English to Attic Greek Dictionary

[klwps]

Dear Webmaster,<br /><br />Would you ever consider putting up for download an English to Greek dictionary? Any time soon would be especially helpful to me concerning my class assignments on composition.

[Jeff Tirey]

Hi There,<br /><br />For now, we don't plan on posting a lexicon such as Liddel & Scott. Reason being is that it would be extremely difficult to use the file without converting the scanned images to digital text that can be searched and navigated. We do like to post lexicons and vocabulary lists that target the vocabulary of a particular author, such as Xenophon or Plato. The student can use it for building word lists and broadening their vocabulary in preparations for reading that author. <br /><br />thanks,<br />jeff

[Jeff Tirey]

hello yet again, i don't know if you need this advice or not, but just in case you or someone else reading this thread does, allow me to add my two cents about composition exercises....<br /><br /><br />Why do you feel you need a lexicon? If it's to help with your composition exercises then let me say this:<br /><br />You shouldn't need a lexicon. The purpose of composition exercises is foremost to learn syntax and strengthen your use of construction. What I mean is putting the verb in the correct tense, mood and voice. Learning the endings of articles, nouns, pronouns and prepositions and understanding the nuances of their word order and agreement. Understanding the correct case to use and how the use of the case is translated to English. Understanding conditional statements, comparison, direct and indirect statements and on and on... Few learners will ever stop learning syntax, myself included.<br /><br />If you are a beginner and feel you need help with vocabulary first ensure that construction is not your problem. You're much better off making sure you have completely mastered the absolute basics such as knowing the noun, pronoun and participle endings. Recognizing verb endings in all the tenses, voices, moods and number. Test yourself, look at noun in a sentence and identify its case and number. Look at a verb in a sentence and identify its person, tense, mood and voice. Your composition instructions will show you why they are used.<br /><br />Sure you won't always know what word to use, but your composition book should hold the answer somewhere. Beginners often search for the wrong words to use because they fail to use the correct syntax. Think about the difference between the active and middle voice of the verb as an example. Changing the voice changes the meaning significantly.<br /><br />I'm not saying that vocabulary isn't important because it is essential to learning Greek. To learn Greek you must master vocabulary, construction and syntax. Composition exercises stress syntax and assume you know construction. As for vocabulary - pick it up along the way by learning words as they are presented to you.<br /><br />Best of luck! I'm sure you'll do well.

[annis]

The Woodhouse English->Greek dictionary is available online.<br /><br />http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/efts/Woodhouse/<br /><br />You can't usefully print the whole thing out,though.<br />

[Kirrr]

There is a possibility to look up English definitions in LSJ and in Lewis and Scott ( and a whole lot other useful things) at Perseus Project:<br />http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cache/perscoll_PersInfo.html

[klwps]

/********************** To Kirr, ******************************/<br /><br />I have been consistently using the Perseus Project and the TLG for my classical studies, but for the most part, client access to Perseus 'servers is _extremely_ slow. I've even been forced to resort to the Berlin mirror due to the tremendous congestion existent at Tufts. And yet, both the other mirrors in Berlin and the UK experience the same load of traffic but at different times . It seems that if one was to currently have the ability to access the Perseus project, either at Tufts or either mirror, then his best bet would be at 1:00 in the morning! This seems to be my experience at best. And don't forget that there is maintenance at 5am? on each server, and since I'm in California, I have to schedule my usage around such inconveniences. However, I do appreciate your comment considering how many others actually post to this web site. <br /><br />/******************* To Mr.Annis, ************************/<br /><br />Thank you so very much for the web site reference. This has greatly improved my efficiency in being able to cut my composition time in half and to also have the ability to access an online "English --> Greek" dictionary. It is such a shame that the current selection of "English --> Greek" dictionaries which are still published is so small and superficial in coverage. Shall we forget our own indebtedness to the Hellenic People who have forged the path for the Romans and Western Civilization alike? Hmm...<br /><br />/********************************To Jeff, *********************************/<br /> I can only say, "Thank you," for providing this web site as an additional resource for classicists and classical enthusiasts. Moreover, I would like to add the following to your comments about composition. <br /> When one composes Greek prose, I believe that the need for a "Greek-> English" Lexicon (if this had been what I was originally requesting) is of great value that cannot be overstated. Why, perhaps? Well it should be of great importance to those composing in Homeric, Doric, Attic, or whatever dialect that they are studying. <br /> And so, the "Greek --> English" Lexicon provides this opportunity for the modern author to verify the usage of the words he is choosing . Now, of course, for the absolute beginner in prose composition , who also has a text book at hand, it should occur to him that the main focus is on the proper usage of syntax and grammar. But to he who grapples with the actual usage of a word, whether it be verb or noun or some other class, then this same person has the ability to come to know how the ancients truly used it, as well as the context of it. <br /> I hope that others who read these comments understand that at one level a student may focus on grammar and such, but at another level the focus switches to the more subtle and historically correct usage of the Greek, which inevitably will contribute to a greater comprehension in reading. <br />

