Re: Lists
Carlton Winbery (winberyc@popalex1.linknet.net)
Mon, 11 May 1998 15:42:08 +0400
Karen Pitts wrote;
(snip) It wasn't until I saw things in context that some of
>the glosses made any sense. A funny one is SULLAMBANW, which I learned as
>"seize, conceive", and not until I read Luke 1 did I realize that the
>"conceive" meant "become pregnant" -- I had pictured conceiving an idea.
>And after some reading, I just plain disagreed with several glosses that I had
>memorized. I use Bauer all the time now, and no longer refer to any other
>simpler lexicons.
>
>I think lists of vocab are useful to introduce a student to the concept of
>structure in the language, but for acquiring the vocab, nothing beats reading,
>reading, reading. To learn vocab, I record all the words I have to look up,
>frequently with notes to related words, but I no longer find the frequency and
>family lists very useful.
>
Karen is right on target. Vocabulary is much better learned in context. I
begain making vocabulary notebooks when I first went to Seminary and
realized that I would have to be able to read the entire NT. We had "blue
books" for test booklets. I bought them by the dozens and went chapter and
verse. Since then I have gone into the Apostolic Fathers, the LXX,
Josephus, and Thucydides. I have always done English the same way. You
will find in my books in English marginal notes when I came acrose an
English word that I did not know. Was taught early on to look it up.
I, also, think that Bauer is the only way to go. I do let some first
semester students use the little UBS Dictionary, though it does not do
nearly all it promises, especially in analytical help. I also encourage
students to get Louw and Nida early on so as to realize the importance of
semantic domains. I never let them go through the same grammar twice. I
try to open them up to the variableness of any language and the diff.
approaches to Greek.
Grace,
Carlton L. Winbery
Fogleman Professor of Religion
Louisiana College
Pineville, LA 71359
winberyc@popalex1.linknet.net
winbery@andria.lacollege.edu