' December' etymologically means 'tenth month' based on its Latin roots, but it would be silly to argue that it is in the wrong location on our calendars on this basis.The word ' awful' originally had a positive connotation, but in current English contexts its meaning is generally negative.The problem here is that etymology and the later meaning of a word are often orthogonal concepts. I often see folks try to determine the meaning of words in specific contexts using their root lemmata. Therefore, claiming the meaning of a specific word in a given context is X on the basis of the Strong's Concordance is not a reliable claim. The Strong's Concordance often sheds little light on what this meaning is in context. The meaning of a lexeme is that intended by the author using it. Also, authors can use the same word differently in differing contexts (such as James' and Paul's usage of the word 'faith'). Often knowledge of the original languages is required to determine what grammatical and contextual features are present in order to determine the correct gloss (if any). Strong's Concordance offers no help when determining which (if any) gloss is most appropriate in context. Nuances of meaning: Sometimes there is more than one meaning listed for a term (this is often the case for prepositions, but there are also verbs that change meaning depending on their voice and other grammatical features).
Grammatical features should also be examined, which the Strong's Concordance offers no help with. Lexical ambiguity: Consider the following sentence: "She is looking for a match." Is the subject trying to light a candle or find a romantic partner? The 'gloss' definition here is ambiguous and gives us no help disambiguating the meaning in this context. Here are a few reasons why it is problematic to use Strong's Concordance as a lexicon: While Strong's Concordance gives a gloss for each lemma, this is not the main purpose of this tool and as such should not be used as a lexicon nor as a dictionary (a collection of glosses is rightly called a 'glossary'). Hebrew-English, Aramaic-English, and Greek-English lexicons also function as dictionaries in that they define lexemes from the original language using English words that best capture their meaning, explaining any relevant grammatical features that impact their translation. Strong's Concordance is not a lexiconĪ lexicon gives an inventory of all of the lexemes in a given language Strong's Concordance is based only on a specific English translation (the KJV).
#STRONG ACCORDANCE SERIES#
Giving credit where it is due, I found a series of blog posts that address this superbly on the Armchair Theology site that have heavily influenced this post. With that said, I'd like to give some advice (and caution) to users who rely on this tool for original languages research in the Biblical texts.
#STRONG ACCORDANCE FREE#
The tool is popular because it is free on many Bible-related websites. Along with listing these, the tool also generally gives a 'gloss' for each word (some tools actually link Strong's Concordance to lexicons such as Thayer's Greek-English lexicon).
The Strong's Concordance is a helpful tool that lists every Hebrew and Greek lemma (root word) present in the King James Bible.
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