The Dictionary of Classical Hebrew, vol. 2.

• Author: Fitzmyer, Joseph A., S.J.
• Position: Review

Edited by DAVID J. A. CLINES. Sheffield: SHEFFIELD ACADEMIC PRESS, 1995. Pp. 660. [pounds]65, $100.

This is the second of an eight-volume dictionary of all the known Hebrew texts from the emergence of the language down to the codification of the Mishnah. It includes all the biblical Hebrew writings, Ben Sira, published Qumran Hebrew texts, and Hebrew inscriptions up to the cut-off date. See the review of vol. I in JAOS 116 (1996): 283-85 for a summary description of the editorial aims in compiling this new linguistically oriented lexicon of what is called "classical" Hebrew.

Whereas vol. I was a collaborative effort of Clines and his associates, work on vol. II was divided differently. The draft of daleth and he was entrusted to D. Stec, and those of beth and gimel were done by F. Gosling and K. D. Dove. Articles on the conjunction waw, particles, and prepositions were drafted by W. Watson, save for the preposition beth, which was handled by J. Rogerson. The revised list of Qumran sources, word frequency tables, and index were the care of K. D. Dove, and J. Elwolde revised all the drafts and supervised the volume until its completion. Editor Ciines prepared the front matter, bibliography, and "new" articles.

In this new kind of dictionary Clines and his associates study the meanings of words along with their syntagmatic and paradigmatic relationships in these different kinds of Hebrew texts: of verbs with their subjects and objects; of nouns with various verbs. Such a study precludes that of the developmental history of a word and its cognates in other Semitic languages. Despite the drawbacks that such an approach might have in some cases, especially of rare words or hapax legomena, the decision so to concentrate was undoubtedly wise, because the resultant entries on the Hebrew words in this dictionary are ample and informative. The extra considerations can always be added in a later revision to the extent they might be helpful. Here I can only repeat about this volume all the good things that were said about vol. I. The two volumes represent a remarkable achievement.

The introduction in this volume refers the reader to the more lengthy one in vol. I for details about the main characteristics and other features of the dictionary, the structure of its articles, the recent history of Hebrew lexicography, and the texts used for this new project. With such details presupposed, the introduction in vol. II concentrates rather on minor changes...