[Jeff Tirey]

Hi Again,<br /><br />I understand your point and agree with you. I was pretty sure you didn't need my 'advice', but I wanted to make it clear for the absolute beginner that learning construction, syntax and vocabulary presented through grammar/compostion books is top priorty and best best use of time.<br /><br />thanks again,<br />jeff

[elys]

Hello all<br /><br />This may be a silly question, but of all the Ancient Greek dictionaries that I have I still cannot find the word for "cat" dog yes, cat no! Can anyone please let me know the Ancient Greek for cat! Please!<br /><br />Andrew

[annis]

[quote author=elys link=board=2;threadid=24;start=0#938 date=1056491495]<br />This may be a silly question, but of all the Ancient Greek dictionaries that I have I still cannot find the word for "cat" dog yes, cat no! Can anyone please let me know the Ancient Greek for cat! Please!<br />[/quote]<br /><br />Madness! Perhaps lexicon writers are aelurophobes.<br /><br />[face=SPIonic]ai)/louroj[/face] is the word I know for "cat."

[auctor]

Hello,<br /><br />If you really do want an English-Greek lexicon then the Oxford University Press have one in their new(ish) dictionary of Classical Greek. It is fairly comprehensive but certainly not a "be-all and end-all".<br />I'm away from the house at the mo but all the relevant info is in another thread on this site about lexicons.<br /><br />Hope this is of some help,<br /><br />Paul McK

[Paul]

Hi Jeff,<br /><br />Early in the post you mentioned the difficulty of using a lexicon like Liddel & Scott in mere image format, that is,<br />without any OCR text processing. You also mentioned that you sometimes do post targeted lexicons and vocab lists.<br /><br />This speaks to two of my present concerns:<br /><br />1. are you aware of any OCR software that can recognize <br /> classical Greek (I already started a presently reply-les<br /> thread about this)?<br /><br />2. have you given any thought to distributing said lexicons<br /> and vocabulary in some form of XML?<br /><br />Thanks.<br /><br />Cordially,<br /><br />Paul

[Jeff Tirey]

Hi Paul,<br /><br />Our next Lexicon that we will post is a list of Greek proper names. It will only be about a hundred pages and I think it would be a very interesting file for those chugging through Greek text. We still have no plans to post a full blown lexicon.<br /><br />No, I don't know of any OCR programs. I would certainly like one too. <br /><br />As for XML, not a whole lot of thought only because our publishing format of choice is a downloadable PDF file. If we began posting a great deal of online content such as vocab list, XML would be a better choice than HTML.<br /><br />We're still in 'stage 1' which is building a PDF library of scanned books. Down the road as technology progresses we might convert the books to other formats but for now it isn't possible.<br /><br />thanks again,<br />jeff<br />

[pyrheraklit]

Hello all<br /><br />This may be a silly question, but of all the Ancient Greek dictionaries that I have I still cannot find the word for "cat" dog yes, cat no! Can anyone please let me know the Ancient Greek for cat! Please!<br /><br />Andrew

Another word for cat:

Γαλῆ