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Root words (Stemming)

Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2016 5:40 pm
by darrel_jw
Can someone help me understand how to use this option in the MCP? Does it apply to English words, Greek and/or Hebrew. I did a test. I searched for "looking" with Root Words checked and it returned all variations of "look". But then I did a search for "carried" and it returned all occurrences of "carri" but that is not the root of "carried". I tried searching on Greek and Hebrew words with Root Words checked and it only returned the Greek and/or Hebrew word I entered in the search string. Am I missing something?

Darrel

Re: Root words (Stemming)

Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2016 8:59 pm
by Tim
The Root Word Search uses an algorithm that tries to break down the word to find the root. As you found it only works well for words that have the root spelled correctly within it. The only other way would be to use a matching table. A table that would match "carry" with the root of "carried." I don't know that any exist for the Bible words.

The best way to find the roots is to enter the root with a wildcard character (i.e. "carr*"). This will find all words that start with the string. One can use Regular Expressions for more detailed searches if he is familiar with them.

I added the root option for users who are not familiar with wildcards. It will not work with Hebrew or Greek words.