Translation Aids

Greek

Everybody should learn to read ancient Greek! The following links will help the beginner to start their journey and especially for those wanting to expand their knowledge of New Testament Greek. Tools and tips for upgrading your skills into classical and ecclesiastical works.

For the beginner

• The B-Greek Forum

  A very helpful website and active community that covers everything from beginner to advanced.

• Bill Mounce’s Basics of Biblical Greek

  It is very popular and highly recommended.

• Elpenor

  A website devoted to almost anything Greek, from beginner to advanced, modern Greek, current politics, New Testament and Septuagint texts and more.

• Daily Dose of Greek

  A website devoted to those who want to learn the Greek of the New Testament from scratch.

• Greek numbers in English

  Many Greek texts are structured with a Greek numbering system. This webpage helps you understand the Greek numbering system.

Greek Resources

Online Dictionaries

• Tuft University’s Perseus Greek/Latin Dictionary

• University of Chicago’s Logeion website.

  Perseus’s online dictionary can break down a word from any form to its root. An alternative that often finds words that Perseus does not have in its database is Lexigram.org

• Thesaurus Linguae Graecae

  This excellent software produced by the University of California, Irvine, contains a large array of Greek texts. Better yet, its search engine creates a very powerful and quick user experience. It has an abridged version for free but it is very limited. The paid version is the one you want. Most people access it through a university portal.

• Roger Pearse

  Roger was one of the first persons to post a site on the internet about the Church Fathers. He started with Tertullian and his energy has never ceased. There is an abounding amount of source material with added explanations on his site. Plus, he is a nice person and thoughtful with his answers.

• Affordable iOS options

  Brian Davidson, a Greek enthusiast, language nerd, and teacher, posted helpful tips on using your iOS based phone or tablet for studying or resourcing Greek texts.

• Attic Greek Verbs

  Quickly and efficiently converts a Greek root word into all its possible conjugations.

Greek Bibles

• biblicalgreek.org

  Links and resources for studying the Septuagint.

• The Unbound Bible

  Hosted by Biola University, this is a Bible search site that not only does searches in Greek, but in many other languages as well. The interface allows four different languages to be retrieved on any given text. This is great for comparative studies. It also gives the option of searching different Greek manuscripts. The only drawback is that the Greek text does not have any diacritics.

• Greek Bible

  This site is fast and has some quick definitions by pointing over the text. However, I am not sure which Greek edition it draws from. Great for quick reference, maybe not so good for critical studies.

• Elpenor’s Greek-English New Testament and Septuagint

  It is unclear which manuscripts the Septuagint are based on. The New Testament follows the the text prepared by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople (1904/12). The interface is dated and needs some refinement. Regardless, this is a very helpful site.

• Online Greek Bible

  An excellent search engine with the ability to search different versions of the Greek text.

Migne Patrologia Graeca

This large 167 volume set spans a collection of almost 16 centuries of church writings. Not all of them are collected from the best manuscripts and the whole series is full of controversy surrounding its founder and editor, J.P. Migne. However, this collection is the best attempt to bring all of the writings together in one central place. It is a good place to start any critical historical studies. However, this massive volume is yet to be digitized. It is only available as pdf images. You have to leaf through page by page.

• Here is a list of where you can find various pdf versions throughout the internet: Patristica.net. An alternative is Roger Pearse’s website, Patrologia Graeca (PG) PDF’s.
• Wikipedia has a list of authors and the era for each volume of MPG. This is very helpful for finding a specific author like Cosmas Indicopleustes, Nicephorus Gregoras, or other names that are relatively unknown to the English speaking world

Helpful Greek articles

• Translation Tips on the Greek Church Fathers

  Information on where to start, resources and strategies.

• A Sample Process of Translating Alexandrian Greek

  An outline of how to approach and translate Alexandrian Greek.

• Diacritics in Ancient Greek

  How to recognize and respect the diacritic markings in Ancient Greek.

• Ancient Digitized Greek Dictionaries for download

  A special download site for those who want a quick and easy way to download important dictionaries. This is a very popular article that caused DropBox to temporarily suspend my account for the amount of megabytes being used for downloads.

• Greek Lexicon Searches using Google Books

  How to utilize Google Books to do ancient Greek word searches. Not always reliable, but when it does, it is a real time-saver.

• The Various uses of the infinitive in ancient Greek

  Examples and solutions to the wide range use of the infinitive in ancient Greek.

• Patrology and Greek Philosophy

  Why understanding classical Greek philosophy is a critical requirement in translating Greek Patristic writings.

• How to Read a Greek Minuscule Text

  If you come across a medieval Greek text that looks more like handwriting or chicken-scratch, you are likely seeing a Greek minuscule text. This is a primer for learning to read this cursory style of writing.

• Re-conceiving the Middle Voice for Greek and Latin Students

  A handy article by the Patrologist on the use and uniqueness of some Greek and Latin verbs using the middle voice.

Readers and Supplementary

1-3 John: A General Reader

Edited by J. Klay Harrison and Chad M. Foster, aims to target those finished with the basics of New Testament Greek and want to advance their skills — an area that is greatly lacking in resources and may be the source of why so many abandon Greek studies.

Hebrew Literature

Articles and resources on Hebrew literature. These references assume at least an elementary understanding of Hebrew. The priority is given to those that are openly accessible and free resources available on the internet.

Hebrew Resources

A Grammar for Gemara and Targum Onkelos

A review of this must-have book for anyone wishing to read or translate the Talmud.

