New Testament Lexicography

Introduction - Theory - Method

Jesús Peláez, Juan Mateos, David S. du Toit, Andrew Bowden

• Editore: De Gruyter
• Anno: 2018
• ISBN:
  9783110409055
• Edizione: 1
• Argomento: Teología y religión
• Categoria: Referencia bíblica

This text brings together in one volume two previous books that laid the groundwork for the construction of the entries in Diccionario Griego-Español del Nuevo Testamento (Greek-Spanish Dictionary of the New Testament), namely Método de Análisis semántico aplicado al griego del Nuevo Testamento (Method of Semantic Analysis applied to the Greek of the New Testament) and Metodología del Diccionario Griego Español del Nuevo Testamento (Methodology of the Greek Spanish Dictionary of the New Testament), by Juan Mateos and Jesús Peláez.
In the introduction and first part of the text, the concepts of dictionary and meaning are defined and a critical analysis of the dictionaries of F. Zorell, W. Bauer (Bauer-Aland) and Louw-Nida is conducted. Their methodologies are examined with the purpose of then presenting a method of semantic analysis and the steps for establishing the semantic formula of the various classes of lexemes, which functions as the basis for determining lexical and contextual meaning.
In the second part the necessary steps for composing the dictionary's entries are proposed. The text concludes with an analysis of related lexemes in order to demonstrate the accuracy of the suggested method.
For the first time, a carefully developed method of semantic analysis and the corresponding methodology are presented before the construction of the dictionary's entries.

PART I New Testament Lexicography: A Critical Introduction
(Jesús Peláez)

Chapter 1: Dictionary and Meaning79TN

§ 1. The need to compose a Greek-Spanish dictionary of the New Testament stems from the absence of a dictionary in Spanish dedicated to this period of the Greek language. As a result, Spanish speaking scholars of the New Testament face the linguistic challenge of trying to base their philological studies on bilingual dictionaries in languages other than their own. A tool is thus needed to give Spanish speakers direct access to the Greek of the New Testament. This does not imply that dictionaries of classical Greek ignore the Greek of the New Testament: such dictionaries often mention the peculiar meanings of certain terms in the New Testament. Nevertheless, for obvious reasons the Greek of the New Testament in these dictionaries is not discussed systematically and extensively, but in a brief manner. Given the Greek language’s long period of evolution (from Homer to Hellenistic and then Patristic Greek), one cannot expect more from these dictionaries. A more detailed treatment would simply be impossible.

1.1 The Concept of Dictionary

§ 2. At the beginning of our study we ought to clarify what we understand by “dictionary.” María Moliner defines this as “a book in which the words of a language or of a particular corpus are arranged alphabetically and explained or given their equivalence in another language.”80 A similar definition is given by F. Lázaro Carreter: “a book that, by means of a general alphabetical ordering, contains and explains the meanings of all the words of a language or maps them out with the equivalents of one or several other languages.”81 The double possibility expressed in these definitions—the dictionary as an explanation of the meaning of words or as |15-P a repository of translational equivalents—is alluded to by A. Schökel, author of the Diccionario Bíblico hebreo-español,82 a project parallel to ours except that it deals with the Hebrew language. Discussing the possible ways of organizing a bilingual dictionary of the Hebrew Bible, he marked out two:

• a) To define or describe the semantic content or the function of each term in a meta-language.
• b) To offer words or expressions in the target language that correspond to the various meanings and uses of each Hebrew term.

Additionally, as a third way he then adds, “The author of a bilingual dictionary is prone to combine the two tactics in varying degrees.”83 In his dictionary, however, Schökel did not follow this third option. Rather than beginning by describing the meanings of words and lexemes, he places a series of Spanish words at the front of the entry next to the Hebrew term. For example, next to the lexeme bayit (“house”) appear:

palacio, mansión, hogar, taller, sala, habitación, cárcel, prisión, burdel, castillo, establo, corral, harén, residencia, posada, albergue, mausoleo [palace, mansion, home, workshop, room, habitation, jail, prison, brothel, castle, stable, corral, harem, residence, inn, lodge, mausoleum].

