Historical lexicography of Old French and linked open data: transforming the resources of the Dictionnaire étymologique de l'ancien français with OntoLex-Lemon

Abstract

The adaptation of novel techniques and standards in computational lexicography is taking place at an accelerating pace, as manifested by recent extensions beyond the traditional XML-based paradigm of electronic publication. One important area of activity in this regard is the transformation of lexicographic resources into (Linguistic) Linked Open Data ([L]LOD), and the application of the OntoLex-Lemon vocabulary to electronic editions of dictionaries. At the moment, however, these activities focus on machine-readable dictionaries, natural language processing and modern languages and found only limited resonance in philology in general and in historical language stages in particular. This paper presents an endeavor to transform the resources of a comprehensive dictionary of Old French into LOD using OntoLex-Lemon and it sketches the difficulties of modeling particular aspects that are due to the medieval stage of the language