Two entries for מוג in DCH

[Susan]

This is more a question about the lexicon than about Accordance itself, but does anybody know what it means that there are two separate entries for this word in the Dictionary of Classical Hebrew, with different definitions for all stems but (I think) all of the same example usages (17.1.7)? Does it mean there is uncertainty about which is the correct definition (in every case (!))? I only see one entry in BDB and HALOT. Thanks.

Edited September 25, 2015 by Susan

[Michel Gilbert]

Hi Susan,

 

From the Introduction,

 

"2. ‘New Words’

 

The ‘new words’ in DCH and CDCH, marked with an asterisk (*) to the left of the headword, are those words that do not appear in the standard Hebrew–English lexicon of Brown–Driver–Briggs (BDB) of 1906. The great majority of these more than 3300 ‘new words’ do not appear in any other Hebrew dictionary. They are of two types:

 

1. Words not found in the Bible but occurring in classical Hebrew texts outside the Bible (Ben Sira, the Dead Sea Scrolls, or the Hebrew Inscriptions); there are about 1200 such words. The occurrence statistics for these words will show zero occurrences in the first position (e.g. 0.5.13.3), signifying that the word does not occur in the Bible but does occur in other Classical Hebrew texts. Such words are not registered in other Hebrew dictionaries since those dictionaries usually restrict themselves to the Hebrew of the Bible.

 

2. [e.g.,* מוג II _17.1.7 ] Words proposed by modern scholars, more than 2100 in number. Especially in the twentieth century, many new proposals have been made for the meaning of Hebrew words, sometimes on the basis of similar words in cognate languages like Arabic, Akkadian and Ugaritic, and sometimes on the basis of a new consideration of the Hebrew evidence. Many of these proposals have not yet gained the approval of the mainstream of scholarly opinion, and many of them are mutually exclusive. Users of the Dictionary should be aware of the tentative nature of such proposed words and of the fact that the occurrences of such words have traditionally been explained otherwise; nevertheless, it is salutary to be reminded, on almost every page of the CDCH, that our knowledge of the ancient Hebrew language is not entirely assured and that the meanings of some thousands of words remain debated. The complete DCH contains a full Bibliography of the scholarly literature concerning such words. For an example of such ‘new words’, readers may consult the Dictionary under the word ‏דבר‎. The verb is attested in over 1100 places as the normal word for ‘speak’; but no fewer than seven other words spelled ‏דבר‎ and meaning ‘destroy’, ‘turn the back’, ‘drive out’, ‘carry away’, ‘manage’, ‘follow’, and ‘have descendants’ have now also been proposed as occurring in twenty-seven of the passages where the usual ‏דבר I has traditionally been seen."

 

Regards,

 

Michel

[Susan]

Hi Susan,

 

From the Introduction....

 

Many thanks, Michel! I knew it must be there somewhere but was having trouble finding it. This is exactly what I was looking for.

[Michel Gilbert]

Hi again,

 

Regarding * מוג  II, notice the similarity between it and the single HAL entry - so in this case, it  has "gained the approval of the mainstream of scholarly opinion." Checking "new words" against HAL is a practical way to decide which entry to go with.

 

One of the reasons the cdch is my preferred lexicon in Acc is that it alerts me to "new words" = new roots, meanings, etc., especially some that I may have missed or that aren't mentioned in HAL, all of which requires further investigation. I also wanted to test dch's methodology for myself in the light of some early severe criticism of it. What I found is beyond the scope of this Forum discussion though.

 

Regards,

 

Michel

[Λύχνις Δαν]

Michel, does HAL==HALOT, or is this another lexicon I've missed ?

 

Thx

D

[Michel Gilbert]

Hi Daniel,

 

Yes.

 

And, btw it's a bit misleading to call type 2 words that don't appear in the 1906 BDB lexicon "new words." Many of them appear in HAL, and that's probably where they got them!

 

Regards,

 

Michel

[Fabian]

Daniel

 

The newest "HAL" is http://www.brill.com/publications/reference-works/konzise-und-aktualisierte-ausgabe-des-hebraeischen-und-aramaeischen-lex

 

David A. Katcher say in  http://www.academia.edu/12086670/KAHALit will tranlate into english in several years. (In this time the Accordance folks can learn German )

For me: hopefully it comes as the German version to Accordance

 

A friend of mine has it as book, I must ask him for more information.

 

 

Greetings

 

Fabian

[theblackbluejay]

I will be getting KAHAL in print.   Here is hoping that Accordance will be able to offer this valuable work in its library; I'm sure that many of us would by it as soon as it is available, even if it is in German