From TeX to Network Graph: Creating a Web Platform for an Etymology Dictionary

We describe a recent project creating a new interactive web platform of the etymological dictionary of Icelandic, Íslensk orðsifjabók (ÍO), by the lexicographer and linguist Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon, now available at https://ordsifjabok.arnastofnun.is/. This dictionary contains around 42,000 headwords and is a comprehensive resource for exploring the origin of a substantial portion of the vocabulary of Icelandic. The dictionary material was gathered over a period of decades and published in print in 1989. ÍO is the only etymological dictionary focusing on Modern Icelandic.

Like other etymological dictionaries, ÍO provides information about the history of words as well as information about how meaning and form of words may have changed. It shows how inherited words are derived from roots that can be traced back to an earlier stage of the language or a reconstructed proto-language. Cognates that may be present in various related languages are also listed. In many cases the words do not originate in an earlier language stage but have different historical roots. They can be borrowings from other languages; or neologisms, more recent creations resulting from Icelandic specific derivational or morphological processes.

Extensive information about various words and different types of origins and relationships between them appears in ÍO. The structure of the information in each entry is not entirely consistent but the same key words and phrases indicating types of relationships occur frequently.

To create a digital version of this dictionary, it was necessary to use the material from the print version. The dictionary was originally produced at the start of the digital age and the original TeX files have been preserved until this day. The first digital version of the dictionary was made available online on the web portal málið.is in 2016 using the original working files as its base and enabled a simple lookup of the headwords but did not offer any advanced search features or the possibility of browsing the entries alphabetically as only one entry could be displayed at a time.

We present a new rich online platform for the dictionary where references in the entries are cross-linked using automatic methods to parse the TeX files. The entries are also linked through common referenced words in foreign languages. The platform contains a graph-model component that enables users to explore these relationships through an interactive network visualization. The graph model was created by using the dictionary's parsed entries where referenced words were extracted from the descriptive text in each entry to create links between entries. The data was then imported into the graph database software Neo4j. These links are defined as different types of relationships based on the occurrence of particular words, e.g. sjá (e. see also), sbr. (e. compare) and skylt (e. related to). The graph model also includes references to words in other languages and therefore links entries across the whole dictionary that did not have direct cross-referencing before.

The new online platform of ÍO offers diverse ways of working with the dictionary and visualizing the data. It makes it easier for users to move between words and get an overview of related words.

ÍO offers insights into the historical development of Icelandic by examining the origins of words and the cultural and historical context in which Icelandic evolved. It highlights how the use of words has changed over time and what cognate words exist in related languages.

Overall, the online platform of ÍO serves as a valuable tool for anyone interested in exploring the history and evolution of Icelandic words and the cultural connections between them as well as a novel way of publishing and interacting with etymological dictionaries.