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BDAG


sunmin Cho

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I recently bought BDAG and it works well within Accordance. As I come to use it more frequently, I found out that there is one very inconvenient thing in using BDAG. I hope somebody can help me. First, in the workspace of any Greek, let's say I'm working on John 1, when an unfamiliar word comes up, I usually triple-click the word and this leads the workspace directly to the dictionary, "Louw & Nida." This dictionary is useful, but has limited explanation. To look up this word in BDAG, I have to choose "BDAG" under the "Louw & Nida" tab and then type the word physically. This is very annoying. Let me say this again step-by-step. To see the meaning of words in BDAG, I have to go through annoying 3 steps. Fist, I have to check the lexical form from the instant message and remember the lexical form. (you should not forget the lexical form, then you have to go back to see it again). Second, I have to choose BDAG under "Louw & Nida." Third, type the lexical form in BDAG window.

 

Is there any easier way of getting into BDAG, at least making BDAG open automatically when I first triple-click the word, instead of getting into "Louw & Nida" as a default?

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Oh dear! You are making it so complicated, when it really is so simple. First, you can select the Greek word and then directly choose BDAG (or any other resource) from the resource palette, and it will open and search it directly for the lexical form for you. In fact, if you want to search for the inflected form you must press option as you choose the resource.

 

Secondly, the triple-click will open the top lexicon for that language. Use the Arrange Modules window (Edit menu) to move BDAG to the top of the Greek tools. Then your triple-click will open and search BDAG directly.

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Thankfully, Accordance makes arranging your modules very easy.

 

Open the Arrange Modules window (Option-Apple-A)

Select the tool set (Greek tools in this case).

Select BDAG and drag it to the top of the list, it will now be the default tool when you triple-click.

 

HTH

Mike

 

<Sorry for the duplicate answer, looks like Helen made it to the post reply button first!>

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Let me say this again step-by-step. To see the meaning of words in BDAG, I have to go through annoying 3 steps. Fist, I have to check the lexical form from the instant message and remember the lexical form. (you should not forget the lexical form, then you have to go back to see it again). Second, I have to choose BDAG under "Louw & Nida." Third, type the lexical form in BDAG window.

 

Why do you have to re-type the lexical form? BDAG is set as my default, but if I want to switch to, say, NIDNTT, all I do is choose NIDNTT from the drop-down menu and click OK. The lexical form stays in the search box for me. Usually, I consult multiple lexicons for a single word, and if I had to re-type the word every time, that would be very annoying. I'm not sure why you need to re-type it in the scenario you described. Can you elaborate?

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Sunmin,

 

Here's another tip that I use quite frequently with BDAG.

 

As you may have noticed in using BDAG (in both Accordance or print version) there can be several meanings for a particular entry, and when translating you may only want to find the meaning that applies to the particular passage / book that you are working in. Well, with the 'more options' drop down, you can add an 'extra field' (several for that matter), specifically 'Scripture' and type in the Book, or Book and Verse you are working in. When you 'triple-click' a new word from your tagged text it will automatically search for that lexical form and highlight all hits for the Scripture ref. you typed in. In the instance that it opens a new tab with BDAG, you know that it didn't find any results that were that specific. You can either broaden your Scripture ref (to book only for example), or remove the extra field all together.

 

Attached is a SS from an example. As you can see, the verb μετατίθεσθε from μετατίθημι (as it occurs in Gal. 1.6) has 3 possible meanings, and by adding the extra field I don't have to read through all of them in detail, I can skip to the one that, in context, is most correct.

 

post-5629-1203634519_thumb.png

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Thanks, Rick! I had not used that particular feature. It will be useful in all the lexicons with multiple articles.

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This question came in via an email response to this thread, I'll respond to it here.

 

Can you explain the BDAG contextual search step-by-step? I couldn't duplicate your results and the screen shots didn't come through.

 

First, open one of your Greek tagged texts (such as GNT-T), and go to 'Gal 1:6' (just to keep uniform with my previous example). The word we want to look up is μετατίθεσθε. You can do this a number of ways, but the easiest is to 'triple-click' the word. Accordance will automatically search for the lexical form in the first Greek Tool in the list of ones available. You'll notice that it opens to the entry for μετατίθημι, which has 3 potential meanings. We're only interested in the one that best fits the context. So, by clicking the 'more options' drop down, we can add 1 Extra Field, select the 'Scripture' field, then enter our desired range: Gal 1. Press 'return' and you'll notice that Gal 1:6 is now highlighted. If you leave the BDAG tab open, each subsequent time that you triple-click a word it will highlight all hits for Gal 1. (see the screen shot in my previous post, which should work fine if you're viewing the thread online, and not in your email).

 

Also, if you are trying this with a word that has a greater number of possible translations and you don't see any of your Scrip refs highlighted, it might be that they are further down the page. To quickly jump to the selection use the 'Mk' button in the bottom left to automatically go there.

 

This also works nice with any of our Lexicons, such as Liddell and Scott, or Louw and Nida. Try this same example in Louw and Nida and you'll see that it quickly eliminates all the other entries and only displays the applicable one for Gal. 1:6.

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