None of these terms, however, represent the meaning of the Hebrew word. They are translational equivalents in diverse contexts. The meaning of bayit could be described as “a covered building that demarcates an open and accessible space constructed to be inhabited.”

§ 3. A more technical, albeit shorter, definition of “dictionary” is offered by A. J. Greimas, who in part inspired the methodology that we will present in the pages that follow. Greimas understood dictionary as the stock of lexemes |16-P (and eventually of paralexemes)84 of a natural language arranged in a conventional order (normally alphabetically), which, taken as “titles,” have definitions or para-synonymous equivalents.85 A more complete definition is provided by J. Dubois:86

A dictionary is a cultural object that presents the lexicon of a language (or of several languages) in an alphabetical form, providing certain information for each term (pronunciation, etymology, grammatical category, definition, construction, examples of usage, synonyms, idioms). Such information is intended to allow the reader to translate from one language to another or to fill gaps that keep one from understanding the text in one’s own language. The dictionary also tries to give a complete description of the means of expression and to expand the cultural knowledge of the reader.

§ 4. From these definitions of “dictionary” it can be easily deduced that we are concerned with a dictionary of terms or language (i. e., with the linguistic use of words), as opposed to an encyclopedic dictionary, which focuses on the concept, idea, or thing that a word represents. Yet, the border between these two kinds of dictionary is not clearly defined and it must be admitted that a dictionary of language is, to a certain degree, encyclopedic, and vice versa.87

The authors we have cited conceive of two ways of presenting definitions in their dictionaries: (1) words can be listed and their meaning(s) explained (which tends to be the case, in a more or less systematic manner, in monolingual dictionaries); and (2) words can be listed in one language followed by their translational equivalents in another language (which is common in bilingual dictionaries). We prefer to adopt the definitions provided by Moliner and Lázaro Carreter (mentioned above) by changing the disjunctive “or” to the copulative “and,” in which case “dictionary” would be defined as “a book that contains an alphabetically organized set of words of a language,88 explains their meaning(s), and, in the case of a |17-P bilingual dictionary, also presents their translational equivalents in another language.”89

§ 5. In DGENT we therefore adopt the third alternative proposed by Schökel. We combine the two tactics, in the first place giving the definition of the lexeme except when it refers to an obvious entity, in which case the definition is not necessary (e. g., “dog,” “cat,” “apple,” etc.). We view the lexicographer’s primary task to consist of explaining, viz. defining the meaning of words (which is not always an easy task). This will consist, above all, in describing the meaning of each lexeme abstractly (semiological level, langue) by means of a paraphrase that may be semantically equivalent to the lexeme.

Excursus: Definitions of Technical Terminology

Having spoken about “dictionaries,” it will be helpful to distinguish this term from others, such as “lexicon” or “vocabulary,” which are frequently used without distinction. A lexicon is a book that contains the inventory of all the lexes (lexes = lexeme, paralexeme/set phrase) of a natural language from a certain time period.90 According to T. Lewandowski,91 lexicon differs from vocabulary, the latter being the exhaustive list of the words of a corpus. |18-P Lexicon can have other meanings. In contrast to dictionary, it can evoke two kinds of works:92 a book that serves as the list of terms employed by an author, by a scientific discipline, or by a technology, and, on the other hand, a compact bilingual dictionary that parallels the lexical elements of the two languages being compared. As can be seen, the term “lexicon” has several meanings and is sometimes confused with “vocabulary.” Lexicon is therefore reserved in this volume for language (langue) and vocabulary for speech (parole). The units of langue are lexemes while the units of parole are words and their usage (“their usage” designates each appearance of a certain word). Nevertheless, as a technical linguistic term, “lexicon” does not imply a book but all items that form the language of a community, of a human activity, of a speaker, etc.

