of the highest intrinsic merit, and one which is admirably adapted to initiate a learner into an acquaintance with the language of the New Testament. It ought to be regarded by every student as one of the first and most necessary requisites for the study of the New Testament, and consequently for the study of Theology in general."
Both Professor Grimm and his publisher courteously gave me permission to make such changes in his work as might in my judgment the better adapt it to the needs of English-speaking students. But the emphatic commendation it called out from all quarters, in a strain similar to the specimens just given, determined me to dismiss the thought of issuing a new book prepared on my predecessor's as a basis, and—alike in justice to him and for the satisfaction of students—to reproduce his second edition in its integrity (with only the silent correction of obvious oversights), and to introduce my additions in such a form as should render them distinguishable at once from Professor Grimm's work. (See [] in the list of "Explanations and Abbreviations" given below.) This decision has occasionally imposed on me some reserve and entailed some embarrassments. But notwithstanding all minor drawbacks the procedure will, I am sure, commend itself in the end, not only on the score of justice to the independent claims and responsibility of both authors, but also on account of the increased assurance (or, at least, the broader outlook) thus afforded the student respecting debatable matters,—whether of philology, of criticism, or of interpretation.
Some of the leading objects with the editor in his work of revision were stated in connection with a few specimen pages privately printed and circulated in 1881, and may here be repeated in substance as follows: to verify all references (biblical, classical, and—so far as practicable—modern); to note more generally the extra-biblical usage of words; to give the derivation of words in cases where it is agreed upon by the best etymologists and is of interest to the general student; to render complete the enumeration of (representative) verbal forms actually found in the New Testament (and exclude all others); to append to every verb a list of those of its compounds which occur in the Greek Testament; to supply the New Testament passages accidentally omitted in words marked at the end with an asterisk; to note more fully the variations in the Greek text of current editions; to introduce brief discussions of New Testament synonyms; to give the more noteworthy renderings not only of the "Authorized Version" but also of the Revised New Testament; to multiply cross references; references to grammatical works, both sacred (Winer, Buttmann, Green, etc.) and classical (Kühner, Krüger, Jelf, Donaldson, Goodwin, etc.); also to the best English and American Commentaries (Lightfoot, Ellicott, Westcott, Alford, Morison, Beet, Hackett, Alexander, The Speaker's Commentary, The New Testament Commentary, etc.), as well as to the latest exegetical works that have appeared on the Continent (Weiss, Heinrici, Keil, Godet, Oltramare, etc.); and to the recent Bible Dictionaries and Cyclopædias (Smith, Alexander's Kitto, McClintock and Strong, the completed Riehm, the new Herzog, etc.), besides the various Lives of Christ and of the Apostle Paul.
Respecting a few of these specifications an additional remark or two may be in place:
One of the most prominent and persistent embarrassments encountered by the New Testament lexicographer is occasioned by the diversity of readings in the current editions of the Greek text. A slight change in the form or even in the punctuation of a passage may
