''The Dictionary of Old English'' (''DOE'') is a
dictionary
A dictionary is a listing of lexemes from the lexicon of one or more specific languages, often arranged alphabetically (or by radical and stroke for ideographic languages), which may include information on definitions, usage, etymologies ...
of the
Old English language
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th cen ...
, published by the Centre for Medieval Studies,
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...
, under the direction of
Angus Cameron, Ashley Crandell Amos,
Antonette diPaolo Healey
Antonette diPaolo Healey is a philologist and a scholar of Old English literature and language. She has published on lexicography, glossography, and history of the English language. diPaolo Healey edited seven releases of '' The Dictionary of Ol ...
, and
Haruko Momma. It complements the ''
Oxford English Dictionary
The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a com ...
''s comprehensive survey of modern
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
, the ''
Middle English Dictionary
''The Middle English Dictionary'' is a dictionary of Middle English published by the University of Michigan. "Its 15,000 pages offer a comprehensive analysis of lexicon and usage for the period 1175–1500, based on the analysis of a collection of ...
''s comprehensive survey of
Middle English
Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English p ...
, and the ''
Scottish Language Dictionaries
Scottish Language Dictionaries (SLD), now Dictionaries of the Scots Language (DSL) is Scotland's lexicographical body for the Scots Language. DSL is responsible for the major Scots dictionaries, the '' Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue'' a ...
'' surveys of
Scots.
[About the Dictionary of Old English](_blank)
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The dictionary is still under production. With the publication of the entries under ''I'' in September 2018, the entries for letters A-I of the 24-letter Old English alphabet have been published (though since the dictionary has no entry for ''J'' and published the two entries for ''K'' at the same time as the ''I'' entries, it has technically covered A-K, and the next letter to be published will be ''L'').
The dictionary has made extensive use of digital technology Digital technology may refer to:
* Application of digital electronics
* Any significant piece of knowledge from information technology
Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange al ...
, and is based on a corpus
Corpus is Latin for "body". It may refer to:
Linguistics
* Text corpus, in linguistics, a large and structured set of texts
* Speech corpus, in linguistics, a large set of speech audio files
* Corpus linguistics, a branch of linguistics
Music
* ...
of at least one copy of every known surviving text written in Old English.
History
The dictionary was conceived in 1968 as a replacement for the Bosworth–Toller '' Anglo-Saxon Dictionary'', which had been compiled at a time when both the study of the Old English language and lexicographical techniques were less advanced. From the outset, the editors were interested in the potential application of computer technology to the task of compiling the dictionary, and in basing the dictionary text on a corpus. A dictionary plan was published in 1973. It was originally anticipated that work on the dictionary would begin in 1976 and the dictionary would begin appearing in fascicles shortly thereafter.
The first fascicle was not published until 1986, and covered words beginning with the letter D. The letter G was reached in 2008. the entries for 8 of the 24 letters of the Old English alphabet, A-H were published, with over 60% of the total entries written. The letter I was released in September 2018.
Availability
The dictionary is available in 3 formats:[ Publications of the ''Dictionary of Old English''](_blank)
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This site offers a limited number of free searches per year, then charges apply. Registration is required.
The corpus is available in 2 formats:
The computerized corpus (old version) is available to download on request from the University of Oxford Text Archive, free for use in education and research:
''Dictionary of Old English'' Corpus in Electronic Form (DOEC)
Notes
External links
Official website
An animated clip highlighting Old English and the DOE
A clip created by University of Toronto featuring editors and students
In memory of Angus Cameron
Put Your Own Stamp on the Dictionary of Old English
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dictionary Of Old English
Old English dictionaries