Vocabulary of the Greek Testament:
Student Edition (VGNTS)
by
Allan T. Loder
‘Vocabulary of the
Greek Testament: Student Edition’ is an update/revision of Moulton’s and
Milligan’s ‘VGNT’ published 1924-1930. It is based on the 1929 print
edition — which is now in the public domain — along with some supplemental material from the 1930 edition. However, it is
not merely an electronic reproduction of Moulton’s and Milligan’s book.
While every attempt has been made to remain true to the original content of
VGNT, the VGNTS is an major update/revision designed to make Moulton’s and
Milligan’s valuable resource more accessible to a wider English-speaking
audience — especially those whose knowledge of the Biblical languages is very basic, “rusty,” or non-existent.
A reading of the
print version of VGNT suggests that the original authors, Moulton and Milligan,
presupposed that their intended audience would have a high level of understanding of the Greek language. Hopefully, the
enhancements in the VGNTS version will help fill the gap for those whose
knowledge is somewhat less than they anticipated.
Moulton’s and Milligan’s
purpose for publishing the ‘The Vocabulary of the Greek Testament’ was to
demonstrate that the language of the Greek New Testament was the common (Κοινή, Koinē) language used by ‘people
on the street.’ The source documents used are
mostly papyri and inscriptions that were discovered in the 1800s and early
1900s. These include such items as personal letters, court transcripts,
marriage contracts, bills of sale, petitions, etc. These give us a facinating
look into the daily lives of those who lived around the time when the New
Testament was written. The purpose of the ‘Vocabulary of the Greek Testament:
Student Edition’ remains the same as that of Moulton and Milligan, except now with the enhancements it is more accessible to a much wider audience.
The following
enhancements have been made:
a. Each
lexical entry is keyed to Strong’s numbers.
This creates a hyperlink between this dictionary module and any Bible module
with Greek text in theWord that is keyed to Strong’s. In cases where there is no corresponding Strong’s
number, the Greek word is listed in the index. In cases where the lexical form
is different in VGNT than in Strong’s, the Strong’s form appears
after the VGNT form inside brackets with a tilde at the beginning. For
example, αἱμορροέω (~ αἱμορῥέω).
b. For each lexical entry the
Greek word
is given, followed by a transliteration, the [page number] where the word occurs in the print
edition, an asterisk(*) to indicate the entry has been updated/revised, and a gloss. For example, ἀγάπη
[page 2]* [agapē, “love”].
c. All
internal cross-references to VGNT other entries have been hyperlinked. For
example, in the body of the text of G154 αἰτέω you will see s.v.
ἐρωτάω [erōtaō, “to ask”].
This word is hyperlinked to G2065 ἐρωτάω. There
are over 500 such cross-references provided, thus making this module more
useful and user-friendly.
d.
Inline English translations are provided for all Greek text, as well as for
most Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac, Latin, French and German text. A transliteration of some text is also provided, where
deemed helpful.
e. In
all translations of Greek text, the corresponding word for the lexical entry is
underlined in both the Greek sentence and English translation. The intent to
help the English reader understand how that word functions in the sentence.
f.
All papyri and inscriptions cited by Moulton and Milligan were carefully
checked against available print and/or electronic sources. In some cases, later
editions (i.e., transcriptions) of certain papyri have become available that
have been emended by the editors differently than what is shown in VGNT. These are
noted in the footnotes, along with the later transcriptions.
g. Over
460 new lexical entries are added as a result of papyri and inscriptions
discovered in the decades since Moulton and Milligan.
h. New
source materials are added to existing lexical entries, where available and
deemed helpful.
i.
Pertinent information, such as units of measure, currency, names of Egyptian
months, official titles, etc., is provided and hyperlinked.
j. In
cases where references to the LXX (Septuagint) are given, the text of the LXX
and an English translation is provided in the footnote. In addition, the
parallel Hebrew Masoretic Text (MT) reference is hyperlinked to the biblical
text. Both references are given. For example,
LXX Psa. 90:1 [=
MT Psa. 91:1].
l. The
VGNTS includes exerts from books cited in the print edition of VGNT which is
now either out of print, no longer available, or very hard to find.
Occasionally, Moulton and Milligan redirects the reader elsewhere, without
providing any additional information themselves on a particular word. For
example, for the entry Κανά (Kana, “Cana”) they
have only “See F. C. Burkitt Syriac Forms,
pp. 18f., 22.” In the VGNTS the information from
those source cited is incorporated into the lexical entry where deemed helpful
(See entry G2580).
m. In
cases where the discussion on the particular form of a word centers around NT
text-critical issues, relevant information is provided in the footnotes.
n.
Unfortunately, one of the greatest challenges for the student of papyrology and
epigraphy is that sources are frequently listed under more that one catalogue
identifier. For example Syll 364 is no. 364 of the second edition of
Dittenberger’s Sylloge Inscriptionum
Graecarum. But it is also listed as Syll.3
797, and again as IMT SuedlTroas 573. This can be confusing and
frustrating when attempting to look up a given source. This enhanced version
of VGNT addresses this challenge by providing several additional catalogue
identifiers inside square brackets. For example, Syll 364 [=
Syll.3 797 = IMT
SuedlTroas 573].