Update on la Tekstaro and PIV

Work on the Textbook of Esperanto (la Tekstaro), and on the future version of the Full Illustrated Dictionary of Esperanto (PIV) is fiercely progressing. The two projects, both funded by the Esperantic Studies Foundation, have merged into one project, because the texts in la Tekstaro are used abundantly to provide PIV with real-use examples. Both projects are led by Bertilo Wennergren. The work on PIV, however, is carried out entirely by a team that diligently edits and corrects the dictionary material through an online collaboration platform programmed by Bertilo. Some of the PIV team members also help to expand the Textbook with new texts, and by correcting the already existing texts.

• The following texts have recently been added to la Tekstaro:
• A wonderful love (Mirinda Amo) written by Luyken, published in 1913
• Mr. Tadeo (Sinjoro Tadeo) translated by Grabowski, published in 1918
• Children of Orpheus (Idoj de Orfeo) written by Bulthuis, published in 1923
• texts from Revuo Esperanto from the years 2002-2007
• The memoirs of Julia Agrippina (La memoraĵoj de Julia Agripina) written by Löwenstein, published in 2021

With that, the scope of the text is now 11,728,313 words.

The PIV team wants to renew the dictionary, starting a new chapter in its development. The plans contain, among other things, the following points:

• Waringhien had the ambition that PIV could to some extent serve as an encyclopedia. That goal was only partially accomplished. The articles of some departments are encyclopedic, while others are just dictionaries. Currently, the task of being an encyclopedia is better fulfilled by the Esperanto Wikipedia, and PIV should rather become a pure dictionary. A dictionary defines and explains words, while an encyclopedia explains facts and phenomena. In practice, this change affects especially the botanical and zoological articles of PIV, which until now are often more like essays than dictionary articles.
• All real examples (taken from some text source) are checked and corrected. In the current PIV versions many examples are changed and adapted, and therefore not always reliable. That task is huge, but it is progressing very well, especially because of the possibility to quickly check many source texts with the text set’s search engine.
• All real examples will have a source indication. Those examples that can be found in la Tekstaro will be provided with a link to the relevant place within it By clicking on the source indication the reader will be sent directly to the relevant text location with the actual original example text highlighted in yellow.
• A more rigorous distinction is introduced between actual word-making with Esperanto elements, and borrowing international words. E.g. the word anthropometry , which in PIV2020 is presented as a derivative from the root antrop· (= human) and the suffix -ometri- (= science of measurement), will appear in the future as the root antropometri· plus an O ending, because there is no such thing in Esperanto suffix -ometri- , nor any root antrop· . The word is taken as a whole from the international vocabulary, and should be presented exactly that way.
• All derivatives will be presented with separator signs, which make clear the word’s composition. E.g. the word malsuprenstreko will appear as mal·supr·e·n·strek·o.
• Place names will have national language names in the definition instead of geographic coordinates (eg ” 8°15′E, 48°45′N”), which will make it easier to check in an encyclopedia or other source which place is actually in question.
• Far fewer abbreviations will be used. E.g. instead of k will appear “kaj” ; instead of U will appear “okcidenta” , and instead of sk. will appear “subkompreni” .

There is already a test version of the new PIV, but it is currently accessible only to a few selected testers, who can enter with a password. When the new version is mature enough, that test version will be open to the public, for use and criticism, before the new PIV is released. According to the plan, it will primarily be an online dictionary (like the current version of PIV2020 at the address vortaro.net ), but from that material there will be an automatically created version for traditional book publishing.