[B-Greek] Re: a real Koine dictionary?

Dr. Don Wilkins drdwilkins at sbcglobal.net
Fri Apr 1 04:16:14 EST 2005


Thanks for the clarification. LSJ certainly does have a large number of 
words which most likely were not used in that time period. As to the 
preferred diction, one can find whether a given word was current in the 
first century by checking the references, and if a significant number of 
those references were to establish a context, it would be fair to put 
the word in the "preferred" category. But I doubt that this happens 
often, and my own experience with LSJ supports that doubt. It would be a 
considerable achievement (and perhaps an overwhelming task) to research 
first-century vocabulary and establish preferred diction in various 
contexts. What we have seen so far in the field of semantic domains is 
probably a good start, but personally I think we have a long way to go 
before we can confidently identify that diction. I wonder if there are 
any master's or doctoral students out there who might consider taking a 
sample of first-century vocabulary and doing such a project at the TLG 
level? Perhaps even a new TDNT using such sources and methodology?

I'm up past my bedtime and my brain is on hyperoverdrive, so if I've 
said anything really stupid, I'll have to plead Gilda Radner's "Never 
mind."

D. Wilkins

On Thursday, March 31, 2005, at 01:29 PM, R Yochanan Bitan Buth wrote:

>
> Wilkins EGRAPSE
>> Randall makes good points in his note. I personally would only
> question his comment about LSJ's being "too comprehensive," which I
> may be misunderstanding. The unabridged volume can be daunting to
> readers because of its bulk, but the bulk is necessary for the
> invaluable job it does of listing occurrences which can often be read
> within an article itself, or in any event can be looked up in the TLG
> or other sources.
> ...Don Wilkins>
>
> A brief clarification on LSJ-MBGT being 'too comprehensive'. It is too
> comprehensive for the first century. It is filled with many words that
> were not in use in the first century. Finding a word in LSJ does not
> tell someone what the preferred diction would be in the first century,
> though it helps greatly when finding rare twists of phrase in an old
> playwright or epic.
>
> Randall Buth
>
>
> 
> Randall Buth, PhD
> Director, Biblical Language Center
> www.biblicalulpan.org
> and Director, Biblical Studies in Israel
> Hebrew University, Rothberg International School
> ybitan at mscc.huji.ac.il
>
>




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