Towards Completing the Second Edition of the Anglo-Norman Dictionary

This article gives an overview of some of the history of the Anglo-Norman Dictionary and focuses on the possibilities created by its conversion to a digital-only resource in 2001–2006. It describes the central process of single-letter revision that forms the basis of the Second Edition, as well as several ancillary revision projects that have impacted upon the dictionary as a whole: the introduction of references to cognate dictionaries, of a semantic tag, of a chronology of dated citations, and (for the future) of a language tag. The digital format allows for a modular approach to revision that has already expanded a purely semantic dictionary to one with historical, etymological and onomasiological elements. A new grant now allows for the completion of the Second Edition, initiated in the 1990s. This article shows the significance of this achievement, while arguing that as an online resource the Anglo-Norman Dictionary can continue to grow in several ways. In that sense, the editorial team is ready to admit that the project remains “incomplete.”