Jan Joosten The Interplay between Hebrew and Greek in Biblical Lexicology: Language, Text, and Interpretation “Biblical lexicology: Hebrew and Greek”– the title of the present collection – can only designate two scientific endeavors, not one. Each of the two branches requires its own set of competences. And each entails its own unique challenges. Specialists in one rarely are specialists in the other. The one is a part of Semitics, the other – arguably – of classics. Nevertheless, they are not entirely distinct. They are, to begin with, typolog- ically somewhat similar. Both are extremely complex undertakings, whose suc- cess is never assured. Both involve trying to define the meaning of words in an- cient writings, without much external data. Both deal with texts that are considered canonical in faith communities that are still very much around today¹. The two endeavors also overlap. Because of the way the biblical corpus evolved in Antiquity, Hebrew and Greek philology meet in the field of textual criticism. The textual history of the Hebrew Bible and the Septuagint bleed into one another in various ways, many of which are relevant to lexicographical research². An even broader area of overlap is that of of exegesis. Hebrew works and Greek works are part of the same variegated fabric of exegetical writings ex- plaining and interpreting ancient Jewish scriptures³. This too interferes with lex- icology. The meaning of a word and its explanation in later writings – although theoretically distinct – are often difficult to tell apart. The upshot of all these considerations is that the two disciplines are, to a certain extent, intertwined. Lexicographers of the Hebrew Bible expressly consult the Septuagint as one of their sources. Likewise, lexicographers of the Septuagint do at least sometimes take the Hebrew text into account – even if the precise role of the Hebrew in Sep-  The canonical status of the biblical texts should not, of course, form an obstacle to scientific inquiry. Nonetheless, every philologist of the Bible remembers the criticism Jerome attracted when he translated a certain Hebrew word in a novel way (probably substituting hedera for cucurbita in Jon 4:6, for Hebrew ק י ק י ו ן), see Augustine, Ep. II 82, § 35.  See James Barr, Comparative Philology and the Text of the Old Testament (Oxford: OUP, 1968; reprinted with a postscript: Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 1987).  See, e. g., Hebrew Bible/Old Testament. The History of its Interpretation, Vol. I, Part 1: Antiquity (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1996). Authenticated | joosten@unistra.fr author's copy Download Date | 6/14/15 9:57 AM