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Dictionary of Old English: 2006 Progress Report

 

Joan Holland, Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Toronto

http://www.doe.utoronto.ca

We are delighted to report that only three G entries remain to be written, and that the revision of G is nearing completion. We look forward to the publication of G in Spring 2007 under three formats: on the Web, on CD-ROM, and on microfiche (in this order). As G is moving through the pre-publication process, the editors have been drafting entries for H, I, Y and L. Lemmatization (the assignment of spellings to headwords) of M is nearly complete, and the assignment of N is about to begin.

 

Technological Advances

Funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation for the Text Analysis Portal for Research (TAPoR) has allowed us to complete the development and testing of both the search engine and the interface for DOEonline, the Web-based Dictionary. In another initiative, our systems analyst, Xin Xiang, has developed a more sophisticated search engine for the next release of the Dictionary on CD-ROM, which, like DOEonline, will allow multiple fields to be searched simultaneously. For example, economic historians researching the notion of 'payment' or 'compensation' in the Anglo-Saxon legal system will be able to discover sections of various law codes deserving close attention, or historians of the language interested in masculine and feminine suffixes, such as –ere and –estre, can discover that both 'baker' and 'fiddler', among other words, appear with both suffixes. We are excited about the productive searches our improved search engines will make possible.

As one of our goals is to move more of our material onto the Web, we would like to bring to your attention that the most recent version of the 'List of Texts' cited in the DOE, together with their system of reference, has been available on our website since March 2006 under the heading 'Research Tools'.

In other news, the Dictionary of Old English Corpus on the World Wide Web, up to now distributed by the University of Michigan Press, will come home as of February 2007. From that date on, site licenses should be ordered from the project. The University of Michigan Press has been very helpful in ensuring a smooth transition. Information about the Web Corpus can be found at http://www.doe.utoronto.ca. Click on 'Important Notice'. We can be contacted with inquiries about the Web Corpus at corpus@doe.utoronto.ca.

This year, renovations at the project, funded generously by TAPoR and the Dean of Arts and Science, University of Toronto, provided us with a lexicographic laboratory.

 

Grants and Gifts

We are delighted to report that in Spring 2006 we were awarded for the fourth time a five-year (2006-2011) Challenge Grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation of New York. Under the terms of the grant, the project has to match the $500,000 award dollar for dollar. We would like to express our deepest thanks to Professor Jane Toswell of the University of Western Ontario, who volunteered to undertake the current fundraising campaign to help us meet the Mellon Challenge. In June, Dr. Joseph Meisel, our Program Officer at the Mellon Foundation, visited Toronto, met the DOE team, and saw first-hand how we go about our research. In addition to the Mellon award, we received a three-year grant (2006-2009) from the Salamander Foundation, specifically awarded to help meet the Mellon Challenge; a two-year grant (2006-2008) from the National Endowment for the Humanities; a one-year grant from the British Academy; and an exceptional grant from the Early English Text Society, given to help match the Mellon award. We greatly appreciated gifts from the International Society of Anglo-Saxonists as well as from colleagues and friends. A list of gifts in the past year is appended.

 

Dissemination and Outreach

This year, as always, we were happy to welcome students and scholars from around the world who came to visit the project or to use our collection for their own research. Most notably, we enjoyed the stay of Dr. Alejandro Alcaraz Sintes of the University of Jaén, Spain, who worked in the Dictionary offices for a period of about six months. We welcomed a number of international visitors who were in Toronto in August for the Medieval Latin Congress at York University. We were pleased, too, to see one of the members of our International Advisory Committee, Professor Roberta Frank of Yale University. For a period of about two months, the DOE's collection of Anglo-Saxon coins, donated to the project by Sarah Collins, the spouse of the late Professor Rowland Collins, University of Rochester, was on display at the University of Toronto Art Centre. In June, the achievements of the DOE, along with two other humanities projects at the University, were celebrated at a reception hosted by Professor John Challis, Vice-President-Research and Associate Provost: the event was attended by the President of the University, the Provost, representatives of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and colleagues and friends. We are also grateful to Professor Challis for subsidizing the transportation from Oxford to Toronto of the superb collection of books, papers and research materials so generously donated to us last year by Dr. Bruce Mitchell of the University of Oxford. Our Editor, Antonette diPaolo Healey, has represented the Dictionary at conferences and meetings in the course of the year. In May, she attended the International Advisory Committee meeting of Langscape (The Language of Landscape), a project sponsored by the Arts and Humanities Research Council of the U.K., at King's College, London, and while in England she visited the Oxford English Dictionary, seeing its latest technological advances and consulting with its editors about issues of mutual concern. In October, she gave a paper at the University of Seville and then attended the Spanish Society for Medieval English Language and Literature (SELIM) conference in Málaga, Spain, where she gave a plenary talk. In December, she attended the meeting of the MLA in Philadelphia, where she reported on the project to the Old English Executive Committee.

