Strong's, Lexicons and Greek Semantics

I love old books! But for my ministry it's just faster and more efficient to use the sofware.

Speaking of old books, one I have that is not exactly a lexicon, but does have glosses of the meanings, is A Critical Greek and English Concordance of the New Testament, by Charles Hudson. It's from 1876 and is falling apart, but is fun to look at once in awhile.

 

I don't have Mounce, but it has to be better than Strong's! If it's William Mounce he has a good name in Greek scholarship for his beginning grammar.

 

Good post! :thumbs: Thanks for the resources.

 

One older lexicon which I still occasionally consult is A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, by George Abbott-Smith. I have the 1948 reprint of the 1937 3rd edition. You can download a PDF of it at: http://www.archive.org/details/manualgreeklexic00abborich . However, don't buy the print on demand reprint on Amazon. Only one of the reviewers actually bought the thing, apparently, and he said it was unreadable!

This lexicon is a big step up from Thayer's because the author was able to consult many Greek manuscripts that Thayer had no access to. So, though we have today many non-NT papyrii that Abbot-Smith could not access, this lexicon is a good deal more up-to-date than Thayer's. As does Thayer's, Abbott-Smith makes the error of depending too much on etymology to determine meaning, but not to as great a degree.

Other good points about this lexicon include: copious references for where the word is used in the NT, and more reference to non-NT usage than Thayer's has. Also, for you Hebrew OT lovers, Abbott-Smith gives the Hebrew original for the LXX usage of words! All in all, an excellent and usable lexicon to this day, though somewhat outdated.

 

Know what you mean! It's addictive. I have Civ IV but have been playing III lately.

Thanks for the comments on the Hebrew. You're obviously much further along than I am in Hebrew! I think the three volume one would be a waste of money for me. I'll stick to BDB, but I also have A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the OT by William Holladay.

I'm stuck on the 2nd edition, which I'll comment on later.

I've used Kittel's, but don't have it. That's a fair chunk of change. I'll comment a little on it later from the viewpoint of modern linguistics.

Don't have Kubo. Maybe I should get it! For my preliminary read I like Friberg, which I have in Bibloi software.

I'm with you on Wallace. I have Robertson, too, though, and there are times when Wallace isn't enough. I'm still awed at Robertson's scholarship! What a giant.

Excellent comments. Thanks much!

 

A Pocket Lexicon of the Greek NT, by Alexander Souter.

A PDF of this little gem can be downloaded along with a classical Greek lexicon of the Anabasis by Xenophon at: http://www.textkit.com/greek_grammar.php. And there is a ton of other public domain goodies at this site, including basic grammars of the Greek NT and classical Greek (reference grammars for classical Greek, also), and lots of Latin stuff.

Souter (1873-1949) was a Scottish Greek scholar who also edited a Greek NT based on the text used for the English Revised Version. (I have this and consult it occasionally.) This is just what the title suggests: a little lexicon for a quick consult. It actually will fit in a suit coat pocket. I keep Souter's at the church for an occasional quick reference, though it's inadequate for translation work and any depth of exegesis. It's dated 1917, so it's a step beyond Strong's for sure. Most of the definitions are simple glosses, but on important words (agape and the like) Souter gives more detail, and occasionally he'll refer to the LXX or other sources.

 

Liddell-Scott lexicon of classical Greek​

This famous lexicon can be used in New Testament Greek studies if the user is careful. It was first published in 1843, and exists in many versions. In hard copy, I have the eighth printing from 1949 of the 1927 revision of the abridged version ("Little Liddell," though it has 835 pages). However, my Bibloi 8.0 software has the intermediate Liddell-Scott ("Middle Liddell"), with access to the unabridged version ("Great Scott," now on its 9th edition) through the Perseus Database. (Got all of that?)Perseus also gives me access to many ancient Greek documents for advanced research.

Henry Liddell was the dean of Christchurch at Oxford. Interestingly enough, his little girl Alice was the model for Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. Robert Scott held the position of "Dean Ireland's Professor of the Exegesis of Holy Scripture" at Oxford U.

