Titling this post is difficult, since there is no unambiguous term for a reference work that offers prose discussions of a word or group of related words. This blog series uses the term lexicon to refer to a dictionary-type work that presents, generally in list form, a simple definition of the term, grammatical notes, and, … Continue reading Citing Reference Works 3: Dictionaries (Word)
Abbreviations
Citing Reference Works 2: Lexica
The previous post (here) laid the foundation for the discussions to follow by identifying three sets of distinctions: entries versus articles; signed versus unsigned pieces; and an authored versus an edited work. In terms of those distinctions, this post on lexica (the preferred plural of lexicon) pertains to dictionary-type works containing unsigned entries in both … Continue reading Citing Reference Works 2: Lexica
Noting Biblical Versions
SBLHS 2 §8.2.1 lists many standard abbreviations for ancient textual versions and modern biblical editions (e.g., LXX, MT, NRSV, BHQ). However, it does not explicitly indicate where the notation should occur in relationship to a biblical citation. Should one, for instance, cite LXX Prov 1:1 or Prov 1:1 LXX? Should one include the notation in … Continue reading Noting Biblical Versions
Progymnasmata
The term progymnasmata (“preliminary/preparatory exercises”) refers to a series of compositional exercises that taught students in antiquity how to write and deliver declamations (speeches). The exercises educated students in the use of various elements of effective rhetoric, including “μῦθος (*fable), διήγημα (*narrative), χρεία (anecdotal apophthegm), γνώμη (maxim…), ἀνασκευή and κατασκευή (refutation and confirmation), κοινὸς τόπος … Continue reading Progymnasmata
Jacoby and FGrHist
Felix Jacoby’s Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker is a multivolume collection of extracts and quotations of Greek historians whose complete works are known but not extant. Building on the work of Karl Wilhelm Ludwig Müller’s Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum (1841–1870, abbreviated FHG), Jacoby published the first volume in 1923 and continued with additional volumes until his … Continue reading Jacoby and FGrHist
Sifre Numbers: Update
An earlier post on Sifre Numbers (here) stated that no complete English translation of the work exists. In fact, Jacob Neusner did publish a translation of all 161 pisqa’ot of Sifre Numbers in the four-part volume 12 of his The Components of the Rabbinic Documents: From the Whole to the Parts (Neusner 1998). Part 1 … Continue reading Sifre Numbers: Update
Sifre Deuteronomy
As explained in a previous post (here) and in keeping with our earlier revision of SBLHS 2 §8.3.8, which specifies a single spelling for the titles of mishnaic, talmudic, and related works, one based on general-purpose transliteration (here), we are revising §8.3.10 to list only Sifre (Sipre is discouraged, as is Sifrei, which is also … Continue reading Sifre Deuteronomy
