Jump to content

Word search (HMT-W4), HALOT, and BDB Complete


johnburnett

Recommended Posts

HALOT lists Num 22.34 under def. 1 as one of the instances of the root I-רעע.

 

However, the Context window displays Num 22.32 when i cursor over this link.

 

When i search the root רעע in HMT-W4, Num 22.34, which i saw in HALOT, does not appear at all.

 

This discrepancy is very discomfiting.

 

BDB complete, at def. 1, lists Je 24:2, 24:3 as instances of I-רעע. Clicking on the link to Num 24.2 gets no display in the Context window, and clicking on 24.3 displays 24.1.

 

Either i'm doing something wrong, which is possible, or maybe Accordance needs to rework the two רעע roots carefully.

 

But it seems i find one of these mistakes every time i use the program.

 

In other words, there seem to be a *lot* of mistakes in Accordance's dictionaries.

 

Can anyone explain why Num 22.34 doesn't appear in a search for רעע at all?

 

What do other people have to say about how reliable Accordance is, really?

 

John burnett.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

John: I think you are simply highlighting some of the problems of interpreting the Hebrew. Here is what I see:

 

The HMT-W4 defines the word in this verse as :

רַע raʿ (רעע) רַע (rʿʿ) raʿ Adjective masc sing abs bad, evil (Subject)
so the lemma (which is what is in the database itself) is simply רַע

If you amplify from the word to HALOT and/or to BDB Complete you get the definition of this lemma. BDB does not list this reference. HALOT does under this lemma and if your preferences are set to find the reference with the word, this is what is highlighted. (The reference finds the correct verse in my Bibles so I don't know whether you have failed to update your texts recently, or why you get the wrong verse.) In the text and in the lexicons this word is defined as a adjective. HALOT is the standard to which The Groves Institute normally refers for tagging issues.

 

It's true that both lexicons also list the verse under the root רעע but Accordance does not amplify to the root, it only displays and lets you search it. We added the roots to the databases ourselves, but there is some disagreement between the lexicons as to the roots of some words, especially those involving weak letters. The lexicons never attempt to display all the occurrences of all the words derived from a root. To my knowledge, only Accordance lets you do that, in the text itself.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...