Why is Accordance so fast?

[Helen Brown]

I've sensed this gap has drastically reduced in the past two years. Logos has released several updates to increase their speed in searches, but it still does perform a little slower than Accordance. With that said, It seems that if Logos ever made this an important "feature" to add to their application, then it will come. When it does come, this would deal a severe blow to Accordance. I have found Accordance's advertising of its speed a weak leg to stand on, especially when Logos is producing some language rich research tools and ancient literature datasets. I've have also been perplexed over Accordance's claim that it is somehow more "Academic" than Logos. It seems to me this is patently false. I've found evidence to suggest the opposite is the case—has anyone ever tried to study the Targumim in Accordance? You will quickly need to go to CAL for variant readings and such, and even then one still needs the editio princeps (also see the IOSCS article on the Isaiah text in Göttingen). I have also found that Logos 6 is much more stable than Accordance 11. Accordance 11 crashes on me at least once a day last week, and Logos crashed once. This is just my experience.

 

We asked Dr. Ed Cook for his comments. He spent several years preparing the CAL Targumic texts for Accordance and adding to them, and this was his response:

 

The main complaint about the Targum module seems to be that there are no variant readings in the Accordance Targum modules, which is true.  However, the much deeper level of tagging, as well as the revision of many errors found in CAL, should more than compensate for the lack of variant readings.  I can tell you as a Targum scholar that I and many others use the Accordance targum modules constantly without reference to CAL or any other source, and I find them very useful.  Of course, I would say that, but no matter who did the tagging and revision, the Accordance Targum modules have proved their value to me many, many times.

 

We would be very interested to see the responses of other scholars who work with the Targums, and are are familiar with the alternate sources.

[David Knoll]

We asked Dr. Ed Cook for his comments. He spent several years preparing the CAL Targumic texts for Accordance and adding to them, and this was his response:

 

 

We would be very interested to see the responses of other scholars who work with the Targums, and are are familiar with the alternate sources.

I sometimes have a look at the variants in another software package. The thing is that they only give a small selection of variants which they number without giving any information about the manuscript or printed edition from which they were taken. One therefore has to go back to Sperber to see the full picture. If you want to be certain about the various readings in the manuscripts you cannot rely on the modules supplied in the other software. They only give you a hint that you should look further in Sperber if the variant they supply seems important enough. The ideal would be to incorporate all of the data included in Sperber's edition. That way even if you want to be certain you have the full picture regarding the Aramaic reading in question, you need not go back to Sperber. 

Needless to say, the search capabilities and intuitive interface of Accordance make it my primary tool for studying the Targums electronically. I cannot recall a single instance when I searched the Targum resources of the other software package. I only have a look at them as a supplement to Accordance when I am away from Sperber's printed edition.

Edited December 9, 2015 by David Knoll

[Michael P Finkelstein]

Just so that my wording is not lost, I said, "has anyone ever tried to study the Targumim in Accordance? You will quickly need to go to CAL for variant readings and such, and even then one still needs the editio princeps."

 

I don't see how Ed Cook's answer is contrary to this point.

 

If you want to be careful and thorough one works with manuscripts and the scribal culture responsible for producing them.

[David Knoll]

Just so that my wording is not lost, I said, "has anyone ever tried to study the Targumim in Accordance? You will quickly need to go to CAL for variant readings and such, and even then one still needs the editio princeps."

 

I don't see how Ed Cook's answer is contrary to this point.

 

If you want to be careful and thorough one works with manuscripts and the scribal culture responsible for producing them.

I beg to differ. There is a lot to be gained from the accumulation of data and the ability to search a large corpus and reach conclusions. It depends on what you need. You can have a copy of Sperber open on your desk but if you want to know how a certain Hebrew word is translated in the Targums or how many times a certain phrase occurs in Onqelos there is not much you can do with the printed edition. 

Edited December 9, 2015 by David Knoll