The present dictionary lists spelling forms of biblical proper names as found in the following publications: 1. NIV Complete Concordance (1981), 2. Holy Bible (Hodder: 1978), 3. Bible Library CD-ROM (1988) and 4. Quick Bible (1990).
The dictionary consists of four parts: 1. pronouncing dictionary, 2. phonetic dictionary, 3. reverse pronouncing dictionary and 4. reverse phonetic dictionary.
In non-NIV publications, somewhat different spellings may occur. Variation between c, ch and k, for instance, is particularly frequent. Instead of NIV Koz and Kelub, you may find Coz and Chelub elsewhere. Writing in one word or more as well as hyphenation is subject to variation, too. The NIV form is Beth Maacah, elsewhere it may be Beth-maacah. In the present dictionary, hyphenated forms constitute one entry, e.g. Ben-Geber. Names consisting of two separate elements, e.g. Beth Maacah, are treated as two separate entries.
The pronunciation used here is RP (= Received Pronunciation). Our system of phonetic transcription is a simplified compromise between the systems of Jones and Wells. The pronunciation of the different names (complete names; parts of names, especially endings) represents essentially a compromise between transcriptions found in Everyman's English Pronouncing Dictionary (Jones: 1988), Random House Dictionary (1987), Columbia Encyclopaedia (1950) and Webster's New Twentieth Century Dictionary (1983). In some cases, other publications have been taken into consideration. US pronunciations have been adapted to RP without being marked as such.
It has been our endeavour to reduce the number of phonetic variants. This applies to sounds, sound sequences, endings, stress and complete names. We have especially tried to standardize endings in Hebrew names, whereas traditional pronunciations have been retained for Greek and Latin names. The fact that we have omitted certain pronunciations does not necessarily mean that they are to be considered as incorrect or inadequate.
For most names we have been able to rely entirely on genuinely English phonetic transcriptions. In very rare cases, it has seemed advisable to resort, at least partly, to original Greek or Hebrew sources (spelling, pronunciation).
Max Mangold is responsible for phonetic transcription, and See-Young Cho is responsible for the alphabetization and the typesetting by computer.