 

Staff

  • EDITOR: Antonette diPaolo Healey
  • REVISING EDITOR: Joan Holland
  • DRAFTING EDITORS: Dorothy Haines
  • David McDougall
  • Ian McDougall

EDITORIAL STAFF:

  • Catherine Monahan Picone
  • Xin Xiang (Systems Analyst)
  • Elaine Quanz

INTERNATIONAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE:

  • Roberta Frank, Yale University
  • Helmut Gneuss, University of Munich
  • Simon Keynes, University of Cambridge
  • Andy Orchard, University of Toronto
  • Fred C. Robinson, Yale University
  • Eric Stanley, Pembroke College, Oxford

RESEARCH ASSISTANTS:

  • Emira Bouhafna
  • Michael Elliot
  • Rob Getz
  • Rachel Kessler
  • Hilary Wynne

STUDENT ASSISTANTS:

  • Lauren Greenwood
  • Karen Law
  • Andrew Campana (Mentorship Student)
  • Noam Sienna (Mentorship Student)

EDITOR, Toronto Old English Series: Andy Orchard

EDITOR, Publications of the DOE: Andy Orchard

 

Funding

  • The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (formerly the Canada Council): Grants in Aid of Research, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975; Major Editorial Grants, 197681, 1981-86, 1986-91, 1991-96; Grants from the Federal Matching Funds Policy, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991; Special Presidential Grant, 1993; Consortium Support Programme 1996-98, 19982000, 2000-2003, 2003-2005, 2005-
  • The British Academy
  • Canada Foundation for Innovation (for TAPoR [Text Analysis Portal for Research]), 2002-
  • Connaught Fund, University of Toronto, 19861991
  • Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, 1998-99, 1999-2000, 2000-2001, 2002-2003, 2004-2005
  • Early English Text Society
  • Marc Fitch Fund
  • Foundation for Education and Social Development, Boston
  • Jackman Foundation
  • Macdonald-Stewart Foundation
  • McLean Foundation, 1992, 1995, 1998, 2000
  • Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, 1985-90, 199499, 2000-2005, 2006-
  • National Endowment for the Humanities, Research Tools Program, 1991-93, 1993-95, 1995-98, 1998-2000, 2000-2002, 2002-2004, 2004-2006, 2006-
  • Presidents' Committee, University of Toronto
  • Salamander Foundation, 1998-2001, 2001-2004, 2004-2006, 2006-
  • Salus Mundi Foundation, 2002, 2004
  • University of Toronto
  • Xerox Corporation University Grants Committee

 

Friends of the Dictionary of Old English in support of the Mellon Challenge Grant

We wish to acknowledge the very generous contributions the project has received during the past year. Donors who supported our research in honour of or in memory of individuals are also noted separately at the end of the list. We are enormously grateful to Prof. Jane Toswell of the University of Western Ontario, who has organized a fundraising campaign among colleagues in the field to help us meet our Mellon Challenge Grant of $500,000 US. Many of you have received the mailing she sent out and have already responded generously. All of us on the project thank each one of you. We would like to acknowledge in a special way the three-year commitment from the Salamander Foundation, Toronto, to help us meet the Mellon Challenge, as well as the exceptional gift from the Early English Text Society, also in response to the Mellon Challenge. We have also received generous donations from the Peter Munk Charitable Foundation and the International Society of Anglo-Saxonists. An accounting of the funds raised will appear in our 2007 report. We hope to have included all who have so generously supported our work, but must apologize to any of our donors inadvertently left off this list of acknowledgements. This list encompasses gifts given between December 15, 2005 and December 15, 2006.

 

Supporters

  • Helen G. Balfour
  • Wendy Cameron
  • Roger Carruthers
  • Wendy Cecil
  • Howell Chickering
  • Maria Augusta Coppola
  • Daniel Donoghue
  • Early English Text Society
  • Steven Foulds
  • Thomas Hall
  • Antonette diPaolo Healey
  • John M. Hill
  • E.D. & M.P. Hirsch
  • Jean Houston
  • International Society of Anglo-Saxonists
  • Maruja Jackman
  • Allison Kingsmill
  • Lisa Kiser
  • Beatrice La Farge
  • Steven May
  • James McIlwain
  • Bruce & Mollie Mitchell
  • Linda Munk
  • Peter Munk Charitable Foundation
  • Hiroshi Ogawa
  • Young-Bae Park
  • Winifred Potter
  • Gordon Pratt
  • George & Jennifer Rigg
  • Fred Robinson
  • Harry & Medora Roe
  • Salamander Foundation
  • Juerg Schwyter
  • Anonymous (1)

 

