[B-Greek] Size of Greek NT Vocab
bitan buth
ybitan at mscc.huji.ac.il
Fri Sep 23 07:52:28 EDT 2005
Saw enough typos and unclarities, even my own name, that I am resending the
'type and run'.
SUNGNWMH
> G'day Gary
>I understand it is about the same.
>But I bet it is harder to learn all those triliteral Hebrew words than
>the NT Greek ones.
>David McKay
>> What is the approximate size of the vocabulary of the Greek NT?
>>I'm interested in comparing it with the roughly 5,000-word vocabulary of
>>the Hebrew Tanakh. Thanks in advance for any assistance!>
Several points on this. First, the tana"x is closer to 8000 words.
GNT is just over 5000.
Hebrew WORDS are words. The roots that students often relate to are not
words. We always get students here who think that shalakh (with KAF at the
end)is 'throw' when only hishlikh is 'throw'.
This is endemic, it seems that the current systems train students to commit
the etymological fallacy in their process of learning. Consider, SAFAR
'count', *SIPPAR 'tell, give details', MANA is also 'count', MINA 'appoint'.
As they say, 'go figure'. (In one sense roots didn't exist in the ancient
world. I tested this recently with a mothertongue modern speaker, educated
and bright, who responded that the root of HIGGID was GYD, NGD was the
second
guess. Psycholinguistically, roots are a second level analysis, not an
unconscious part of language use.)
Most importantly, learning is easy IN USE, in context. If a student EBALE
BIBLION TW MAQHTH, they learn and remember. If a student HIshLIkh SEFER EL
TALMID, they learn. (Naturally, all three words are not introduced together
for the first time! Maybe first a MAQHTHS, then a BIBLION, then the fun
can begin.
BALE TO BIBLION . . . . PIASON AUTO . . . DOS AUTO . . ., QES AUTO EPI THN
TRAPAZAN. K.T.L.
ERRWSQE
Randall Buth
Randall Buth, PhD
Biblical Language Center
www.biblicalulpan.org
c/o margbuth at gmail.com
also, Director, Biblical Studies in Israel
under Rothberg International School,
Hebrew University
ybitan at mscc.huji.ac.il
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