[B-Greek] Muraoka's Updated Lexicon
Carl Conrad
cwconrad2 at mac.com
Mon Jun 8 08:36:45 EDT 2009
Louis Sorenson's message was pretty clearly intended for B-Greek; it
was sent as a blind copy (bcc) to our list though originally addressed
to the LXX list.
=====
From: Louis Sorenson <llsorenson at hotmail.com>
Date: June 8, 2009 7:14:55 AM EDT
To: Yahoo LXX Group <lxx at yahoogroups.com>
Subject: Muraoka's Updated Lexicon
Muraoka's lexicon is now completed! The first two versions only
included the Pentatuch and Prophets.
A Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint by T. Muraoka
Year: 2009
ISBN: 978-90-429-2248-8
Pages: XL-757 p.
Price: 95 EURO
Publisher: Peeters Publishers
Website: http://www.peeters-leuven.be/boekoverz.asp?nr=8671
Summary:
This complete lexicon supercedes its two earlier editions (1993; 2002).
* The entire Septuagint, including the apocrypha, is covered.
* For the books of Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, and Judges the so-called
Antiochene edition is fully covered in addition to the data as found
in the standard edition by Rahlfs.
* Also fully covered are the two versions of Tobit, Esther, and Daniel.
* Based on the critically established Göttingen edition where it is
available. If not, Rahlfs's edition is used.
* For close to 60% of a total of 9,550 headwords all the passages
occurring in the LXX are either quoted or mentioned.
* A fully fledged lexicon, not a glossary merely listing translation
equivalents in English.
* Senses defined.
* Important lexicographical data such as synonyms, antonyms, idiomatic
expressions, distinction between literal and figurative, combinations
with prepositions, noun cases, syntagmatic information such as what
kind of direct or indirect objects a given verb takes, what kind of
nouns a given adjective is used with, and much more information
abundantly presented and illustrated with quotes, mostly translated.
* High-frequency lexemes such as prepositions and conjunctions fully
analysed.
* Data on contemporary Koine and Jewish Greek including the New
Testament taken into account.
* Morphological information provided: various tenses of verbs,
genitive forms of nouns etc.
* Substantive references to the current scientific literature.
An indispensable tool for students of the Septuagint, the New
Testament, Hellenistic Judaism, and the Greek language.
----------
A comparison of Muraoka and Lust by Dr. Ed Glenny can be found athttp://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3817/is_200409/ai_n9440196/
Some highlights of the review are as follows:
Muraoka's basic approach to Septuagint lexicography is to "read the
Septuagint as a Greek document and [to] try to find out what sense a
reader in the last few centuries before the turn of the era who was
ignorant of Hebrew or Aramaic might have made of the translation" (pp.
viii-ix), although he does compare the Septuagint and its Vorlage all
along. However, an important distinctive of this lexicon is that his
starting point is to read the Septuagint as "a document of Hellenistic
Judaism." In this regard he considers "the language of the Septuagint
to be a genuine representative of the contemporary Greek, . . . though
necessarily influenced by the grammar and usage of Aramaic and Hebrew
from which the bulk of the Septuagint was translated" (p. ix). This
understanding of the Greek of the Septuagint distinguishes Muraoka's
work from Lust's lexicon, which treats the Greek of the Septuagint
(that is, the sections translated from a Semitic original) first of
all as "translation Greek" (Lust, p. viii). Muraoka starts with
consideration of the meaning that the text would have had for a reader
in the last few centuries before the turn of the era, particularly one
who was ignorant of Hebrew or Aramaic. Lust starts by seeking "the
meaning intended by the translator" (Lust, p. xii) and puts more
emphasis than Muraoka does on the importance of the Semitic original
for the meaning of words in the Septuagint (Lust, pp. xii-xv).
Another important difference between the two recent lexicons is the
manner in which they describe the meaning of words. While Lust gives
"one or more translations" (Lust, p. ii) of the entries in his
lexicon, Muraoka normally gives more than English translation
equivalents; his work is a full-fledged lexicon that defines the
senses of words, a helpful feature for non-native English speakers.
However, where there is little likelihood of misunderstanding, Muraoka
simply gives a translation equivalent, and where it is considered
appropriate, his lexicon adds a translation equivalent or equivalents
to the definition.
Louis Sorenson
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