Examination of data collections for the Byzantine vocabulary

It is the aim of this project to cull relevant material from important collections of data concerning Greek vocabulary of the Byzantine period and then to incorporate the results into the files of the "Lexikon zur byzantinischen Gräzität". First and foremost the CD ROM of the "Thesaurus Linguae Graecae" (TLG) which, in its most recent version D, besides classical and patristic literature also contains a number of important texts from the Byzantine period has to be systematically examined in order to gain new words and occurrences from late antique, patristic: and Byzantine sources to be integrated into the "Lexikon zur byzantinischen Gräzität". Another important collection consists in notes which E. Miller about 100 years ago placed on the margins of his personal copy of the Thesaurus graecae linguae; a similar collection of notes made by the Greek scholar Ch. Charitonides in the first half of the 20th century, has recently been brought to the attention of the redactors of the Lexikon zur byzantinischen Gräzität. Finally, other lexica have to be compared, and new or hitherto inaccessible text editions have to be excerpted.

Since the end of antiquity the Greek language has undergone a considerable development as well concerning its grammatical structure as concerning vocabulary. These changes have not yet been sufficiently documented and interpreted. During the 20th century the situation became even less satisfying, given that the textual basis was considerably enlarged by hitherto unpublished texts and also by new and more reliable editions of known texts. The Lexikon zur byzantinischen Gräzität (LBG), a joint project of the Universities of Bonn and Vienna and the Austrian Academy of Sciences, initiated and directed by Erich Trapp, tries to cope with this problem by filling the great gap between antique and patristic vocabulary, well documented by the Lexica of Liddell-Scott and Lampe, on the one hand and vernacular Greek of the late Byzantine period, recorded by the now well advanced lexicon by Kriaras, on the other hand. It will contain as completely as possible the new words and meanings of the Greek language especially from about 800 to about 1200 A.D. The first fascicle, containing most of the letter Alpha, appeared in 1994 and was warmly welcomed by Byzantinists all over the world. It goes without saying that excerpting activity could not be regarded as finished with the publication of the first fascicle. New editions of texts appeared, and also some older publications became accessible to the lexicon team only now. All these texts had to be taken account of for the remaining fascicles of the lexicon. The main purpose of the project in hand was, in addition to the text editions, to make full use of certain relevant data collections, first and foremost of the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae of the University of California at Irvine. This extremely valuable working tool contains, in an electronically readable and searchable form, the whole Greek literature of Antiquity, including also a great number of Patristic texts. The D version of the CD, issued in 1992, contained for the first time also a considerable number of late antique and Byzantine texts so that it was absolutely necessary for the LBG team to work it through systematically. The same applies to the E version, issued in 1999 and again essentially enlarged regarding Byzantine texts, and fortunately the LBG team succeeded in making use also of these complementary data, in the very last minute, for fascicle four of the lexicon. A very different collection of data is that provided by E. Miller. This French philologist of the second half of the 19th century noted new and rare words, mostly taken from manuscripts, on the margins of his personal copy of the Thesaurus graecae linguae which is now kept in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. Miller`s notes were made accessible to the Vienna team by a microfilm and then analysed - a laborious task, requiring rich experience in the field of Byzantine literature and relevant bibliography. Thus by systematically making use of important relevant data collections new words, meanings and occurrences could be found, and the result was a considerable increase and improvement of entries of the Lexikon zur byzantinischen Gräzität.