There are several cautions to observe when using this lexicon for studying the NT. First of all, it is first and foremost a lexicon of classical Greek. The heyday of classical Greek was the 6th to the 4th century AD, so that the meanings it gives are often the meanings current hundreds of years before Christ. A lot can change in 100 years! For example, ekklhsia (church) in Middle Liddell is, "an assembly of the citizens regularly summoned, the legislative assembly." This is referring to the city-state concept of ancient Greece. In the first century AD, an educated person would know this meaning, but the average Greek on the street might or might not. (The word does occur with a similar--but not identical--meaning in Acts 19.) A 1st century Jew would know the word from the Septuagint as meaning the congregation of Israel.

Having said that, it is true that the 9th version of L-S refers often to the meaning of a word in the NT. However, compared to the most recent lexicons of the NT, you will not get the depth of discussion you need. For a complete understanding of a NT Greek word, you need to know how it was used in the NT and how it was used by other speakers of 1st century Greek.

Another drawback for NT studies is that L-S, even in its most recent edition, does not have all the papyrii data used in the best NT Greek lexicons. So its meanings should be consulted with caution.

 

I didn't get Abbot-Smith until I found it at a second hand sale at the MK school over here. But I too love the depth and accuracy.

Thanks for the comment. And I'm guessing it costs a big hunk of change, too! I'm with you on K-L. If only I knew German (or the language of the moment of that particular comment).

 

Folks, I have word from Dr. Maurice Robinson of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (co-editor of the Byzantine textform Greek NT) that he has some print-on-demand copies of this lexicon, very readable with even a larger point size than the original.

Dr. Robinson had this printed for his students. It's public domain, a nice hard-bound book. He has about a dozen copies, first-come first-served, for $20 apiece including postage and handling for anyone living in the US. Just write him at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. You'd pay $45 for a slightly revised, copyrighted version from the original publisher, T. & T. Clark.

Also, please pray for Dr. Robinson as he continues to recover from his heart surgery, which took place in the fall. (My son works as his grader for his Greek classes, and is teaching his Greek classes in the interim.)

 

Since my last review was of a classical Greek lexicon, I'll continue in that vein with this post, then this evening (Japanese time) I'll write about analytical lexicons.

I have two small lexicons/dictionaries in classical Greek readers. Neither one of them contributes much to my NT translation work, but they are fun to have.

First of all, I have a 150 page dictionary in the back of my copy of Xenophon's Anabasis, Books I-IV. I bought this from the Maranatha Baptist Bible College library (my alma mater for the MA, and Dr. Bob's too for his BA I think. M. Div. too, Doc?). It's an 1895 print of the 1889 translation by Francis Kelsey and Andrew Zenos. (This is a different version than the one available on textkit.com.) The major connection with Biblical studies is that Xenophon describes the entry into Babylon of Cyrus and his army by drying up a river that flowed under the huge Babylonian wall. This adds to our knowledge of how Cyrus conquered Babylon, as described in Daniel 5.

I also have an 1885 version of the first three books of Homer's Iliad with a 215 page lexicon in the back, translated by Henry Clark Johnson. This does not provide much help for a translator of the NT. Classical Greek changed too much in the 400 years before Christ as it grew into the Koine Greek of the NT. In particular, the vocabulary is different, though the grammar is also different of course.

A secular Greek of the 4th century BC had a very different life and outlook from a 1st century AD Jewish man like Peter or John. So even when he used the same words, he had a different nuance to them. For example, glancing in the Anabasis dictionary, my eyes light on wdh (ode, the origin of our English word), "songs" in Eph. 5:19 and four other verses in the NT. But can you imagine the difference in the music enjoyed by a soldier in the army of Cyrus and a musician for the high priest in the time of Jesus?

 

Thanks for the link. That's tempting, if we had any money left over after the dollar/yen exchange--which we never do nowadays. Fortunately I have K & D, which of course I don't use enough. I do have Holladay's Hebrew lexicon which is on that page.

 

Analytical Lexicons​

An analytical lexicon is one which has all the various grammatical forms listed in alphabetical order (Greek or Hebrew alphabet of course), with the parts of speech, parsing, etc. given. It's a quick reference book, and the definitions are not usually very complete. It's also a way to get by without studying for a Greek student. In looking up the analyts on Amazon I was amazed at how many students praised them for the help they got in their classes! And they admitted it, right there in public! A student should never use an analytical lexicon in my opinion as a Greek teacher. It makes them lazy, so that they don't do the hard work needed (learning the forms, checking in their textbook, reviewing their declensions, etc.) to become proficient in Greek.

