Supplemental Lexicon of the Septuagint

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Ken M. Penner
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Supplemental Lexicon of the Septuagint

Post by Ken M. Penner »

Ken M. Penner
Professor and Chair of Religious Studies, St. Francis Xavier University
Co-Editor, Digital Biblical Studies
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Mark House
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Re: Supplemental Lexicon of the Septuagint

Post by Mark House »

I edited the book for Hendickson, so I’m more than a little biased. Nevertheless, I must say that I am impressed with the carefulness and comprehensiveness with which Chamberlain has done his work.

Chamberlain believes LXX Greek is just “fundamental Greek.” By that he means that with the obvious exception of some distinct vocabulary related to things like the unique forms of ancient Hebrew worship and geography, he thinks the translators used the Greek of their time. Thus he rejects the view that the LXX translators created some kind of Hebrew-Greek hybrid or, worse yet, that LXX Greek is merely thinly-veiled Hebrew.

At the same time, anyone who peruses Chamberlain’s work will immediately sense the value of reading LXX Greek in its contexts and letting those contexts shape the distinctive uses and meanings of the vocabulary. It may be fundamental Greek, but it is fundamental Greek poured into a uniquely biblical context. And Chamberlain's lexical entries enrich the field of lexicography with their sensitivity to the distinct flavors of that context.
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Re: Supplemental Lexicon of the Septuagint

Post by Ken M. Penner »

Mark House wrote:Chamberlain believes LXX Greek is just “fundamental Greek.” By that he means that with the obvious exception of some distinct vocabulary related to things like the unique forms of ancient Hebrew worship and geography, he thinks the translators used the Greek of their time. Thus he rejects the view that the LXX translators created some kind of Hebrew-Greek hybrid or, worse yet, that LXX Greek is merely thinly-veiled Hebrew.
This is good to hear. I was a little bit leery because the description says,
... the vocabulary found in the Septuagint differs sufficiently from both that found in the NT and that found in Classical Greek, so that a specialized lexicon is not just of great help, but essential.
Ken M. Penner
Professor and Chair of Religious Studies, St. Francis Xavier University
Co-Editor, Digital Biblical Studies
General Editor, Lexham English Septuagint
Co-Editor, Online Critical Pseudepigrapha pseudepigrapha.org
Ken M. Penner
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Re: Supplemental Lexicon of the Septuagint

Post by Ken M. Penner »

Mark House wrote:I edited the book for Hendickson...
I am interested in seeing what Chamberlain wrote about κράζω, especially the reduplicated forms in Isa 6:3, 4; 14:31. Are we to read imperfects, aorists, second perfects, or a different verb κεκράγω?
Ken M. Penner
Professor and Chair of Religious Studies, St. Francis Xavier University
Co-Editor, Digital Biblical Studies
General Editor, Lexham English Septuagint
Co-Editor, Online Critical Pseudepigrapha pseudepigrapha.org
Mark House
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Re: Supplemental Lexicon of the Septuagint

Post by Mark House »

Since Chamberlain has no separate treatment of κράζω (or κεκράγω), the presumption is that he considers the treatment in BDAG to be adequate; i.e., that ἐκέκραξα, which LSJ says is "frequent in LXX," is an alternate aorist form of κράζω.
Eric S. Weiss
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Re: Supplemental Lexicon of the Septuagint

Post by Eric S. Weiss »

I have BDAG and Lust (LEH) and LSJ in Logos. I got a new copy of Chamberlain's The Greek of the Septuagint: A Supplemental Lexicon on sale for $10, though from skimming the Intro I couldn't tell if it interacted with or supplemented LEH, or just mostly BDAG and LSJ. (LEH is listed in the resources/bibliography.)

Since I already have LEH, was this a needless purchase? Or will Chamberlain's Lexicon be useful for supplementing not only BDAG and LSJ but LEH as well?
Eric S. Weiss
Ken M. Penner
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Re: Supplemental Lexicon of the Septuagint

Post by Ken M. Penner »

Eric S. Weiss wrote:Or will Chamberlain's Lexicon be useful for supplementing not only BDAG and LSJ but LEH as well?
My impression is that Chamberlain's lexicon is intended for those who have BDAG but not LEH or Muraoka's lexicon.
Ken M. Penner
Professor and Chair of Religious Studies, St. Francis Xavier University
Co-Editor, Digital Biblical Studies
General Editor, Lexham English Septuagint
Co-Editor, Online Critical Pseudepigrapha pseudepigrapha.org
Eric S. Weiss
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Joined: June 9th, 2011, 1:45 pm

Re: Supplemental Lexicon of the Septuagint

Post by Eric S. Weiss »

Ken M. Penner wrote:
Eric S. Weiss wrote:Or will Chamberlain's Lexicon be useful for supplementing not only BDAG and LSJ but LEH as well?
My impression is that Chamberlain's lexicon is intended for those who have BDAG but not LEH or Muraoka's lexicon.
I guess I'll just have to find out by picking random words in Logos LXX and see how Chamberlain compares to BDAG and LSJ and LEH re: providing supplementary or corrective information.

