Why is the word 'unknown' italicized in 'unknown tongue' in 1 Corinthians?
The word 'unknown' is italicized because the translators added it to the text. Italics signal words not found in the original manuscripts but supplied for clarity. In 1 Corinthians 12 and 14, 'unknown tongue' singular refers to sounds that cannot be written down, being non-phonetic and merely noise.
Les explains that whenever you see the word 'tongue' in 1 Corinthians 12 and 14 in the singular, with the added word 'unknown' by the translators, it is italicized in every Bible. That italicization means the translators added it; it was not in the original text. Whenever you see that term, 'unknown tongue' singular, it is talking about a bunch of sounds that cannot be reduced to print. They are not phonetic, and there is no way anybody can write them down. It is just a bunch of noise. Les also notes that Paul speaks of the gift of prophecy under a whole different set of circumstances than today.
For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries.
More Questions
What does 'unknown tongue' in the singular mean in 1 Corinthians 12 and 14?
Whenever the term 'unknown tongue' appears in the singular in 1 Corinthians 12 and 14 — with 'unknown' italicized because the translators added it — it refers to a bunch of sounds that cannot be reduced to print, sounds that are not phonetic and that nobody can write down.