Bauer's Lexicon

The Bauer's Lexicon (also Bauer Lexicon and Bauer's Greek Lexicon) is among the most highly respected dictionaries of Biblical Greek.^[1] The producers of the German forerunner are Erwin Preuschen and Walter Bauer. The English edition is A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (the Third Edition was published in 2001 by The University of Chicago Press; ISBN 0226039331).

History

The origin may be traced to Erwin Preuschen's Vollständiges Griechisch-Deutsches Handwörterbuch zu den Schriften des Neuen Testaments und der übrigen urchristlichen Literatur (1910).^[2] Walter Bauer extensively revised this work, as Griechisch-deutsches Wörterbuch zu den Schriften des Neuen Testaments und der übrigen urchristlichen Literatur.

In the fall of 1949, F. Wilbur Gingrich was granted a leave of absence from Albright College to work on a new Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament, translating and adapting the work of Walter Bauer’s Greek-German lexicon (Bauer lexicon) in collaboration with Dr. William F. Arndt. The work actually took 5 ½ years.

The fourth German edition (1949–52) was translated to English by William F. Arndt and F. Wilbur Gingrich in 1957. Arndt died that same year, to be replaced by Frederick William Danker, with whom Gingrich prepared the second English edition published in 1979.

A sixth German edition was published following Bauer's death in 1960, by Kurt Aland, Barbara Aland and Viktor Reichmann. Gingrich died in 1993, leaving Danker to complete the 3rd English edition based on all the prior editions and substantial work of his own.

The second edition, Bauer-Danker Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, was commonly known as 'BAGD (Bauer–Arndt–Gingrich–Danker). Danker published the third English edition in 2000. Given the extensive improvements in this edition (said to include over 15,000 new citations), it is now known as Bauer–Danker–Arndt–Gingrich (BDAG) or sometimes the Bauer-Danker Lexicon.

A notable feature of the third English edition is vastly improved typography. This reflects early adoption of SGML technology. The entire lexicon was converted to SGML in the late 1980s at Dallas Seminary with collaboration from SGML experts interested in the project, and Danker actually did substantial editorial and authorial work in an SGML editing program. This technology permitted much more consistent and flexible typography, as well as information retrieval.

A Chinese translation of the lexicon, based on the third English edition, was published in 2009 in Hong Kong by Chinese Bible International Limited.

References

1. Rykle Borger, "Remarks of an Outsider about Bauer's Wörterbuch, BAGD, BDAG, and Their Textual Basis," Biblical Greek Language and Lexicography: Essays in Honor of Frederick W. Danker, Bernard A. Taylor (et al. eds.), pp. 32–47.
2. Preuschen, D. E. (1908). "Vollständiges Griechisch-Deutsches Handwörterbuch zu den Schriften des Neuen Testaments und der übrigen urchristlichen Literatur" [Full Greek-German Concise Dictionary of the New Testament writings and other early Christian literature]. Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft [Journal of Old Testament Studies] (in German) 28 (4). doi:10.1515/zatw.1908.28.4.U.

Sources

• Danker, Frederick W. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. 3d ed. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0226039336.
• Review by Rodney J. Decker.
• Rykle Borger, "Remarks of an Outsider about Bauer's Worterbuch, BAGD, BDAG, and Their Textual Basis," pp. 32–47, Biblical Greek language and lexicography: essays in honor of Frederick W. Danker, ed. Bernard A. Taylor (et al.). Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. ISBN 0802822169.