Suggestion: Additions/Updates to Make to Word List Feature or New Feature
The Word List feature sounds "nice", but every time I use it, I cannot use it the way I want. Instead, I have to create what I want manually, which is VERY time consuming. My first complaint is that Word List shows up only when I do specific searches, which is "ok" (not really) but not very helpful for me. I would like it to be in a drop down list (probably under "Tools" and "Passage"). I could click on it, open it up, and it could pull in the passage I am currently working on and have the ability to let me choose the range of the verses (ranging from one verse or even an entire book of the bible, which I'd use for short books such as Ruth, Esther, 1, 2, 3 John, etc.). In its current design, I have no idea what I would use a Word List for. It is not logically to me. I can go with either the English text or Original Language text, which is nice, but extremely limited. All I can list for Original Language text (currently) is the lemma. And, worse of all, I have very little control of how I want to arrange the list. The current options are: Lemma, Card, Count, Gloss, and Section. For me, those are not very useful. If I want to create a Word List of say Esther chapter 1, I can't do that easily or quickly. Also, if I want to see the manuscript form and/or the lemma form and/or root (if one exists for the Hebrew or Aramaic), I can't. If I want each occurrence of the manuscript form to show up in alphabetical order, Word List won't do it. I can't even get the lemma to be listed in each of its occurrences in the order that they show up in the biblical text. Now what I would like Word List to do might in fact mean a whole new feature be created. What I am doing is an individual study of every word in every verse that I study. Part of that study includes parsing each and every single Hebrew or Greek or Aramaic word (when I learn the other ANE languages, I will be doing the same with them, too). What I am doing is something like this:
Est 1.1
וַיְהִ֖י: V, G, pc, indic., 3, m, s, היה w/wāw ret., “and it/he was/happened/occurred”
בִּימֵ֣י: N, m, pl, cs, יוֹם w/prep. בְּ, “in the days of”
אֲחַשְׁוֵר֑וֹשׁ: PN אֲחַשְׁוֵרוֹשׁ “Xerxes” (Xerxes I 486-465 B.C.E.) “Ahasuerus” Heb. “ʾĂḥašwērōš”
etc.
Now, I don't want or need the parsing information listed for me, since I want to do that part myself. So, what I need to be able to do is have every single manuscript form and lemma and root (sometimes just manuscript and lemma, or just manuscript and root) automatically listed. That could speed up my study time a lot. What I currently do is copy and paste the Hebrew or Greek or Aramaic text to a word document and then create individual lines for each manuscript form, which is extremely time consuming and tedious. If I could have Logos automatically create a word list with the manuscript form followed by the lemma and/or root for each passage and in the order found in the passage and export it to the word processor, that would be instantly done, and all I would have to do is parse each word, and study each word in my lexicons and in TWOT, NIDOTTE, TLOT, journals, commentaries, etc. So, I would want to be able to choose what this feature would show, to be able to choose what translation or Original Language text (Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic, Arabic, Coptic, Akkadian, etc.), and what to show (I'd want manuscript, lemma, and root to show up in the list and in that order) and how to order it. I would want to be able to choose any passage (of course) whether biblical (including Targumic or Dead Sea Scrolls, etc.) or extra biblical (including Philo, Josephus, Apocrypha, etc.). The purpose (for me anyway) is to list the manuscript forms that I will be translating and their respective lemmas and roots (even though I won't usually be doing a root study). Currently, it takes hours and even days to create a word document with the lemmas, the parsing information (which includes the lemmas and sometimes the roots, if available), and a "Translated as" section for every word of each verse.
I'm not sure if my suggestion made sense or not. Also, I am not sure if I am the only one who would want something like this.
Also, I do think that the manuscript form and lemma form and root form should be options for creating Word Lists so one could study any of those forms. Also, the ability to choose the definitions from a Lexicon that I could add in myself would be a nice feature. Or to create completely customized Word Lists would be great. So, for example, say someone is in a Hebrew grammar and comes to the vocab to memorize. The ability to copy and paste those words and definitions (and any forms used, such as construct, etc. in the vocab list) would be great. Also, the ability to create word lists of words one needs to learn from a text book (whether in Logos or not) would be great, so we could use the Flashcards app to quizz ourselves on words or phrases (whether in English, spanish, German, Latin or any other modern language AND any other Ancient Language) would be really cool. These are additional ideas for the current Word List feature, although, many of the additional ideas would mean that Word List should probably show up under tools so that one can use it for almost anything.
If these won't be available in Logos 5, please make them available in Logos 6.