If it's superfluous I can probably sell it to our used bookstore for $10 so they can resell it for $20. :)
Eric S. Weiss
RickBrannan
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Re: Supplemental Lexicon of the Septuagint

Post by RickBrannan »

Eric S. Weiss wrote:
Ken M. Penner wrote:
Eric S. Weiss wrote:Or will Chamberlain's Lexicon be useful for supplementing not only BDAG and LSJ but LEH as well?
My impression is that Chamberlain's lexicon is intended for those who have BDAG but not LEH or Muraoka's lexicon.
I guess I'll just have to find out by picking random words in Logos LXX and see how Chamberlain compares to BDAG and LSJ and LEH re: providing supplementary or corrective information.

If it's superfluous I can probably sell it to our used bookstore for $10 so they can resell it for $20. :)
From what I recall of the introduction, Chamberlain is intended for those who have BDAG. The formatting is similar, and if I recall in some instances senses are even numbered assuming previous senses in BDAG.

In his introduction, Chamberlain is quite critical of some aspects of LSJ, which he did utilize (among other things) in his work. In my experience, LEH is far too brief with far too few example references; Chamberlain is better. He provides glosses (which LEH provides) and more extended definitions (along the lines of BDAG). I'd say if you're familiar with BDAG, then for LXX usage that BDAG doesn't cover you'll probably gravitate toward Chamberlain.
Rick Brannan
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Logos Bible Software
Eric S. Weiss
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Re: Supplemental Lexicon of the Septuagint

Post by Eric S. Weiss »

Okay, I found an instance where Chamberlain supplements BDAG, LSJ and LEH:

ἀκούω in 2 Maccabees 14:37 (Chamberlain mentions this on p. viii of his Preface - "In 2 Macc we encounter an unusual (though fundamental Greek) use of ἀκούω not employed anywhere else in the Greek Bible."):

Ραζις δέ τις τῶν ἀπὸ Ιεροσολύμων πρεσβυτέρων ἐμηνύθη τῷ Νικάνορι ἀνὴρ φιλοπολίτης καὶ [I σφόδρα καλῶς ἀκούων I] καὶ κατὰ τὴν εὔνοιαν πατὴρ τῶν Ιουδαίων προσαγορευόμενος.
Tan, R., deSilva, D. A., & Logos Bible Software. (2009). The Lexham Greek-English Interlinear Septuagint (2 Mac 14:37). Logos Bible Software.

Chamberlain p. 6: ἀκούω ...καλῶς ἀκούων "being well spoken of, being of good repute" 2 Macc 14:37

The Lexham Greek-English Interlinear Septuagint for the verse, quoted above, marks σφόδρα καλῶς ἀκούων as being an idiom: "σφόδρα καλῶς ἀκούων = very highly regarded" - which is what Chamberlain is saying.

As best as I can tell, neither BDAG, LSJ, nor LEH give this meaning. See below:

ἀκούω
① lit. to have or exercise the faculty of hearing, hear
② legal t.t. to hear a legal case, grant a hearing to someone
③ to receive news or information about someth., learn about someth.
④ to give careful attention to, listen to, heed
⑤ to pay attention to by listening, listen to
⑥ to be given a nickname or other identifying label, be called
⑦ to hear and understand a message, understand
Arndt, W., Danker, F. W., & Bauer, W. (2000). A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament and other early Christian literature (3rd ed.) (37–38). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

✪ ἀκούω :—hear
b. c. gen. objecti, hear of, hear tell of
c. in Prose the pers. from whom thing is heard freq. takes Prep.
d. less freq. c. dupl. gen. pers. et rei, hear of a thing from a person
e. with part. or inf. added,
f. c. gen. et part., to express what one actually hears from a person
2. know by hearsay
3. abs., hearken, give ear, esp. in proclamations
4. οἱ ἀκούοντες readers of a book
II. listen to, give ear to
2. obey
b. receive an order
3. hear and understand
4. to be a pupil of
III. after Hom., serving as Pass. to λεγ́ειν, hear oneself called, be called
2. with nom. of subject
3. c. inf.
4. c. acc. rei
5. οὕτως ἀ. hear it so said, i.e. at first hearing
6. pass., to be given a judicial hearing
IV. understand, take in a certain sense
V. Astrol., aspect mutually, of signs equidistant from an equinoctial sign
Liddell, H. G., Scott, R., Jones, H. S., & McKenzie, R. (1996). A Greek-English lexicon (Rev. and augm. throughout) (53–54). Oxford; New York: Clarendon Press; Oxford University Press.

ἀκούω+ V 151-264-296-182-176=1069
to hear [τί τινος] Gn 3,8; to hear (of) [τινος] Gn 3,17; to hear [τι] 1 Chr 14,15; to hearken, to give ear [abs.] Gn 37,27; to listen to, to give ear to [τινος] Gn 27,8; id. [εἴς τι] (semit., rendering Hebr. שׁמע אל) Jer 36 (29),8; to obey [abs.] Ex 19,8; to comply with [ἐπί τινι] 2 Kgs 17,40; to hear, to understand [τι] 1 Sm 2,24; to hear, to answer (a prayer) [τινος] 2 Chr 6,21; id. [τι] Nm 30,4; to hear that [ὅτι +ind.] Gn 42,2; to hear [+indir. question] Jgs 7,11
ἀκήκοα λεγόντων I heard men saying Gn 41,15
Cf. HELBING 1928, 150–153; →NIDNTT; TWNT
(→ἀντ-, δι-, εἰς-, ἐν-, ἐπ-, παρ-, ὑπ-)
Lust, J., Eynikel, E., & Hauspie, K. (2003). A Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint : Revised Edition. Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft: Stuttgart.
Eric S. Weiss
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