Manuscripts, Roots and Lemmas?
Okay all you language teachers out there, I have a question that (probably) has a simple answer.
In Logos 5 in several places (i.e. the reverse interlinear, right clicking on a word, etc) there is the option to see the manuscript form, lemma form and root form. If I remember correctly L4 only had manuscript and lemma and did not have root.
I don't have any formal training in Greek or Hebrew so please forgive the naïveté of my question, but as I understood it manuscript meant how a word appears in that particular instance while lemma was the root word that the manuscript form derived from. I remember reading somewhere that I should base all my searches, word look ups, etc. off the lemma.
If that's the case, my question is, what is the difference then between a lemma and a root? And when would I use one or the other for in depth study?
I appreciate your help.
Ryan
Comments
Hey Ryan!
A Lemma would be the actual word itself as found in the text. So for example, Logous (word in the nominative plural) is called the manuscript. It's what the Bible has. The Lemma for Logous is Logoc (the Lexical form of the word). The root is Log - it's the basic part of the word that gives it it's core meaning. There are other words that use Log as a root such as the verb logo (I speak - active). Think about the word button, for example. In a sentence you might say "I love biological studies." The manuscript would be "biological" because that's what the text says. The Lemma would be "biology." That what the word is before any endings to make it take its role in the sentence. The root would be "bio." Now biology doesn't exactly mean the same thing as bio does it? One means life while another means the study of life. Think of all the other words with "bio" in them. For example, "biochemical" and "biography." These words do not mean the same thing! But they share the root "bio" because they all have to do with "life" in one form another. That's the idea of a root.
So the root is even beyond the Lemma or Lexicon form of the word. It's why that specific word has it's meaning.
So:
Manuscript - what appears in the Greek Bible including all it's forms.
Lemma - what the word looks like before it's inflected to have it's place in the sentence.
Root - the core part of the word that gives it meaning. The root typically has lots of other words that add pre-fixes or suffixes to gain additional shades or meaning or uses in the system.
Does that jive?
Hey Ryan!
A Lemma would be the actual word itself as found in the text. So for example, Logous (word in the nominative plural) is called the manuscript. It's what the Bible has. The Lemma for Logous is Logoc (the Lexical form of the word). The root is Log - it's the basic part of the word that gives it it's core meaning. There are other words that use Log as a root such as the verb logo (I speak - active). Think about the word button, for example. In a sentence you might say "I love biological studies." The manuscript would be "biological" because that's what the text says. The Lemma would be "biology." That what the word is before any endings to make it take its role in the sentence. The root would be "bio." Now biology doesn't exactly mean the same thing as bio does it? One means life while another means the study of life. Think of all the other words with "bio" in them. For example, "biochemical" and "biography." These words do not mean the same thing! But they share the root "bio" because they all have to do with "life" in one form another. That's the idea of a root.
So the root is even beyond the Lemma or Lexicon form of the word. It's why that specific word has it's meaning.
So:
Manuscript - what appears in the Greek Bible including all it's forms.
Lemma - what the word looks like before it's inflected to have it's place in the sentence.
Root - the core part of the word that gives it meaning. The root typically has lots of other words that add pre-fixes or suffixes to gain additional shades or meaning or uses in the system.
Does that jive?
Wow Alexander thank you ,you have opened my eyes,
Blessings in Christ.
A just to clarify, can a word be based on more than one root? I thought it could but I may be wrong.
The NT analysis in Logos has multiple roots for compound words. So αγαθοποιεω "to do good" has two roots, αγαθος ("good") and ποιεω ("to do"). I don't recall the exact representations of the root, but you get the idea.
Rick Brannan
Data Wrangler, Faithlife
My books in print
I was taught a lemma is the word you would likely find in the dictionary. The variations on that word are what is in manuscript.
A just to clarify, can a word be based on more than one root? I thought it could but I may be wrong.
Rick answered the question about one word coming from multiple roots.
But to clarify one thing you said. A lemma itself can be found in the manuscript, in addition to the inflected forms of the lemma. For a verb, the present active indicative first person singular form is the lemma (generally speaking); and that form itself can be used in the text. For a noun, it's the nominative singular form that is the lemma. And so on for other parts of speech which can be inflected.
Donnie
I was taught a lemma is the word you would likely find in the dictionary. The variations on that word are what is in manuscript.
