Just switched from NT to LXX and thought I’d be fine with Intermediate LS.
But, in Eccl 1:14
εἶδον σὺν πάντα τὰ ποιήματα τὰ πεποιημένα ὑπὸ τὸν ἥλιον καὶ ἰδοὺ τὰ πάντα ματαιότης καὶ προαίρεσις πνεύματος
using LS entry, I’d maybe translate as “a choice” or “a deliberation” of spirit [προαίρεσις, -εως (f) – a choosing, a deliberate choice, a purpose, a resolution]
But in translations, it looks like this should be “waywardness” or “vexation” of Spirit.
Looking at the full LS, I could get further offtrack with the 8th entry for the word: “devotion, affection, goodwill.”
Is there a lexicon, perhaps one with LXX examples in its entries, that I should be aware of?
Thanks for any help.
I can’t tell you which is better, because although I have read most of the LXX, I’ve never used either one. I just used LSJ. Ken Penner has said that he prefers to use LSJ to the lexcions designed specifically for the LXX because he wants to try to figure out the intended LXX nuance of the word himself, based on the standard Greek meanings. I think there are a few words, though, in the LXX that are not in LSJ.
which is to be used in conjunction with BDAG. The idea is that if an LXX word is not in BDAG it will be in this book.
If you are short of funds, I imagine that there is probably an older, public domain LXX lexicon (but in English?) that you could access on line, but it might take a bit of digging to find. (Jeidsath and Bedwere are good at this sort of thing.)
An English (or Spanish) public domain LXX lexicon is probably what I’m after.
I see the interlinear Study Bible site (http://studybible.info/interlinear/Eccl%201 – thanks to calvinist) chooses to translate the word as “a resolve”, which is pretty darn close to the “deliberate choice” found in LS. I’ll probably use this interlinear to check this sort of problem until I find a better option.
Ewing’s Lexicon is free on Google Books. I imagine that it’s decent, and probably simpler to use than the LSJ? I haven’t used it. Personally, I’d go with a used copy of the intermediate Liddell Scott.
ok, thanks. i own intermediate liddel and that’s where i’ve done 75%+ of the vocab work. but in the one case mentioned, i was not anywhere approaching the meaning in a couple different LXX translations. but, it turns out it was a good match for the interlinear LXX translation mentioned in another thread, so I’m rather satisfied in the intermediate liddel’s entry.
I also encountered the same problem here..
just read the very first chapter in Genesis using the middle LSJ.
even though I found only 4 problematic words and only 2 of these are not found at all, while the remaining 2 are defined but I found it hard to put into the context
not sure but read it somewhere that muraoka and LEH lexicon are complement to each other. but I am leaning toward muraoka because it assumes that one does not know hebrew.
while LEH has it own pro’s by comparing the word with the hebrew and the definition drawn from LSJ.
I have never invested in muraoka. At time I was buying lexicons muraoka was limited to the Pentateuch. Frankly I think LEH is pretty weak in terms of the lexical semantics. It seems to offer little more than a list of english glosses with a few references. I bought it eons ago and I use it because it his handy kind of like I use the abridged Danker for NT. In other words I use it to get started and then look elsewhere. I didn’t take the extreme measure of selling LEH on ebay, but I know one fellow who did after buying muraoka.
the two not found are
ακατασκευαστος & φαυσις. while for the ακατασκευαστος is understandable if one knows the alpha privative and the word κατασκευαστος. (okay Im still wet behind the ears)
the two hardly to put into context are
επιφερω & στερεωμα
for επιφερω the entry in the middle scot: ‘mid to bring with or upon oneself, bring as dowry’
while the sentence is in the second verse is πνευμα θεου επεφερετο επανω του υδατος which I cant put it into context.
while στερεωμα Middle scot entry: ‘solid body, foundation; metaph.steadfastness’ and the sentence is στερεωμα εν μεσω του υδατος.(verse 6) is it about a solid thin layer mid air? or firmament? while the next verse indicate that The Divine called it ουρανος. I found it confusing
sry i still cannot figure out how to fill the accent and iota subscript
is it that ‘at time’ which you refer is the 2002 lexicon? because the 2009 lexicon, the introduction says that "The present dictionary covers the entire Septuagint, including the so-called deuterocanonical books or apocrypha.’
Look how similar φαῦσις is to φάος = φῶς. The -ις ending is often an action (in this case to do with shining).
I read ἐπεφέρετο as passive with the primary meaning. The spirit of God was placed upon the water.
“Solid body” is pretty good for στερέωμα. You guessed exactly right with “firmament.” After all, if there’s nothing solid up there, what holds all the water up? Haven’t you ever been rained on? Obviously the sky has a roof.
I only asked because I thought that the first chapter of Genesis in the LXX was very easy Greek. But you’ve convinced me that the Middle Liddell isn’t the perfect dictionary for it.
It was probably sometime in the late 90s. Also, I was told by more than one LXX scholar that LEH was not something they “needed” in their library. They also relied on LSJ which seemed odd to me at the time. LSJ in hard copy isn’t a very handy tool. That’s why I prefer to use LEH as quick lookup. Now days almost everybody does their reading from a hyper-text LXX but some of us still use books.
