Continuità e innovazione nell’Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog di Copenaghen

Abstract

This contribution presents the case of the Ordbog over det norrøne prosasprog / A Dictionary of Old Norse Prose (ONP) and its evolution from a traditional excerpt-based historical dictionary to a multifaceted digital platform (<onp.ku.dk>), which is an inclusive research support tool for scholars in the field of medieval Scandinavian studies. The legacy data of the dictionary consist of a unique collection of around 750,000 representative citations, which still provide the basis of the lexicographic work. Each citation is equipped with a siglum, which refers to the edition and ultimately to the specific manuscript from which it has been excerpted.
The project started in 1939, and the time demanding excerpting work lasted a few decades. Meanwhile new digital technologies were made available, which allowed the material to be inserted into a tailor made database from the beginning of the editorial work, in the early 80s. After the publication of four printed volumes, in 2010 the project turned into a free digital platform, where both the published and unpublished material was made accessible to the users.
This paper will try to detail the structure of the current digital platform and highlight some of the potential that it offers to users, not only for the purpose of lexical and semantic analysis of Old Norse texts, but also in the form of additional material relating to manuscripts, dating, area of origin, literary genre, foreign sources, bibliography, links to external projects and many other functions. The conservation of the original data and their progressive integration into new technological tools show how the project has managed to maintain the balance between the strong philological link with manuscript sources and constant digital innovation.