First, my most important piece of advice is to READ, THEN RE-READ, THEN
PRINT OUT, THEN RE-READ REGULARLY Carl Conrad's wonderful re-posting on
this theme. Without following his advice, money spent on lexicons is
wasted, as is the time spent scanning them.
Second, on Thayer: The archives must be filled with many messages from me
on the various lexicons, including Thayer's. But since newcomers may not
be in a position to consult those archices, let me once more say this
about Thayer's lexicon:
IT IS OUT OF DATE, BADLY.
It is reprinted cheaply because it is out of copyright, and thus costs a
publisher nothing. But it was done prior to the discovery and analysis of
the papyri from Egypt, and thus is sadly less than helpful much of the
time.
For a smaller lexicon, the old, but NOT out of date as much, _Manual
Lexicon_ by Abbott-Smith is pretty good.
But why not get serious and buy the translation of Bauer by Arndt-Gingrich-
Danker? Although a new edition will be out one of these years before long
(promised year after year!), your time is worth too much not to have a
copy of the present edition at your side when you read the GNT. It's
about $55 list price. (At minimum wage, you'll have your money back after
11 hours of reading the GNT!)
And for non-NT work, the new LSJ with Glare's Supplement which Carl
recommended is not only indispensable, but A BARGAIN! It is again available
for only $100 plus shipping from Oxford, which is much cheaper than your
daily newspaper if you calculate price by the word. (Bargain price through
June 30th.)
Edward Hobbs