Concordance

Concordance (Low Lat. concordantia), originally a system of harmonising things that differ or appear to differ. Thus there is a concordance of the Gregorian and Julian calendars, and of passages in the Bible that do not seem to agree. Subsequently it came to be used for a book arranged so as to form an alphabetical index of all passages, or at least of all the more important words in any work. For writings of universal import, from which passages are continually being adduced to prove or support principles affecting our daily life and action, such a handbook is indispensable. The necessity of a concordance for the Bible seems to have been felt at an early period. The first regular concordance of the Vulgate was made about 1244 by Hugo de Sancto Caro, with the assistance of many other Dominican monks. This work was frequently printed (e.g. Lyons, 1540, 1551), and led to Hugo's division of the Bible into chapters being universally adopted. Amended editions were prepared by Arlotto de Prato (about 1290), and (in the 14th century) by Konrad of Halberstadt. Concordances to the Vulgate were published at Basel in 1521 and 1561, by Rob. Stephanus (Paris, 1555), by Fr. Lucas (Antwerp, 1617), and by the Abbé F. P. Dutripon (Paris, 1838). A Greek concordance of the New Testament and Septuagint was prepared by Euthalios of Rhodes about the year 1300, but has been lost. Concordances of the Septuagint were compiled by Conrad Kircher (Frankfort, 2 vols. 1607), by Abraham Fromm (2 vols. Amsterdam, 1718) and by Dr Hatch (6 parts, 1889–92). Xystus Betuleius published in 1546 the first printed concordance of the Greek New Testament, which was republished and amended by Stephens (Paris, 1594; Geneva, 1600). A better concordance was compiled by Erasmus Schmidt (1638), whose work, as revised and enlarged by Bruder (1842; new ed. 1880), is now of standard value. An abridgment was issued by Schmoller (1869). The first Hebrew concordance was drawn up by Rabbi Isaac Nathan about 1438, and by Johann Buxtorf (edited by his son Johann Buxtorf, Basel, 1632). On the work of Buxtorf the later concordances of J. First (1840), Bernhard Bär (1861 et seq.), and Davidson (Lond. 1876) are based. The chief concordances for Luther's Bible are those of Lankisch (1718), Büchner (1740; 17th ed. 1885), Beck (1770), Wichmann (1782), Schott (1827), Hanff (1828), Bernhard (1850). The first concordance of the New Testament in English was by Thomas Gybson (Lond. 1535), and of the whole Bible in English by John Marbek (1550). The best known of the numerous concordances for the authorised English version of the Bible was compiled by Alexander Cruden, and first published in 1737 (3d ed. with his corrections, 1769); Dr R. Young's (1884) and Rev. J. B. R. Walker's (1894) are more recent. The Englishman's Hebrew and Greek Concordances (1860) deserve mention. The first Concordance of the Koran appeared at Calcutta in 1811, but was superseded by that of Flügel (1842). The Complete Concordance to Shakespeare, compiled by Mrs Cowden Clarke (1845; new ed. Lond. 1881), and that by John Bartlett (1894) are admirable. Concordances have also been prepared to Pope, Milton, Cowper, Tennyson, Dante, Chaucer, and Shelley.