INSTANT DETAILS GLITCH? & BDB? EX 15:27

[Enoch]

When I click on the Hebrew word for 70, I get this in the Instant Details: ‏שבעים‎ ‏ (שבע) שבע 1 ‎Adjective both plur abs seven. Should this not read "seventy," instead of "seven"? And then when I triiple click on

 

‏שבעים (which goes to BDB complete), I get the entry for Beer Sheba, instead of for ‏שבעים = seventy.

[jpkang]

These are not actually glitches.

 

The gloss "seven" is for the basic dictionary form of the word--since "seventy" in Hebrew is simply the plural form of "seven," the gloss is correct. Similarly, the instant details gloss for the next word ‏תְּמָרִ֑ים is "palm tree," not "palm trees."

 

When you amplify to BDB Complete, what is happening is that the Hebrew Entry field is being searched for the dictionary (or lexical) form, also called the lemma, in this case, ‏שֶׁבַע. That is why you see there are 8 hits. If you page down using the Mk buttons at the bottom left of the window, you'll see that the second matched entry is the one you want.

 

Exact correspondence would not necessarily be desirable since dictionaries sometimes classify words differently, and in any case, it is sometimes very helpful to see matches for related words to get a sense of the broader range and context of a particular word.

[Enoch]

Tnx a lot.

 

This is my experience triple clicking on Shb'im then using the mk arrows:

1) 1339 Bathsheba

3) 7651 seven

4) 7650 shaba swear

5) 7652, sheba (proper name)

6) 7652, 884 sheba (proper location)

7) 472, 1399, 3089 sheba "v. in cpds."

 

And that is all! Shb'im meaning 70 is never seen. To find it, I had to search BDB using its search window. Scrolling down off the first hit is fruitless. Scrolling down from the 3rd hit does find it, as a considerable scroll.

7657 ‏שבעים‎91 n. pl. seventy (irreg. pl. of ‏שבע‎ Ges:§ 97 f, R. 1);—not decl.:—seventy.

 

But I guess you have your reasons why triple-cllicking on שבעים should not go to that spot in BDB.

 

I am reminded of my experience years ago in Elementary Greek. My teacher vociferated that one must never use an analytical lexicon or one would cheat oneself of learning. So I obeyed. And I wasted an awful amount of time trying to read Greek / translate Greek from the NT. I recall once searching Bauer-Arndt-Gingrich to find out what the Greek word hen meant. After an hour, I never found it. I finally cheated & went and asked a miscellaneous professor what hen meant. You would never find hen in Bauer because it is listed under heis, the masculine form, not the neuter hen. The only way you would find it is if you already knew what it meant, in which case you would not have used the lexicon in the first place! So when I myself taught Greek, I never tried to inflict pedantry on my students.

 

I would prefer that when I click on a word, Accordance take me right to the place where it is defined. And I would prefer to be able to make the decision for myself as to whether I want a quick explanation or want to spend time investigating a family of words & derivatives. If a triple click takes one to the meaning, one can do all the investigation of associated letter strings desired (or avoid it).

 

(BTW, I don't know why on this forum sometimes when I paste a Hebrew word from Accordance I get gibberish, & sometimes the Hebrew shows up.)

 

Thanks again for the exchange of ideas on this subject.