• Attempts on Translating Rashi and Jewish Aramaic

  Tools and Methods to translate Rashi.

• Existing English Translations of Rashi

  A brief survey of where to find comprehensive English translations of Rashi’s works.

• Notes for Learning Ancient Hebrew

  Why learning modern Hebrew is the best place for the beginner to enter into the world of ancient Jewish literature.

• A History of Chapters and Verses in the Hebrew Bible

  The complex story on the present chapter and numbering system of the Hebrew Bible.

• The Influence of Aramaic on Hebrew

  How Aramaic typography ruled the writing world of the ancient Hebrews from the first century onwards.

Hebrew Dictionaries and Texts

• A Hebrew – English Bible According to the Masoretic Text and the JPS 1917 Edition

  The Old Testament with the Hebrew text paralleled with the English one. Great for a quick reference. Not a source for any critical analysis of the Hebrew text.

• Leningrad Codex

  A digitized version of the text found in the Westminster Leningrad Codex.

• Morfix

  A modern Hebrew website that is both Hebrew and English sensitive. The dictionary can capture both ancient and modern nuances. Lots of irritating popup ads.

• Sefaria.org – dictionaries

  This site has Marcus Jastrow’s Dictionary of Targumim, Talmud and Midrashic Literature along with Kleine’s Dictionary digitally captured and searchable. A must have tool.

• Sefaria.org – texts

  A great site with a vast library of Jewish writings including the Talmud in the original languages and often with English translations. The English is somewhat confusing and better versions do exist out there. All in all the best multi-lingual site of this nature.

• The Hebrew Numbering System

  Do you come across a Hebrew or Aramaic text and the numbering system is only in these languages? If you are like me, you sometimes forget. This handy chart helps you quickly identify them.

• תלמוד בבלי

  The Talmud and other related documents at a modern Hebrew Wiki site. Knowledge of Hebrew is required to use this site.

• Instonebrewer

  An odd looking interface for a website that assists in studying the Talmud both in the original and English. However, after getting over the initial hurdle, it is a very helpful resource for readers with English as a first language and know a little Aramaic.

Aramaic Resources

• Dukhrana

  A great resource for anything related to the Syriac New Testament. Designed for the new learner or the advanced Syriac reader. It connects with the common Syriac dictionaries too.

• The Syriac Old Testament

  Finding an online Syriac New Testament is rather easy. Finding the Old is a little more difficult. Here are two sites: Mandenka. This site is entirely in Syriac only. The CAL Lexicon by Hebrew Union College. The interface is not very intuitive. You need to go down the page to 62001 P Gn to begin reading or examining the OT texts.

• BibleHub Syriac New Testament

  If reading a Syriac New Testament including the page, title, and headers, with no English references at all is a little overwhelming, then this site will help you overcome this problem.

• Lexilogos

  A list of hyperlinks to good Syriac resources.

• Syriac Dictionary in Four Languages

  A handy and easy to use Syriac dictionary.

• Uhlemann’s Syriac Grammar

  A clear, concise Syriac-English grammar. It is old, probably outdated, but it is free for download and easily available.

Latin Resources

Latin is the major door to the realm of Christian literature from the most ancient times until almost now. This language has shaped the Western Christian mind and its impressions are clearly evident on the English Bible.
The following are helpful sites with an emphasis on free or open source. These sites have also existed for a long period of time. For whatever reason, many sites on the Latin language come and go.

Dictionaries

• William Whitaker’s Words

  A quick, no nonsense, Latin-English word search tool. It contains 90% of the words you are looking for.

• Archimedes

  This site has many Latin dictionaries to choose from.

• Perseus

  The search is quick but the results are limited. My preference is Whitaker’s Words but that may be a personal bias.

• Dico Latin

  This used to be partially free and have open access. Today a subscription is required. Searches produced better than average results. The interface is really helpful and combines both lemma and meaning in its searches.

• Dictionnaire Latin–Français

  A handy dictionary for hard to find words.

Grammars

• Allen and Greenough’s New Latin Grammar

  A digitized version that can help you with Latin grammar.

• New Latin Grammar

  By Charles E. Bennett. My personal choice of grammars. This is the one I used for learning and consulting Latin early on.

• Wheelocks Latin

  If you want to learn Latin, this is a typical place to start. It is inexpensive relative to the typical costs of textbooks.

Resources

• Patrologia Latina Database

  This site is an entire digitized copy of Migne Patrologia Latina: a compendium of church writings from 200 to 1216 AD. A major timesaver. A subscription is required. Best to access through a university library portal.

• Perseus Greek and Roman Materials

  Perseus has a wide selection of Latin texts throughout the centuries to choose from.

Bibles

• LatinVulgate.com

  The Latin Bible with a parallel English text. Fast, easy to use, but a good search function lacking.

• Vulgate.org

  It is an OK site but it is not designed for research or analytics.

• The Clementine Vulgate

  Great search engine. Latin only.

• The Unbound Bible

  You can compare two Latin versions against each other, plus almost any other language or text. Great for comparative analysis.

Tips on reading Latin:

• Latin and the Subjunctive

  The subjunctive is on of the most difficult aspects of the Latin language to learn. This post is a little guide on how to approach it.

• The Mysterious Latin Gerundive

  The gerundive is a Latin form that is not always understood or consistently translated into English. This post goes over the various options the English translator has when encountering this.