The Digital Dictionary

Anglo-Saxonists have always been well represented in the field of Digital Humanities, and perhaps the foremost project among these has been The Dictionary of Old English. However, this early adoption of technology has forced the Dictionary to adopt different standards at different times, from print to microfilm to SGML to SGML+XML+HTML on CD-ROM to HTML on the Web. The first part of this article will therefore examine the technologies used to compile and publish the Dictionary and will consider the difficulties in adopting each one and in migrating from one to the next, particularly with respect to changes in modelling which this has brought about. The present electronic resources associated with the Dictionary will then be reviewed and the existing and potential relationships with other resources will be considered, as well as the level of integration between them. Finally, the reception of these electronic resources in general and the Dictionary in particular will be considered, as will the question both what impact this electronic publication has had on scholarship, and what it has done and can still do to enhance scholarship and promote use of the resource. [8,000 words]