George V. Wigram edited the first, published by Samuel Bagster and Sons in 1852 but having many errors. (Thanks to Dr. R. for some of this history.) There have been many reprints. My reprint was by Bagster in London and Harper and Brothers in America. It has no date and doesn't list Wigram as the editor--how rude! I used to use this resource quite a bit (but never while I was a student), but now use various software packages which do the same thing. Scholars who are actively consulting with each other in correcting Wigram's errors in software packages include Maurice Robinson (Online Bible, BibleWorks, Logos, etc.), Scott Musser (Heavenword, BibleMaster, Gramcord, Accordance), Timothy Friberg (The and Ulrik Peterson (Emdros software in Danish). (This info is from Dr. Robinson.)

The Bagster lexicon was revised by Wesley Perschbacher in 1990 as The New Analytical Greek Lexicon, but this is said to retain many of Wigram’s errors. There are also revised editions by both Harold K. Moulton and William Mounce (1993) with apparently the same definitions, as a quick comparison through Amazon's preview feather shows (though hopefully some of Wigram's 160 year old definitions have been revised).

This brings me to the excellent work of Timothy and Barbara Friberg. They have edited an Analytical Greek New Testament which I use sometimes, which has each word parsed right in the text. They have also edited with Neva Miller the excellent Analytical Lexicon of the Greek New Testament. If you are going to get an analyt, this is the one to get. It has every word and form in the various editions of the Greek NT (TR, Byzantine, Nestles, UBS), and the definitions are excellent. I use their definitions through the Bibloi 8 software package in my translation work especially when I need to help Uncle Miya understand the meaning in the original language.

Here is a comparison of Friberg's definition with the old Wigram definition of agapaw (agapao, I love, the verb form of agape):

Friberg: ἀγαπάω mid./pass. ἀγαπῶμαι ; fut. ἀγαπήσω ; 1aor. ἠγάπησα ; pf. ἠγάπηκα , ptc. ἠγαπηκώς ; pf. pass. ptc. ἠγαπημένος ; 1fut. pass. ἀγαπηθήσομαι ; love, especially of love as based on evaluation and choice, a matter of will and action; (1) toward persons love, be loyal to, regard highly (EP 5.25); (2) toward God (MT 22.37); (3) from God (JN 3.16); (4) toward things value, delight in, strive for (LU 11.43); long for (2T 4.8); (5) ἀγάπην ἀγαπᾶν show love (JN 17.26)

Wigram: agapaw, fut. hsw, perf. hgaphka, to love, value, esteem, feel or manifest generous concern for, be faithful towards; to delight in; to set store upon, Rev. 12.11.

 

I hope everyone had a great Christmas. Merry Christmas!

I have a little bit of time before the evening service, so I thought I'd do a quick post on the venerable Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (TDNT), ed. by Gerhard Kittel and Gerhard Friedrich (trans. by Geoffrey W. Bromiley). I don't have it, don't have the 200 bucks necessary for the download or the $400 for the books, and no more room for books in our little apartment here in Asahikawa, Japan. So I can't quote from it or get into much detail. But I have used it, and there is a controversy in the world of Greek linguistics that I thought you folk would want to know about.

TDNT is a revision of the original work by Hermann Cremer, who introduced the idea of theological lexicology to the world in his Biblico-theological Lexicon of NT Greek. This is the idea that one word can carry a whole theological concept. To put it a different way, TDNT treats each word as a special theological word that has meanings not in use when the word is used in non-Christian society.

While TDNT is a great resource which I wish I had, theological lexicology is just plain wrong-headed. Yes, each individual word has meaning. But that meaning is dependent on the grammatical structure, the syntax that the word exists in. You determine the meaning of a word based on its context, not some magical miracle meaning (hey, I like that phrase) that it carries around with it. But don't take my word for it! If you want to study the subject further, both of these books have good discussions: Linguistics for Students of New Testament Greek by David Alan Black, and Biblical Words and Their Meanings, by Moises Silva.