Verbum Search through Tip of the Day #25

MJ. Smith

Tip 25: Factbook Biblical Person: Bible Sense Lexicon: Louw-Nida Semantic Domains

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From the SIL website Semantic Domains:

[quote]A semantic domain is an area of meaning and the words used to talk about it. A domain is often given a name consisting of a common word in the domain. For  instance English has a domain ‘Rain’, which includes words such as rain, drizzle, downpour, raindrop, puddle. We use these words to talk about the rain.

The words within a domain are related to each other by lexical relations. Linguists use the term lexical relations to refer to various kinds of relationships that exist between words. There are two basic types of lexical relations. The first type are known as collocates—words that are frequently used together in a sentence. For instance we often use the words bird and fly in the same sentence. Bird and fly are related by the lexical relation agent:typical action. The second type are known as paradigm forms and include relations such as synonyms, antonyms, and the generic-specific relation. The words big and large are close synonyms. Kind and unkind are antonyms.Bird is a generic term that includes the more specific term chicken.

As a child learns to speak, he forms lexical relations in his mind. We need these lexical relations in order to speak correctly. Each of us has a mental dictionary which is organized into a giant network of lexical relations. Within the network are important clusters, like cities and towns linked by roads. So a semantic domain is a cluster of words in the mental network. The words within the domain are linked by lexical relations and the domains themselves are linked by lexical relations.

In the Bible Sense Lexicon post, context was given as the means for determining which sense of a word is intended. Semantic domains are an element of that context e.g. consider the meaning of “plate” in these two lists:

1. Pitcher, catcher, mitt, bat, plate, hardball, slider
2. Plate, silver, electrolyte, silver nitrate, battery

Louw Nida numbers form a hierarchy of semantic domains which may be searched in Verbum. The Bible Sense Lexicon shows the Louw Nida semantic domain numbers in the See Also section:

• On mouse over the Louw Nida numbers (1), a preview is displayed (2), and the coding is shown in the morphology information line.
• On click the Louw-Nida numbers opens the resource Louw, Johannes P., and Eugene Albert Nida. 1996. Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament: based on semantic domains. The Table of Contents shows the hierarchy of the domains.
  

Notice that Louw-Nida is a Greek lexicon of the New Testament. Do not expect coding or results in the Old Testament – Hebrew or Greek – but it is part of the reverse interlinear as shown here on the NRSV:

A right-click on Abraham (first red arrow), opens a context menu. Louw-Nida number is then selected:

Note that one can copy the reference in a search argument format or execute any of six predefined searches. Selecting the Bible Search generates:

The relevant entry in the lexicon:

One resource that utilizes Louw-Nida semantic domain numbers is Swanson who extends the classifications to include Hebrew and Aramaic:

• Swanson, James. 1997. Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains: Hebrew (Old Testament).
• Swanson, James. 1997. Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains: Aramaic (Old Testament).
• Swanson, James. 1997. Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains: Greek (New Testament).

Note that in addition to links to Louw-Nida, this references Strong’s numbers, The Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, and the Theological Dictionary of the New Testament.

Strong’s Numbers

Unrelated to domains or senses, the King James based Strong’s Greek and Hebrew lemma numbers are also available from the context menu. See:

• Strong, James. 1996. The New Strong’s Dictionary of Hebrew and Greek Words.
• Strong, James. 1995. Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon.

Selecting the Bible search generates:

Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (TWOT)

The TWOT numbers shown in the DBL (Swensen) come from the Harris, R. Laird, Gleason L. Archer Jr., and Bruce K. Waltke, eds. 1999. Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament. A sample entry:

A search, built through the context menu, shows the following resources with a reference to TWOT 4a. Note this is not a reverse interlinear attribute, so it is not directly indexed to scripture.

The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (TDNT)

For the Greek New Testament, the TDNT replaces the TDOT. However, the reference is to a volume and page rather than a lemma number.

The DBL (Greek) provides the link to the TDNT:

Using the Context Menu to build the search generates: