Greek dictionary chaos

Filius Volcani

Member

Location:
atlanta GA USA
So, I finished my Ancient greek course, feel ready to really get going on The Iliad on my own. So i buy myself a nice copy of Liddel&Scotts and familiarize myself with the Perseus digital library. So far so good until i come across a verb form that isn't readily apparent. I grab my dictionary and find the word expecting to see 6 clear neatly listed principal parts that i can look through to find which matches the construction i have but all i can find (usually) is gibberish. Am i missing something? how is this helpful? is there a dictionary available on the market that is clear and easy to use with all the principal parts? Latin dictionaries are very easy, why is this so different? I looked in a Homeric dictionary but it didn't look much better. -- Any help or advice will be much appreciated! Thanks

As an example here is the entry from my greek 101 course book (perfect) followed by the LSJ entry (insane) for διδωμι:

Course book:
δίδωμι, δώσω (διδώσω), ἔδωκα, δέδοκα, δέδομαι, ἐδόθην: give, grant, bestow

LSJ:
δίδωμι , Il.23.620, etc. (late δίδω POxy.121 (iii A. D.)); late forms, 1pl. διδόαμεν v. l. in J.BJ3.8.5, etc., 3pl. δίδωσι παρα-) Id.AJ10.4.1, etc.; but thematic forms are freq. used, esp. in Ep. and Ion., διδοῖς, διδοῖσθα, Il.9.164, 19.270,
A. [select] διδοῖOd.17.350, Mimn.2.16, Hdt.2.48, Hp.Aër.12 (ἀνα-), A.Supp.1010, etc., “διδοῦσιIl.19.265 (always in Hom.), dub. in Att., Antiph.156; imper. “δίδουThgn.1303, Hdt.3.140, E.Or.642, “δίδοιPi.O.1.85, Epigr. in Class.Phil.4.78, Ep. “δίδωθιOd.3.380; inf. διδόναι, also “διδοῦνThgn.1329, Ep. “διδοῦναιIl.24.425, Aeol. “δίδωνTheoc.29.9; part. διδούς, Aeol. “δίδοιςAlc.Supp.23.13: impf. ἐδίδουν -ους -ου, Ar.Eq.678, Od.19.367, 11.289 (Ep. “δίδουIl. 5.165), etc.; 3pl. “ἐδίδοσανHdt.8.9, etc., ἐδίδουν (v.l. ἐδίδων) Hes. Op.139, D.H.5.6 codd. (ἀπ-), also ἔδιδον prob. in h.Cer.437, δίδον ib.328; Ep. iter. “δόσκονIl.14.382: fut. “δώσω14.268, etc., Ep. “διδώσωOd.13.358, 24.314; inf. “δωσέμεναιIl.13.369: aor. 1 ἔδωκα, used only in ind., Od.9.361, etc., Ep. “δῶκαIl.4.43: aor. 2 ἔδων, used in pl. ind. ἔδομεν ἔδοτε ἔδοσαν (Lacon. “ἔδονIG5(1).1B1), and in moods, δός, δῶ, δοίην, δοῦναι, δούς; Ep. forms of aor., subj. 3sg. δώῃ, δώῃσι, δῷσι, Il.16.725, 1.324, Od.2.144; 3sg. δώη, Boeot. “δώειSIG2858.17 (Delph.), IG7.3054 (Lebad.), “δοῖPPetr.2.p.24; 1pl. “δώομενIl.7.299, Od.16.184, 3pl. “δώωσιIl.1.137; 3sg. opt. is written “δόηUPZ1.4, “δοῖIG14.1488, etc.; inf. “δόμεναιIl.1.116, “δόμεν4.379 (also Dor., Ar.Lys.1163(ἀπο-)“, δόμεινSIG942 (Dodona)); Cypr. inf. “δοϝέναιInscr.Cypr.135.5H. (also opt. δυϝάνοι ib. 6); Arc. part. “ἀπυ-δόαςIG5(2).6.13 (Tegea); inf. “δῶναιSchwyzer 666.2 (Orchom., iii B. C.), also in later Greek, BGU38.13 (ii A. D.): pf. “δέδωκαPi.N.2.8, etc.; Boeot. 3pl. “ἀπο-δεδόανθιIG7.3171.35 (Orchom.): plpf. “ἐδεδώκειX.Cyr.1.4.26:—Med. only in compds.:— Pass., fut. “δοθήσομαιE.Ph.1650, Is.3.39, etc.: aor. “ἐδόθηνOd.2.78, etc.: pf. “δέδομαιIl.5.428, A.Supp.1041, Th.1.26, etc.; 3pl. “δέδονταιE.Supp.757: plpf. “ἐδέδοτοTh.3.109:—give freely,τινί τιOd.24.274, etc.: in pres. and impf., to be ready to give, offer, Il.9.519, Hdt.5.94, 9.109, Ar.Fr.100, X.An.6.3.9, etc.; “τὰ διδόμεναthings offered, D.18.119.
2. [select] of the gods, grant, assign, κῦδος, νίκην, et
 

