Dictionaries

[Johny Ze]

Hey everyone, I was wondering what you may recommend for a good classical Greek dictionary? There's a few different ones I've seen, one by James Morwood, another by Liddell-Scott, and I've heard of one by a Woodhouse (that contains a good English-Greek section). Anyways, what do you guys and gals think? Any advice? thanks!

john

[chrisb]

Liddell and Scott every time - either the abridged or the intermediate volumes. There's a lot to digest at first, but well worth the effort if you are serious about your Greek.

chrisb

[annis]

one by James Morwood,

Good for traveling: light, compact. The definitions are very, very terse.

another by Liddell-Scott,

This is still The Standard, and you should have this handy even if you have other dictionaries.

and I've heard of one by a Woodhouse (that contains a good English-Greek section).

It is only an English-Greek section. It's somewhat hard to find in print these days, but is available online.

If you plan to read much Homer I recommend Cunliffe's "A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect."

[swiftnicholas]

I'm unclear about the differences between the Abridged and Intermediate versions of the Liddell-Scott dictionary, and perhaps an explanation could help Johny Ze as well.

When I was beginning Greek, I looked briefly at the Abridged (which I think is the smaller one?) and Intermediate versions very quickly at a bookstore, and decided to buy the Intermediate version, because I assumed it would be more thorough and helpful. Much later, I somewhere (maybe here on Textkit?) got the impression that the smaller version could actually be more useful.

I haven't been able to look at a copy of the Abridged version again, but the only explanation I can think of is that maybe the Intermediate version offers more root words, whereas the Abridged version lists more inflectional forms for a smaller selection of words?

Could somebody make this clear?

[annis]

When I was beginning Greek, I looked briefly at the Abridged (which I think is the smaller one?)

I know them as the Little Liddell, the Middle Liddell and the Great Scott.

and Intermediate versions very quickly at a bookstore, and decided to buy the Intermediate version, because I assumed it would be more thorough and helpful. Much later, I somewhere (maybe here on Textkit?) got the impression that the smaller version could actually be more useful.

It depends on your focus. It's much easier to carry the Little Liddell, and is probably faster to look things up in it. However...

I haven't been able to look at a copy of the Abridged version again, but the only explanation I can think of is that maybe the Intermediate version offers more root words, whereas the Abridged version lists more inflectional forms for a smaller selection of words?

Yes. The main thing for me is that the Middle Liddell and the Great Scott not only give more words (I sometimes read obscure things) but they also give more extensive articles for the words. I can get a better sense of a word's shades of meaning when I can look at more quotations and author citations. But the print editions can be slow to use, and nearly every day I give thanks to Perseus for speeding up my dictionary time.

[Bert]

I know them as the Little Liddell, the Middle Liddell and the Great Scott.

I have been curious why the Jones of LSJ is not represented in any of the 'nick-names'. Is he perhaps an editor, while Liddell and Scott are the authors?

[Geoff]

Everybody's "jonesing" for a good greek dictionary

[Bert]

But as for me, I can't keep up with the Joneses.