Bar Ilan Software Support - Roots and Dictionary Entries

1.   

To find forms derived from a common root, type a percent sign before the relevant root.

    For example, to find קדש, וקדשתו, קידושין, מקדשת, type:

%קדש

    Alternatively, type the desired root, double-click it, and click the Root button.

2. In the Bar Ilan Responsa Project to find forms derived from a common dictionary entry, type a dollar sign before the relevant form. Or type the word, double-click it, and click Lemma.

•    Use these options with care, as they may retrieve many irrelevant forms, thereby slowing down your search. Of course, you can always filter out undesired forms before displaying the final search results (see below, pp. 40–42, on “Filtering Out Unwanted Search Results”)
•    You can specify nouns as “roots” when using the “root” option. Likewise, you can specify forms with more than four letters as roots. Thus, you can search for %מלאכה to locate forms such as שמלאכתו, ומלאכותיהם, etc.
 

Roots vs. Lemmas
  In the Bar Ilan Project the root and lemma options are similar, although “root” is more inclusive than “lemma”: all forms located by “lemma” will be located by “root,” although forms located by “root” will not necessarily be located by “lemma.”

    When should you use “root,” and when should you use “lemma”? The truth is that there aren’t any hard-and-fast rules, and the best option for one query isn’t necessarily the best option for another. Accordingly, if you didn’t find enough forms with “lemma,” try repeating your search with “root,” and if you found too many forms with “root,” try repeating your search with “lemma.”

Additional Note For Advanced Users
    In the Bar Ilan CD we need to understand what forms are located by “root” but not by “lemma”? The following examples should help clarify the difference between these options.

1.    Nouns derived from a verb root are generally not listed under the same dictionary entry as the verb root. Therefore, such nouns will be located by “root,” but not by “lemma.” For example, $שמר will not locate the nouns אשמורת, שמירה, although %שמר will.

    Keep in mind, however, that some words which appear to be nouns can be construed as verbs if vocalized differently, and hence such words will be located by the “lemma” option. For example, $שמר will locate the form משמרת, since this word can be construed not only as a noun (משמרת) which receives its own dictionary entry, but also as a verb (משמרת), which does not.

2. In the Bar Ilan Responsa disc nouns derived from the same root, but from different conjugations, are generally treated as distinct dictionary entries. Accordingly,  $קדשwill not locate the nouns קידוש, קידושין, since they are derived from the pi‘el form of קדש, rather than the kal. By contrast, %קדש will locate such forms.

3.    The root option will retrieve denominative verbs from words ordinarily assumed to be nouns, whereas the lemma option only retrieves nouns associated with such forms. Thus, the word הבת (“one who lodges”), which is derived from the word בית (“house”), will not be located by $בית, which only retrieves nouns derived from this word. However, %בית will locate the word הבת.

4.    Words which might be grammatically related to a particular root, in Bar Ilan Responsa but which appear different from that root, are sometimes treated as separate dictionary entries. For example, the word הבקר, which occasionally occurs as a phonetic variant of הפקר (e.g., in the Talmud Yerushalmi), is associated with the same root, פקר. Nevertheless, הבקר and הפקר are treated as distinct dictionary entries, since they seem to be derived from different roots (בקר and פקר). Hence, %פקר will retrieve the forms הבקר, הבקיר, etc., while $פקר will not.
 
 

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