Glabrigausapes

Philistine

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Location:
Milwaukee
It is a tad annoying, but it seems to make more sense, given the rather broad chronico-dialectal differences observed in Greek (that are all but absent from Latin), to list first the forms of the present system, then the pertinent future forms, aorist, etc.

The only advice I can give is to familiarize yourself with the abbreviations (e.g. 'aor.' for 'aorist') and use the 'control F' function; you might also download the free app called 'Diogenes' which comes with a morphological database. Also the far-from-perfect 'Verbix' has an Ancient Greek system.
 

Glabrigausapes

Philistine

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Location:
Milwaukee
Come to think of it, I actually have seen one or two manuals (technically German & Italian) wholly dedicated to Ancient Greek verbal morphology, but unfortunately I can't remember authors or titles. There's also a pretty comprehensive list of useful verbs' principal parts in Sidgwick's Greek Prose Composition.
 
LIddell and Scott were not interested in laying out all the forms in the way that a beginning textbook does. They figured anybody accessing their lexicon would already know all that. They were interested in giving forms from different dialects to illustrate something of the historical morphology and why some verbs, such as δίδωμι, have such a variety of forms. A lot of the time -- LSJ suffers from quite a bit of methodological inconsistency. You can figure out the principal parts from such entries, but you really have to work to do it. Words which are perfectly regular and predictable they often don't list anything at all other than the meanings.

Somewhat better is the recent Brill Dictionary:

http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2018/2018-03-46.html

Perseus is your friend here. Just be aware that sometimes the parsing does very strange things, and won't be right.

If you are interested in hard copy help, it's hard to beat All the Greek Verbs...

https://www.amazon.com/All-Greek-Verbs-Language/dp/0715617729

That was my best friend in grad school!
 

Big Horn

Active Member

Location:
Cody, WY, U.S.
My keyboard died just before my last post so I could make no comments without cutting and pasting. Therefore, I'll emphasize my liking of All The Greek Verbs. I prefer the very small format Italian edition which is very handy. However, it is OP and more expensive.
 

Issacus Divus

H₃rḗǵs h₁n̥dʰéri diwsú

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Location:
Gæmleflodland

Big Horn

Active Member

Location:
Cody, WY, U.S.
I have two more reference works to recommend to the Homeric enthusiast. The first is a dedicated dictionary that includes all verb forms; the second is a delightful and very readable grammar . The latter has a delightfully reflective tone which I found to be positively charming. I can almost sniff just the tiniest bit of mold—in even the most recent printing of of these works. Perhaps there is speck of mold on an errant tittle. Bristol Classical Press has both in stock.

https://archive.org/details/homericdictionar00auteiala/page/n3

https://archive.org/details/grammarofhomeric00monruoft/page/n3
 
Αθ
I have two more reference works to recommend to the Homeric enthusiast. The first is a dedicated dictionary that includes all verb forms; the second is a delightful and very readable grammar . The latter has a delightfully reflective tone which I found to be positively charming. I can almost sniff just the tiniest bit of mold—in even the most recent printing of of these works. Perhaps there is speck on an errant tittle. Bristol Classical Press has both in stock.

https://archive.org/details/homericdictionar00auteiala/page/n3

https://archive.org/details/grammarofhomeric00monruoft/page/n3
Autenrieth is an old friend that I still use. It doesn't reflect the latest scholarship, but is perfectly fine for student work and rapid reading. Monro I have never used, but remember it being highly regarded. It's also a bit dated, so don't trust it on historical linguistics, but helpful for reviewing the distinctives of Homeric Greek.
 
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