Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domains

von Johannes P. Louw; Eugene Nida

Verlag:

United Bible Societies

, 1996

Overview

Louw-Nida Greek Lexicon is a modern Greek lexicon using the concept of "semantic domains." This lexicon differs from other lexicons in that it does not arrange words alphabetically and it does not give one listing of a word with all of that word's meanings after it. Instead, it breaks words down by their various shades of meaning. It then groups all of those entries together and organizes them by topics and sub-topics. It shows the nuances in word meanings and explains difficult expressions and idiomatic usages of words, and even provides advice on how words might be translated under various conditions. Since it groups words by meanings, it shows distinctions in meaning between similar words, and also between differences in one word's meaning in different contexts, as well as showing the overlaps between word meanings.

Contents

Top Highlights

“The fifth principle of semantic analysis is that both the different meanings of the same word and the related meanings of different words tend to be multidimensional and are only rarely orthogonal in structure, that is to say, the different meanings tend to form irregularly shaped constellations rather than neatly organized structures.” (Volume 1, Page xviii)

“The reference in Mt 5:4 is not to grieving or mourning for the dead but rather sadness and grief because of wickedness and oppression.” (Volume 1, Page 304)

“13.138 ἐάω; ἐπιτρέπω: to allow someone to do something—‘to allow, to let, to permit.” (Volume 1, Page 163)

“A further inadequacy of many existing lexicons is the lack of a systematic treatment of idioms.” (Volume 1, Page ix)

“to hold a view or have an opinion with regard to something—‘to hold a view, to have an opinion, to consider, to regard.’” (Volume 1, Page 364)