> >,I have the opportunity to purchase a copy of the old Grimms lexicon. Is their
> >any reason to own it over the Thayers? Any wisdom in this decision would be
> >greatly appreciated.
>
> It might be of some interest to a library which wishes to have as complete
> a collection of NT Greek lexicons as possible. But as a tool, it is
> impossibly outdated. Thayer is the end of that line, and has long outlived
> its usefulness. (It was my first lexicon; I still keep my copy to remind
> myself of how far we have come in my lifetime).
>
> If you don't have it, buy Bauer.
Edward, were your comments above regarding Grimm's or Thayer's lexicon?
---------------------
My reply:
Both (or all three!). If you examine the title-page of Thayer's Lexicon,
the story becomes somewhat apparent. Wilke's 1839/1851 lexicon (in Latin)
was revised by L.W.Grimm in 1862 (again, Greek to Latin, not German).
Thayer translated Wilke-Grimm (2nd edition, 1879) into English, in 1886,
corrected ed. in 1889.
But Thayer was already becoming out of date when it was first published--
not only the papyri, but the newer grammar and lingistics rendered it
obsolete by the end of the 19th century.
Again, buy Bauer. (If I really believed that Danker would get a revision
out [3rd. rev. ed.?] within the year, I'd say wait. But I suspect it will
be much longer than that. So buy it if you don't have it.
Edward Hobbs