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Lexicons, etc.

Nichael Cramer <ncramer@bbn.com> asks:

Which is/are the lexicon(s) of choice for NTGreek?

	Baur-Arndt-Gingrich-Danker and Liddell & Scott have been mentioned.  The
BAGD gives more emphasis to Koine usages.  (Koine is the Greek dialect in
which the New Testament was written.)  Liddell & Scott can be very helpful,
but one should be careful when employing it not to take definitions from
usages that are purely classical or that conflict with Koine usage.  Not all
authors, even of the 1st Century, wrote in Koine.  BAGD names several 1st C.
authors who "were more or less able to avoid the spell of antiquarianism
(i.e. Atticisms of Classical Greek)" in their language.  Among several
authors they mention in this respect are Diodorus Siculus, Strabo, Plutarch,
and Epictetus.

	A Lexical work that is helpful in defining some of the Koine usages is _The
Vocabulary of the Greek Testament Illustrated from the Papyri and Other
Non-Literary Sources_ by James Hope Moulton and George Milligan.  It contains
many examples of New Testament vocabulary as used in early non-literary
papyri found mainly in Egypt about the first part of this century.  It also
quotes some usages from inscriptions from the Koine period.  A solid working
understanding of Greek is a definite advantage in using this work.  A good
concordance to the Greek New Testament can also be helpful in lexical studies
and in understanding usages common to the New Testament.  There are also
Greek-English concordances available which can be useful in the same respect.

	Other, specialized lexicons serve specific purposes.  Analytical lexicons
can help one who is in the process of learning Greek get though the different
forms of the Greek word to get at its lexical definition and understand what
nuances its form, as found in the text, conveys.  UBS has fairly recently
published a Greek-English lexicon based on semantic domains which organizes
the greek words of the New Testament into groups according to similar
meanings and has information of special interest to translators.  This work,
however, is somewhat short on historical information and on usages from
sources other than the New Testament.

	I hope this information may be helpful.

David Moore