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Thesaurus Lingua Graeca: A Basic Helpsheet

Note: This program is currently installed on ETEXTPUB09.

I. BRIEF OVERVIEW OF STRUCTURE AND CONTENT:

The Thesaurus Lingua Graeca is a database of ancient Greek texts that can be accessed using a program developed by Silver Mountain Software. This program allows you to search for selected words, phrases, or character strings in the TLG, a database of Greek literature from Homer through the 7th century A.D.

II. STARTING UP THE PROGRAM:

First, place the TLG CD-ROM in the computer's CD carrier by pressing the button outside of the CD-ROM drive to open and close it. You should see the TLG icon on the desktop. You may also access the TLG by clicking on the start button, selecting "programs" and then opening the Silver Mountain folder. If you cannot find these icons, please ask a staff member for assistance .

III. USING THE PROGRAM:

The main navigator bar, which should appear immediately upon startup, allows one to navigate through the archive. There buttons are grouped into two main categories —— Open and Search.

Open allows you to view an entire work by author or to open a saved search.

Search allows you to search one or more authors by the following criteria:

  • Author allows you to search one author by selecting his/her name from an alphabetical list.
  • Work allows you to search one work of a particular author by selecing the author's name and then the name of the work you wish to search.
  • List allows you to search a group of authors in a previously saved list.
  • Canon opens a window listing several different options:
    • Use Century To Select Works allows you to search by century or century range (ex. 6-5th Century BC).
    • Use Classification to Select Works allows you to search multiple authors grouped together under a system of generic classification.
    • Use Epithet or Genre to Select Works allows you to search multiple authors linked by genre or generic epithet.
    • Use Geographic Epithet to Select Works allows you to search authors identified by a given geographic epithet.
    • Select Only Female Authors allows you to search female authors as a discrete group.
  • Date allows you to search by century. This option is more limited than the Century heading under the Canon rubric.

The above options are also available by clicking on the Search or Open heading on the toolbar.

There are also three useful options under Tools in the pull-down menu:

  • Make Concordance allows you to create a concordance for any work in the TLG. This can be somewhat time-consuming, depending on the length of the work in question.
  • Run Greek Lexicon allows you to search the headings in the Intermediate Greek Lexicon by Lewis and Short. If there is no match to the entered term, the user is bumped to the beginning of the Lexicon's listings.
  • Lookup Perseus List opens a browser window, allowing the user to search the Perseus Project for a given term.

Index allows you to look up a given character set throughtout the TLG in one of three different ways:

  • Double Wildcard searches for a particular character set whether it is imbedded in a term or occurs at the beginning of a word. This is the most time-consuming of the three index searches.
  • Start of Word allows you to search for a given character set at the beginning of words only. This option takes less time than the other two index searches.
  • End of Word allows you to search for a particular character set at the end of words. Remember, this option includes inflected word-endings.

Viewing Search Results:

When your search is completed a window listing of citations that you have found will open. You can examine the text of any one of these citations by selecting the citation (click on it). A new window will appear that displays the text surrounding the citation you chose. Your term should be in bold, though this is not always the case. To see the next entry, close the window, scroll down the results list and click on the next item.

Help is also available via the Help pull-down menu.

Note: If you would like a record of your search results, you have several options. You may burn them to a compact disc or save them to a floppy via the portable disk drive. You may also save them to your home directory or email them to yourself. You need to make sure, however, that your computer is formatted to read unicode characters if your results contain any nonlatin characters. The Etext Center does not provide a public printer at this time.

IV. EXITING THE PROGRAM:

To exit the program simply close the TLG window and eject the disc.