Freshman Language

This is a handy pocket reference of morphological forms for Classical Greek and places the parts of speech in charts/tables for quick reference. This is designed to serve as a source for drill and memorization for students learning Greek. Coil binding makes it possible to lay the book flat or fold it back for easier reading.

This textbook was conceived and written under the authors' conviction that the feature of Greek grammar that lends itself most readily to understanding and discussion is syntax, especially the syntax of the verb and that such understanding has been unnecessarily complicated by the traditional use of a terminology derived more from the study of the Latin verb than the Greek. The principal feature of the Greek verb is no longer presented as that of "tense," a term that conflates and confuses questions of the time of an action relative to the act of speaking with ways of representing an action in itself. Rather, emphasis is placed on the latter feature, the aspect of a verb, both as a means of organizing the many forms that the verb can take and as a means of making comparatively simple sense of the multiplicity of syntactical rules that govern its use.

Volume One features twenty Lessons presenting basic Greek Grammar in a manner facilitating the early introduction of substantial and philosophically rich passages from Heraclitus Aeschylus, Xenophon, Aristotle, Euclid and especially Plato, each containing vocabulary, discussion and exercises to aid in retention and reinforcement. Volume Two contains extended readings, with grammatical and vocabulary notes, from Plato and Aristotle, including the complete dialogue Meno, as well as Appendices and comprehensive Vocabulary lists.

The two most distinctive Lessons in the text occur close to the beginning. Lesson Four presents the six features that determine any Greek verb--aspect (progressive, aorist or simple, perfect), "tense" (past, present, future), mood, voice, person, number)--through a discussion that is carried out mostly in English. At the end of the lesson, students are in possession of all the conceptual elements upon which the syntax of the Greek verb is based.

Lesson Five presents the Progressive System of the regular verb in all of its moods and voices. The burden of paradigms on the memory is lightened by means of an emphasis on analysis into a verb's formative elements and through the use of linguistic rules that show how seemingly diverse forms arise from common origins. This early presentation of the non-indicative moods allows the student to appreciate the verb as a conveyer, not only of facts, but of the speaker's doubts, wishes, speculations and feelings as well.

This is the abridged version of 1909 edition, often called the "Little Liddell". Simon Wallenberg has enlarged the typeface for easier reading and except for this improvement the publishers have left the original work intact. A Greek-English Lexicon. is the standard lexicographical work of the Ancient Greek language. Based on the earlier Handwörterbuch der griechischen Sprache by the German lexicographer Franz Passow it has served as the basis for all later lexicographical work on the ancient Greek language. No student of Classical Greek or indeed New Testament Greek could possibly be without this Lexicon. Although it is an abridgement of a larger work, it is by no means incomplete and in some respects is a better option than the larger editions. If you study the New Testament Koine Greek, or study Classical Greek, this book will be invaluable to you. The entries are succinct yet informative, and each entry will tell you how a word has been used in different periods of Greek literature. Therefore, if one word has been employed in different uses in Homeric literature, compared to the New Testament, this Lexicon will let you know. This edition of the Liddell and Scott is a comprehensive lexicon of the classical Greek and remains the best lexicon for the New Testament, as the definitions offered in the Little Liddell are so precise you will rarely find them to be wrong. It was edited by Henry George Liddell and Robert Scott, It is now conventionally referred to as Liddell & Scott. The first editor of the LSJ, Henry George Liddell, was Dean of Christ Church, Oxford, and the father of Alice Liddell, the eponymous Alice of the writings of Lewis Carroll.