[B-Greek] Basic Dictionary Work in John 1
jwrobie at mindspring.com
Tue Apr 29 09:53:12 EDT 2008
> 2) In my opinion, the statistical analysis approach to determining meaning
> is really much less helpful than many people think. It usually runs
> something like this. "Gaphoomph means gabarble 9 times out of 10.
> Therefore, at Hesitations 9:14, it really must mean gabarble." I am afraind
> that it's not statistics that determine meaning, but usage in context. You
> are much better off getting a sense of the semantic range of the word, and
> then seeing what part of that range best fits the context.
I agree. To use an English example, suppose you saw the following sentence:
She had a run in her stocking.
You could then determine the most common meaning of "run" in the English
language to shed light on what it means in this context. But that would
lead you to the wrong meaning. This is particularly true in fixed
expressions, but it's generally a dangerous approach.
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