[Lexicog] Re: A bit of orientation needed! (Dictionary Solftware)

[jorcaiba]

Thank you all very much!! It's great that you've all been so kind to
reply.

I have already realized that dictionaries are very complicated monsters,
and I can't even imagine how the lexicographers managed in the olden
days. I'll explane a bit what my project consists in, so that you have a
beeter idea of what software I may need.


My intention is to bild a dictionary of all the Romance
standardisedvarieties (big ore small), but to start with I'll
concentrate only onthe languages that have a fully developed
codification (includingmonolingual, bilingual and ethymological
dictionarys, which I need tobild my dictionary). This includes the 5 big
"national" languages(Portuguese, Spanish, French, Italian and Romanian)
and Catalan, whichis fully codified and quite socialized in much of its
territories (andin Internet).

Basically one could see it as a multi-dialect dictionary with the
glosses in one single dialect. The "dialects" would be the different
standardized Romance varieties. Features:

1. The dictionary should show the different Romance cognates which share
a same ethymology as simple variants of a "same" word.  Example (por:
portuguese, spa: spanish, cat: catalan, fre: french, ita: italian, rom:
romanian):
dente (por and ita), dent (cat and fre), diente (spa), dinte (rom)
2. If there are more than one cognates in one same language, the
dictionary should include them all.  This could be the case, for
example, of two italian cognates which have developed in different
dialectes and have been included in the standard language with different
meanings or as synonims (one of them, maybe, used more in poetry). Or
the case of two Spanish cognates, one of which is popular and the other
one a Latinism. So I don't mean all the members of an ethymological
family, which its various prefixes, suffixes, etc.

3. It may be necessary to include some old versions of the cognates
(this is interesting specially for French), or cognates that have been
used in some language but have been lost later. Example:
fre connaître (old fre connoistre)
4. Pronuntiation of difficult words (not all!), to help with
thedifferent orthographies the readers who are learning other languages
. This is interesting specially for French, but not exclussively.
Example:
ita conoscere [ko’noʃeɾe]
5. When the cognates don't all share exactly the same origin, the
dictionary should specify which cognates descend from which variant of
the etim. If it's the case, it shoud also specify if the cognate is
popular or a Latinism. Example with different popular ethymologies:

>From Latin COGNÅŒSCÄ"RE> por conhecer, fra connaître.


>From Vulgar Latin CONÅŒSCÄ"RE > cas conocer, cat conèixer or
conéixer, ita conoscere.


>From Vulgar Latin CONNÅŒSCÄ"RE > rom cunoaÅŸte.

6. The dictionary should show together (in the gloss language) the
different  meanings of those cognates, specifying for example if one
certain meaning is, say, true for all languages except Romanian or only
true for Catalan and French. In the same way it should specify the
grammatical category/ies. Following the  very first example (the one
with dente, etc.):
masculine noun (femiline in cat and fre).
1 Tooth (all)
2 Another meaning X (only fre and ita)
4.  When a certain meaning is not shared by the cognates of all the
languages, the dictionary should provide the semantical equivalent in
the other languages.


So, as you can see, it's A LOT of information. Presented as a book, the
entries of the dictionary would be organized by ethymologies (in the
case of Latin ones I would follow the Classical Latin variant). Between
the entries I would include "semientries" with all the Romance words
which are commented in the dictionary directing the reader to the
different entries where those words are mentioned. For example:
MAISON (fre): see MANSIO, DOMUS, CASA

I've tried (in Words) to create some entries and I've arranged the
information of those entries in an organized and understandable way. So
I've got an idea of how the dictionary will look like once it's printed.
My problem is how to add all the information into the computer and edit
the dictionary in a XXI- century way and not in mediaeval way!! In other
ways, how can I do it without investing my entire life in finishing it!
:)

Would Lexique Pro be good enogh?

Mike, you've sayd:

--- In lexicographylist at yahoogroups.com, Mike Maxwell <maxwell at ...>
wrote:
> If you use something non-free-form (like
> a relational database), then you have a programming issue.

What's that?

I'm sorry for worring you all so much!! Your orientations are very
valuable for me. Thanks!

Jorge

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