Journal: Bulletin for Biblical Research
Volume: BBR 21:4 (NA 2011)
Article: Book Reviews
Author: Anonymous

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BBR 21:4 (2011) p. 525

Book Reviews

Takamitsu Muraoka. A Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint. Leuven: Peeters, 2009. Pp. xl + 757. ISBN 978–90–429–2248–8. $138.00 cloth.

Takamitsu Muraoka. A Greek-Hebrew/Aramaic Two-Way Index to the Septuagint. Leuven: Peeters, 2010. Pp. xi + 383. ISBN 978–90–429–2356–0. $87.00 cloth.

With the publication of these two reference works, Muraoka, professor emeritus of Leiden University, Holland, and well-known Septuagint scholar, has done a great favor to scholars working with the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, textual criticism, and Greek lexicography—to mention just a few disciplines that will profit from the data presented in these volumes.

The Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint is the culmination of more than 25 years of lexicographic research (preceded by A Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint [Twelve Prophets] in 1993 and A Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, Chiefly of the Pentateuch and the Twelve Prophets in 2002) and represents a new breed of lexicons that present helpful information regarding the morphology, syntagmatics, paradigmatics, and semantics of the vocabulary of the Septuagint. In contrast to the volume compiled by J. Lust, E. Eynikel, and K. Hauspie (A Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint [rev. ed.; Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2003]), which provides translation equivalents within the so-called “interlinear model,” this volume opts for more-general definitions that aim to describe the semantic bandwidth of a given word in specific syntagmatic and paradigmatic contexts.

In his introduction (pp. vii–xvii), Muraoka describes the lexicographical philosophy and working method behind the Lexicon. He emphasizes, correctly in my mind, the importance of understanding a given word within its wider context (including synonymic, antonymic, or otherwise semantically associated words) and thus appreciate the semantic fields (or domains) of the whole vocabulary of the Septuagint corpus. Muraoka calls these networks of relationship between words “semantic” and “syntactic” collocations (p. xi). Following the readable but extremely important introduction (which helps understanding the lexicon as a whole), the Lexicon includes a list of abbreviations (pp. xix- xxiii) as well as an extensive bibliography (pp. xxv–xl). At least in the mind of the present reviewer, the helpful introduction should be required reading for all fledgling translators of biblical texts (i.e., all students working with biblical languages) because it introduces the reader in a concise way to the manifold challenges and issues of lexicography and translation theory.

Each entry is divided into three section. The first section summarizes the morpho...

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