A just to clarify, can a word be based on more than one root? I thought it could but I may be wrong.
Rick answered the question about one word coming from multiple roots.
But to clarify one thing you said. A lemma itself can be found in the manuscript, in addition to the inflected forms of the lemma. For a verb, the present active indicative first person singular form is the lemma (generally speaking); and that form itself can be used in the text. For a noun, it's the nominative singular form that is the lemma. And so on for other parts of speech which can be inflected.
Donnie
Donnie is right on here. The "Lemma" could be the "Manuscript." The "Lemma" is also called the "Lexicon or Lexical" form of the word because it is what you'd find in a Lexicon (Greek dictionary). The idea behind searching for a manuscript, lemma, or root comes down to what you are hoping to find in the text.
Do you want to see the exact same use for the Greek/Hebrew word in the Bible but don't know how to do morphological searches? You could search for the "Manuscript" to find the word in (usually) the same usage.
Do you want to find the word in all of its usages across the text? You will probably want to search for the "Lemma" form of the word. That will produce a report with the word in all of its uses (i.e., the subject, the direct object, the possessive, etc. or in the present, past, future, perfect, ect.)
Finally, do you want to find out how a family of words are used that share a common thread (root)? Then you'll want to do a root search. The result will be all the words in all their usages that share the root element. Just be careful when you do this and accidentally read to much into relationships that are not really there! Otherwise you might think Jesus was throwing dynamite in Matthew 13:58!
I'm even a more of beginner than most. So let me ask this.
In John 1:1 the word "was "show's nv and then under it is eimi.
So if I wan't to learn to read from most greek new testaments, can I assume the word to learn and pronounce is the manuscript word nv and not eimi. At least in the case of John 1:1 ??
BTW, if i go to the NA27 tab the word is nv but when you put your mouse over it the eimi shows and that's the word that the program will speak for you. But is that really the correct pronunciation for nv??
i found this post. thanks it was helpful. but for your info the root of logous is not log but lego or is Greek it is λεγω
Yes - I am new to Logos at 70 years old. (Logos 10 Gold)
Lemma vs Manuscript:
Can I trust a Greek lemma defination to always be correct for all of the associated manuscript versions?
-OR-
Can there be different manuscript definatons associated with the same Greek Lemma?
Thank you very much for your help!
Keith
'Always be correct' ... lemma definitions. As applied, not necessarily.
Lemmas, yes; most errors corrected.
Lemma definitions are largely a scholarly consensus ... time and place. As in english today.
And yes, greek manuscript (usage) varies per lemma (as is true for all languages). Requires judgement, background, and often 'you had to be there'.
Thank you very much for responding. I understand and appreciate your answer.
With a 'mouse click' on a word in the bible, it is easy (from a pop up window) to do a 'Bible Word Study' on the lemma. However, the only way I have found to do further study and find all occurances of the greek manuscript word, is to do a copy and paste the manuscript word into 'Search'.
Am I missing an easier/better way to do a find and study of the manuscript words?
Happy Thanksgiving & Thanks
Keith
May I ask you why you want to do a Bible word study on a manuscript word? It is the equivalent of doing separate word studies on hat, hats, hat's and hats'. If I understand why you want to do so, then I'll be better able to tell you how to get the information. For example, are you wanting to do a Bible word study on each sense (meaning) of the lemma?
Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."
Yes - I am new to Logos at 70 years old. (Logos 10 Gold)
Lemma vs Manuscript:
Can I trust a Greek lemma defination to always be correct for all of the associated manuscript versions?
-OR-
Can there be different manuscript definatons associated with the same Greek Lemma?
Thank you very much for your help!
Keith
The root word is a basic word from which other words are developed. Root words are usually verbs, from which a noun, adverb, and adjective could be derived. In addition root words can have prefixes and suffixes attached to them to alter their meaning. In a sense there is a family of words that spring from a single root word.
A lemma is the base stem of a particular form of a root word. Each word that springs from a root word would have a different lemma, or lexical form.
Here is an example from the root word 'faith' in Greek:
Based on the root verb, the noun, faith, occurs, and also other nouns (unbelief, poverty of faith), adjectives (faithful, unbelieving, of little faith, genuine), and other verbs (disbelieve, show oneself faithful) built on the basic stem of faith.
Pastor, North Park Baptist Church
Bridgeport, CT USA
Literally the best answer to help anyone with no knowledge whatsoever of this.