Can you recommend me some tools for tracking down words?

Greek Learning Greek
1

Greetings!

I’m new to this forum and I’m really excited that I’ve found this place, I’m really looking forward to learn and share what was learned.
I’m studying Hellenistic Astrology, particularly an astrologer by name Vettius Valens who lived in 2 A.D. in Antioch. He wrote very important work in 9 books called Anthology and I’m really enthusiast to learn to read it in original Greek. In fact, this is the main reason why I’m starting to learn ancient Greek.

I’m facing some difficulties though, because there are many words I can’t find in any dictionary I have, nor on internet by Google search. I mean, we have several translations of this work into English, but I want to track down the etymology and usage of that certain word in other works than Valens’.

For example, this phrase:
Ό δέ Κρόνον πολει μέν τοὺς ὑπ’ aυ͗τόυ γεννωμε͗νους, βασκα͗νους, πολυμεριμνους.

Particularly the words βασκα͗νους and πολυμεριμνους. These are descriptions of what kind of people those signified by Saturn would be. I suppose that they are compounds of two words: βασκα͗ + νους (mind); πολυμεριμ + νους (mind), but I can’t find them in any other place and this is what I’m asking here: some references of where I can search the usage of this kind of words, or at least some explanations of their content. Any helping tool would be very appreciative. Thanks.

2

Couple of questions for you –
You say that you’re “starting to learn Greek” – what does this mean exactly? Are you working through a textbook? How far have you gotten? I ask this because it makes a difference in how I answer you and what knowledge I can assume you already have and what you don’t.

Second question: what dictionaries are you using?
I own the Intermediate Liddell Scott Greek-English Lexicon, this is pretty standard and what most students of classical Greek are told to purchase. It’s adequate for most needs unless you’re reading authors with a love of obscure vocabulary.
Looking up words can take a bit of practice, as it’s not always simple to identify the headword that you should be looking under.

Looking at my dictionary, it includes an entry for βασκανος: “slanderous, envious, malignant”
πολυμεριμνος is not in my dictionary, but under μεριμνα I find: “care, thought, expecially anxious thought”
πολυ- is a common prefix, particularly in Homer, used for epithets. It means “many” or “full of”

There’s nothing to do with “νους” here.
It is quite common to find -ν- added to a noun stem to form an adjective.
-ους is the accusative plural ending for o declension nouns and adjectives.

For future searches, there’s also a useful tool at the Perseus Digital Library: Dictionary Entry Lookup
If this isn’t bookmarked, it should be.

3

I agree with spiphany that it would be helpful to know a little more about your experience with Greek.

The standard ancient Greek dictionary is Liddell, Scott, and Jones, usually abbreviated as LSJ. You can access it online (as well as the intermediate version, which is considerably shorter) at Perseus using spiphany’s link, and you can also download Diogenes for offline access.

πολυμερίμνους is from πολυμέριμνος, which LSJ glosses as “full of care” and cites Aristotle and Valens.

4

Thank you very much to both of you for your kind answer. I did reply earlier more elaborately but it seems out that that post was either not posted by me by mistake, or it was some technical problem with the site.
I know that I was not able to post on some other threads too, so soon after I gave up. However, this post is just a ‘test’ on my part, to see if my account is still working and whether I am able to post or not. If everything is OK, I will post once again to elaborate further on the issue with the initial subject of this thread.

5

Spiphany and Stephen Hill, thank you very much for your replies, and I apologize for my late response.

Couple of questions for you –
You say that you’re “starting to learn Greek” – what does this mean exactly? Are you working through a textbook? How far have you gotten? I ask this because it makes a difference in how I answer you and what knowledge I can assume you already have and what you don’t.

Yes, I am working with Phar’s Homeric Greek at the moment primarily, but I also use Athenaze and Teach Yourself Ancient Greek.
I am at the moment learning the second declension nouns and present indicative verbs, so I am not too far yet.

Second question: what dictionaries are you using?
I own the Intermediate Liddell Scott Greek-English Lexicon, this is pretty standard and what most students of classical Greek are told to purchase. It’s adequate for most needs unless you’re reading authors with a love of obscure vocabulary.
Looking up words can take a bit of practice, as it’s not always simple to identify the headword that you should be looking under.

I was not using any dictionary particularly but used online searching for those two words.

Looking at my dictionary, it includes an entry for βασκανος: “slanderous, envious, malignant”
πολυμεριμνος is not in my dictionary, but under μεριμνα I find: “care, thought, expecially anxious thought”
πολυ- is a common prefix, particularly in Homer, used for epithets. It means “many” or “full of”

There’s nothing to do with “νους” here.
It is quite common to find -ν- added to a noun stem to form an adjective.
-ους is the accusative plural ending for o declension nouns and adjectives

Thank you, again! for taking time to check these words in the dictionary. When I asked the question I was not familiar with the cases , and you are right, looking up for words it takes a bit time and practice, to combine the words of which the compound is made.

For future searches, there’s also a useful tool at the Perseus Digital Library: Dictionary Entry Lookup
If this isn’t bookmarked, it should be.

Great site!

The standard ancient Greek dictionary is Liddell, Scott, and Jones, usually abbreviated as LSJ. You can access it online (as well as the intermediate version, which is considerably shorter) at Perseus using spiphany’s link, and you can also download Diogenes for offline access.

I am doing that at the moment, thanks!

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Yes please, even i want to know some tools for tracking down words, it will be helpful if anyone share it.