Hello, I have a question concerning a book, that may be very familiar to many of you. It is called, the BrillDAG, The Brill Dictionary of Ancient Greek.
I did read a short blurb on it, but I am looking for your honest opinion on it, as I have never come across it before.
I ask this question primarily as it relates to New Testament Communicative Greek.
Such as, would this be a valuable resource to help add to my vocabulary as I may wonder what Koine word to use in a given situation.
Recommendations would also be appreciated!
(I am presently working my way slowly through the material by Randall Buth, and on this website)
I realize that I will have many more questions, as God willing, I progress in my studies of NT Koine Greek.
I am just very curious as to this book, as I came across it on Facebook tonight and have never heard of it before.
Thank you for you time. Harlan
The Latin/Greek crossover text that I was referring to is The Colloquia of the Hermeneumata Pseudodositheana https://www.amazon.co.uk/Colloquia-Hermeneumata-Pseudodositheana-Cambridge-Commentaries/dp/1107020107/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=The+Colloquia+of+the+Hermeneumata+Pseudodositheana&qid=1554479304&s=gateway&sr=8-2-spell
They are on my list to learn some more conversational stuff. at that point i am expecting brillDAG to be great
Some very initial thoughts... it is huge! You can get it in two volumes that may make it more manageable but the version I have is daunting beyond belief! Photo with a couple of other books for reference of the size of this work
another consideration is that in its print format you are going to struggle to find new interesting words based on English such as exclamatory phrases. Maybe when it becomes digitised
The range of texts cited is huge, so there will absolutely be vocab in here not in the New Testament - my favourite is the Greek αἰβοῖ for a rough equivalent of "yuck" - found only in the 4th-5th century bc writer Aristophanes. I found this in another communicative work by the polis institute who I would advise you look up and decided to look it up as a test. Whether that is relevant though for first century koine is something you will have to think through.
I personally don’t think this is useful for expanding vocab too much for the reasons above. It is too large, it is primarily of academic interest, LSJ is available in digital format and would be easier to use and search in my opinion and i bet cheaper! Checkout polis institute on their website or amazon and the Agros material on amazon in my opinion.
have a look at the polis institute stuff. There is also intersesting stuff published that was used in early roman times to teach Greek/Latin with regular phrases and situations. I would need Benjamin to comment on their value and what they are called - I can’t find them in my amazon list right now.
I don’t know your background in Greek. I am coming to this as someone who has read most of the New Testament and can do so comfortably now, some of The church fathers and am now (trying) to read Josephus‘ antiquities. My vocab range may therefore be wider than some, but the polis institute stuff has been great
Hey Harlan, I recently picked this book up and broke my bank account with it. Still want some feedback? If so, do you want me to compare to BDAG, LSJ or another? I will pick a random couple of words unless you have one or two in particular in mind?