7 replies to this topic

[Ben]

I think I must be missing something here.

I'm trying to perform a search for the Hebrew ‏טוּבִי meaning, "my goodness", as found in Ex 33:19.

When I put that into the search box (BHS, word search, with a star after it for exact form) I don't get Ex 33:19, but get references with Tobiah in them, which is close enough (but not exact).

What am I not getting.

[Helen Brown]

The yod is a separate suffix. Try searching for "‏טוּבִ י" (quotes for inflected form) or [SUFFIX] ‏טוּבִ as a lemma plus tag for the follwing suffix which does not have a lexical form.

[Ben]

The yod is a separate suffix. Try searching for "‏טוּבִ י" (quotes for inflected form) or [SUFFIX] ‏טוּבִ as a lemma plus tag for the follwing suffix which does not have a lexical form.

So the * exact form search doesn't look for the exact entry you type, but only for a single 'exact' inflected word? Whereas, if I put the entry in " marks, it'll come up searching for exactly what I enter?

Thanks.

[Helen Brown]

No, these are separate issues. Equal sign means exact for case sensitivity, accents, vowel points, etc. Inflected, in quotes, means the characters as they appear in the text (used with or without the equal) but it does take into account the separators between prefixes and suffixes and the words themselves. You always need those spaces, which is why it is easiest to select the word(s) in the text and use the Search button to find them and use the correct syntax. It puts the spaces in, replaces the suffix lemma, adds the quotes if you press the option key. You can add the equal sign on any word in the entry box to narrow the search still further.

[David Lang]

Be sure to look at page 9 of the Quick Reference Guide, which has a helpful chart explaining how to search for lexical forms, inflected forms, the use of the equals, etc.

[Ben]

Thanks, Helen. That's very clear.

And thanks, David, I'll have a look at the user guide again - which is probably what I should have done in the first place!

[Ben]

I've had a look at the guide and I'm a bit confused.

No symbols: "All occurrences of that lexical form and will ignore vowel points and accents."

Enclosed in ": "All occurrences of that inflected form and will ignore vowel points and accents."

I understand lexical form to be the form of a word as it occurs in a lexicon, while inflected form is the word once it has been inflected in any way that makes it different from the lexical form.

How do you understand those terms?

[Helen Brown]

No, the inflected form in this case is the form as it appears in the text, whether or not it is the same as the lexical form. It may or may not be different. For example, αγαπαω is the lexical form for I love but this form does not occur in the GNT. However λεγω I speak occurs 212 times as an inflected form, but 2353 times when you search for the lexical form or lemma and find all the inflected forms including λεγω.