"Fruit of the vine": literal or idiom?

[DataPacRat]

It was recently suggested that I might be something resembling a sort of humanistic Nazirite, holy unto a Lord I have no real belief in. The ensuing discussion migrated to whether the Biblical phrase 'fruit of the vine' was written to mean the literal fruit from vines, that is, grapes and grape-derived products; or meant more idiomatically, that is, wine and alcohol in general.

Would there be anyone here who has studied enough ancient Middle-eastern etymology and oenology to have an educated guess at the answer?

 

[drich0150]

It was recently suggested that I might be something resembling a sort of humanistic Nazirite, holy unto a Lord I have no real belief in. The ensuing discussion migrated to whether the Biblical phrase 'fruit of the vine' was written to mean the literal fruit from vines, that is, grapes and grape-derived products; or meant more idiomatically, that is, wine and alcohol in general.

Would there be anyone here who has studied enough ancient Middle-eastern etymology and oenology to have an educated guess at the answer?

In the Greek there are two words that are used to describe wine. In most translations where "fruit of the vine" as been translated it means a young wine with little to no alcohol content (Grape juice.) The word that was translated into Wine had an established alcohol content, and could get a person drunk.

Do a search for a ancient Greek to English lexicon and type in wine.

 

[talitha]

That portion of the Nazarite vow from Numbers 6 seems pretty clear to me:
He shall separate himself from wine and strong drink, and shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat moist grapes, or dried. (verse 3, KJV)
So.. no alcoholic beverages of any kind, no vinegar, and no grapes in any form.