The term “lexicography” not only refers to how a dictionary is constructed but also to its method of linguistic analysis. “Lexicography” is, moreover, |19-P as ambiguous as the term “lexicographer,” which can refer to a linguist who studies lexicography and to the editor of a dictionary. The science of lexicography and the practice of lexicography, however, are differentiated, as are also the linguist studying lexicography and the author who produces a dictionary. For its part, “lexicology” is defined as the scientific study of words.93

§ 6. One question remains to be answered, namely, why a bilingual dictionary ought to explain the meaning of words before suggesting their translational equivalents in the target language. Two reasons can be given. First, a word in a target language is not the meaning of a word in the original language, but is rather a translational equivalent, as is outlined below (cf. §§ 9, 21). Meaning and translational equivalence are different concepts. Second, before suggesting translational equivalents, the dictionary ought to explain the meaning of the words. Doing so will help avoid the confusion of having to select a translational equivalent from among a series of words, which, as the series continues, strays further and further from the meaning that headed the series. Confusion can be avoided when the dictionary is more extensive and specialized and when meanings are arrived at through morpho-syntactical and contextual criteria. When the definition of a lexeme is not provided, confusion is likely to arise.

§ 7. Let us look at some examples. For the lexeme δίδωμι, the manual dictionary of J. M. Pabón94 lists the following translational equivalents:

“to give” (something, acc, or from something, gen; to someone, dat), “to offer” (ὁμήρους “hostages”; δ. λόγον “to give account” [ἑαυτῷ] or “to let someone speak”; δ. δίκην “to pay the penalty” or “to give an account”; δ. ἀκοήν “to give or lend the ear”; δ. χάριν “to grant” or “to give free reign”; δ. πιέειν “to give something to drink”); “to offer in sacrifice”, “to sacrifice,” “to appease,” “to ascribe,” “to grant,” “to award”; “to concede,” “to admit” (in a discussion); “to give permission for,” “to permit”; “to hand over” (κυσίν “to the dogs”; ἀχέεσσι “to the pains”; τοῖς δεινοῖς αὑτοὺς διδόναι, “to expose themselves to the dangers”); or “to entrust” (in marriage, as a companion, etc.); “to pardon” (δέονται δοῦναι σφίσι ἄνδρε “they ask that the life of the men be spared, that they pardon them”).

The words from this list are not in and of themselves meanings of δίδωμι. Rather, they represent meanings that the verb acquires in specific contexts (the author of the dictionary is conscious of this, as is seen in the various parentheses). The verb δίδωμι actually means “an act whereby a personal agent |20-P causes something he or she possesses to become the possession of a recipient, normally personal” (cf. § 263).

§ 8. Let us provide another example. If one knows in advance that the Greek term κωλύω means “to cause (voluntarily or involuntarily) something not to happen,” then it can be translated as “to deprive,” “to avert,” “to impede,” “to prohibit,” “to hinder.” Depending on context, the term can be expressed by one of these translational equivalents. Although κωλύω can be translated in certain contexts as “to prohibit,” one should not assume that this is its meaning or that it can always be translated as such. A phrase like the one in Rom 1:13, “I want you to know, brothers, that I have planned to visit you many times, καὶ ἐκωλύθην ἄχρι τοῦ δεῦρο,” cannot be translated as “I was prohibited,” but rather as “I was hindered until the present.” The generic meaning of κ...

Indice dei contenuti

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Editor’s Preface
• Translator’s Preface
• Abbreviations
• Contents
• Introduction: Notable Details about the Translation
• Introduction: The Contribution of the Cordoba-School to the Lexicography of New Testament Greek
• Preface by J. Mateos in J. Peláez, Metodología (1996)
• PART I New Testament Lexicography: A Critical Introduction (Jesús Peláez)
• PART II A Theory of Semantic Analysis (Juan Mateos)
• PART III Method. A Methodology of the Diccionario Griego-Español del Nuevo Testamento (J. Peláez)
• Catalogue of Semes
• Alphabetical List of Semes (English/Spanish)
• Glossary
• Bibliography
• Publications on Semantics and Lexicography by Members of GASCO (Grupo de Análisis Semántico de Córdoba)
• Index of Greek Words
• Index of Subjects
• Index of Authors
• Index of References