Usefulness of Liddell & Scott

Since Liddell & Scott is on sale right now I was wondering if I should pick it up. I have Thayer, BDAG, Louw & Nida, Souter, Spicq, and Vines. I'm not fluent in Greek but can work my way through discussions in technical references.

I understand that for Greek scholars L&S is very useful, but I'm not sure this would be a good use of my money. Any insight would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Bill

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Comments

Manuel Maria

I think that eventhough there is sale, the biblical languages set is a better deal:

https://www.logos.com/product/126577/biblical-languages

You can see a comparison with BDAG here:

https://abramkj.com/2013/09/12/liddell-and-scott-greek-english-lexicon-lsj-in-logos-reviewed-part-3/

Best regards.

DMB

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/991949#Comment_991949

Manuel's reference to the Abram blog explains the reasoning pretty well. I use LS, MM and Sophocles more than BDAG (since BDAG pretty much tracks what you already know).

Any passer-by's:

https://www.logos.com/product/62114/liddell-scott-greek-english-lexicon-eighth-edition

I'd assume great point of reference, when reading turn of the century authors. Ditto for earlier english dictionaries.

William McFarland

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/991955#Comment_991955

Thank you Manuel for the links, they were very informative.

Denise, I"m not sure what reference you mean by MM, what is that.

Phil Quigley

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/992010#Comment_992010

I could be wrong, but my first thought was Moulton and Milligan's Vocabulary of the Greek Testament.

https://www.logos.com/product/5773/vocabulary-of-the-greek-testament

William McFarland

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/992019#Comment_992019

Ahh, thanks, and thanks for the link, that looks interesting.

DMB

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/992026#Comment_992026

Ahh, thanks, and thanks for the link, that looks interesting.

'MM' shows up in many, many of the lexicons. It's a bit dated, but quick to scan for possibles, and context. BDAG has similar but you have to work at it. And 'the sense' (in Logos, emphasis on 'the') is silly (semantic-wise).

Richard Koons

Lidell and scott is a very useful tool in interpretation of the greek language especially around the time of the writing of the NT don't be over zealous in thinking there is a biblical greek and a classical greek. In my opinion that is hog wash Paul was a very educated man the NT Pauline writings are filled with Hellenistic flavor. i.e. He knew them well.Thus there are alternative meanings too many words biblical greek only scholars miss. It is also a useful tool reading the classical greek literature and there nuggets there as well if dug deeply i.e. many writings do confirm what the bible is saying or at the least alluding to events mentioned. It all depends on how deep you want to study the greek language in the end or how deep you want a cross reference of the language itself.

Michael S.

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/991949#Comment_991949

You can see a comparison with BDAG here:

https://abramkj.com/2013/09/12/liddell-and-scott-greek-english-lexicon-lsj-in-logos-reviewed-part-3/

Best regards.

Very helpful! Thanks for sharing.

William McFarland

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/993123#Comment_993123

As a follow-up, I had decided to get the biblical languages package as it was a great deal but was waiting (cash flow issues). In August it was available, now in September it is only available to academic customers so not to me. When I asked support about it they told me that it had always been that way (not true in August, I don't like the gaslighting).

NB.Mick

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/993669#Comment_993669

I had decided to get the biblical languages package as it was a great deal but was waiting (cash flow issues). In August it was available, now in September it is only available to academic customers so not to me. When I asked support about it they told me that it had always been that way

William, I feel your pain. I don't know whether or where the Biblical Languages package looked available to you in August - such things may happen. However, support is right in that this package has been restricted to academic customers for many years now. The reason behind that seems to be that Faithlife achieved some very deep discounts from the publishers for the academic population that the publishers won't extend to all customers. This situation has been discussed many times over the years and since it is based in license contracts with several publishing companies, I don't see a reason for this to change.

Dave Palmer

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/993669#Comment_993669

As a follow-up, I had decided to get the biblical languages package as it was a great deal but was waiting (cash flow issues). In August it was available, now in September it is only available to academic customers so not to me. When I asked support about it they told me that it had always been that way (not true in August, I don't like the gaslighting).

Unfortunately NB.Mick is correct. This isn't a new policy. I've had my eye on that biblical languages package for years and would have bought it long ago had it been available for me to purchase. When I first read this thread a few weeks ago I got excited thinking maybe it had been opened up to all, but alas, it wasn't.

William McFarland

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/993675#Comment_993675

Got it, long time policy, it was a mistake for the bundle to offered to me as it was. The pain is that I made decisions based on that mistake.

Michael S.

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/993697#Comment_993697

I was able to purchase it last month- but I have academic status. The downside is there is no dynamic pricing... so although I had like 45 of the resources already, the 25 I did not have cost me the same as for the whole lot. Still a good deal, but not as good as if I did not have any of the resources.