Donors

  • Mary-Jo Arn
  • Dabney Bankert
  • Thomas Bestul
  • Carole P. Biggam
  • Virginia Blanton
  • Jim Bradway
  • R.H. Bremmer
  • Leger Brosnahan
  • Anna Burko
  • Laurence & Anne Cameron
  • Donald Canada
  • David Carlson
  • Michael Cherniss
  • George Clark
  • John Cleaveland
  • Vi & John Colman
  • Patrick Conner
  • Joan Dawson
  • Nicole Discenza
  • Heide Estes
  • Gillian Fellows-Jensen
  • Teresa Fiocco
  • Michael Fox
  • Roberta Frank
  • James Graham-Campbell
  • Eugene Green
  • Scott Gwara
  • Donald Hair
  • J.R. Hall
  • Valerie Susan Heuchan
  • Constance Hieatt
  • F.R. Higgins
  • Joyce Hill
  • Richard & Ellen Hoffmann
  • Joan Holland
  • Sylvia Horowitz
  • Brenda Hosington
  • Ann Hutchison
  • Tadahiro Ikegami
  • Colin Ireland
  • Peter Jackson
  • Gregory Jember
  • Christian Kay
  • Dwight Keister
  • Ian Kirby
  • Anne Klinck
  • Eric Kooper
  • William Kretzschmar
  • David Lampe
  • S.D. Lee
  • Alexander Leggatt
  • Ursula Lenker
  • Mary Ann Luce
  • Charles Ludlum
  • Philip & Mary Maude
  • Vincent McCarren
  • David Megginson
  • Marie Nelson
  • John Niles
  • Dorothy Noyes
  • Elisabeth Oliver
  • Shigeru Ono
  • Elizabeth Orsten
  • Carol E. Percy
  • Russell Perkin
  • Betty Phillips
  • Catherine Monahan Picone
  • Robert D. Pierce, Jr.
  • Paul & Fiona Remley
  • Alain Renoir
  • Robert Rice
  • Elizabeth Robinson
  • Jane Rosenthal
  • Helene Scheck
  • Richard Schoeck
  • Ute Schwab
  • Krista Slade
  • Charles Smith
  • Helen Smith
  • Scott Smith
  • E.G. Stanley
  • Louise Stephens & Richard Burgess
  • Nancy Stork
  • Larry Syndergaard
  • Julie Towell
  • Joseph B. Trahern, Jr.
  • Richard Unger
  • Ruth Waterhouse
  • Gernot Wieland
  • Jonathan Wilcox
  • Karen Williams
  • Xin Xiang
  • Barbara Yorke
  • Cynthia Zollinger
  • Anonymous (1)
  • IN MEMORY OF ST. CLAIR BALFOUR
  • Helen G. Balfour
  • IN MEMORY OF SHARON BUTLER
  • Brenda Hosington
  • Ann Hutchison
  • IN MEMORY OF ANGUS CAMERON
  • Jean Houston
  • Philip & Mary Maude
  • IN MEMORY OF ROWLAND COLLINS
  • Howell Chickering
  • Ann Hutchison
  • IN HONOUR OF THE STAFF OF THE DICTIONARY OF OLD ENGLISH
  • Linda Munk
  • Helen Smith
  • IN HONOUR OF ALLEN FRANTZEN
  • Julie Towell
  • IN HONOUR OF ANTONETTE DI PAOLO HEALEY
  • Bruce & Mollie Mitchell
  • IN HONOUR OF ROBIN HEALEY
  • E.G. Stanley
  • IN HONOUR OF JOAN HOLLAND
  • Bruce & Mollie Mitchell
  • IN MEMORY OF NICHOLAS HOWE
  • Patrick Conner
  • Daniel Donoghue
  • Heide Estes
  • Roberta Frank
  • Antonette diPaolo Healey
  • Joyce Hill
  • Richard & Ellen Hoffmann
  • Lisa Kiser
  • Dorothy Noyes
  • Joseph B. Trahern, Jr.
  • Jonathan Wilcox
  • Karen Williams
  • Cynthia Zollinger
  • IN MEMORY OF BERNARD F. HUPPé
  • Sylvia Horowitz
  • IN MEMORY OF EDWARD B. IRVING
  • Howell Chickering
  • John Hill
  • Juerg Schwyter
  • IN MEMORY OF FRANCISCUS JUNIUS
  • R.H. Bremmer
  • IN MEMORY OF ELSPETH M. KENNEDY, EMERITUS FELLOW, ST. HILDA'S, OXFORD
  • Louise Stephens & Richard Burgess
  • IN MEMORY OF WILLIAM GAULT KINGSMILL & ANGUS CAMERON
  • Allison Kingsmill
  • IN MEMORY OF JOHN LEYERLE
  • Alexander Leggatt
  • David Megginson
  • George & Jennifer Rigg
  • Joseph B. Trahern, Jr.
  • IN HONOUR OF BRUCE MITCHELL
  • Joan Holland
  • IN MEMORY OF JOHN C. POPE
  • Howell Chickering
  • E.D. & M.P. Hirsch
  • IN HONOUR OF FRED C. ROBINSON
  • Howell Chickering
  • IN HONOUR OF PAUL SZARMACH
  • Virginia Blanton
  • Helene Scheck
  • IN MEMORY OF RAYMOND P. TRIPP, JR.
  • John Hill
  • IN MEMORY OF NANCY JO NOONAN VIRSIS
  • Paul & Fiona Remley
  • IN MEMORY OF PATRICK WORMALD
  • Elisabeth Oliver