncle, as a simple flower; having only one set of rays, as an umbel; having only one row of leaflets, as a simple calyx; not plumose or fathered, as a pappus. A simple body, in chemisty, is one that has not been decomposed, or separated into two or more bodies.

SIM'PLE, n. Something not mixed or compounded. in the materia medica, the genral denomination of an herb or plant. as each vegetable is supposed to possess its particular virtue, and therefore to constitute a simple remedy.

SIM'PLE, v. i. To gather simples or plants. As simpling on the flowery hills he stray'd.

sim'-p'l: In the Old Testament the uniform tranlation of the Hebrew word pethi (root pathah, "be open"). Like the English word "simple" (etymologically "of one fold"), the Hebrew pethi is used sometimes in a good sense, i.e. "open-minded" (Ps 19:7; 116:6; 119:130, possibly in all three cases the sense is neutral rather than positively good), and sometimes in a bad sense (Pr 7:7, parallel to "destitute of understanding"; Pr 8:5, parallel to "fools" (blockheads); Pr 14:15, opposed to prudent). The fundamental idea of pethi seems to be open to influence, i.e. easily influenced. That one open to influence should as a rule be classed with the irreligious is one of many instances in which language is an unwilling witness to the miasmatic moral atmosphere in which we live. The line between moral weakness and moral turpitude, between negative goodness (if indeed such a thing be conceivable) and positive badness, is soon passed.

In the New Testament the word "simple" is found only in Ro 16:18,19 the King James Version. In the first of these passages it is used to translate akakos (the Revised Version (British and American) "innocent"). In Heb 7:26 the King James Version the same word is rendered "harmless," the rendering of the Revised Version (British and American) in this instance being "guileless." This would suit Ro 16:18 better than "innocent." Guilelessness is not a synonym for gullibility; but the guileless are frequently the prey of designing men. In Ro 16:19 the word translated "simple" is akeraios, literally, "unmixed," "sincere" (Trench and Godet; Young, erroneously "hornless" and so "harmless"). "Uncontaminated" seems to be the idea of the apostle. He would have those to whom he wrote "wise as regards good" and not ignorant as regards evil--for that would be impossible, even if desirable--but without that kind of knowledge of evil that comes from engaging in it, as we say, mixing themselves up with it, unalloyed with evil.

W. M. McPheeters