Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Trevor Peterson <06PETERSON AT cua.edu>]

>===== Original Message From Fred Putnam <fputnam AT biblical.edu> =====
>Trevor's observation that the glosses do not always
>capture the essence of the German original is accurate, but since these are 
suggested
>glosses rather than meanings, this is not a crucial distinction.

All good comments, but I should clarify. I'm not talking about fine 
distinctions of meaning--I'm talking about downright inaccurate translation. 
I'm not trying to say it's on every page by any means, but it is one more 
reminder that for serious study you still have to check the citations and 
work 
through the evidence, even in the best lexica. (And be careful with that, 
because there are quite a few typos in the scriptural citations, too!)

But this is probably a good place to remind that the lexicon is a tool for 
research, not an absolute authority. Sometimes there are typos, sometimes 
mistranslations, and sometimes the decisions of the scholars writing the 
entries are open to question. But if you're looking for a lexicon that 
presents significant evidence in a reasonably concise and organized manner, I 
think HALOT is hard to beat.

Trevor Peterson
CUA/Semitics