New thesauri seem to appear every day. The latest is unique for a variety of reasons. A new online thesaurus for Gaelic speakers interested in the historical environment has been created, with more than 4,000 terms included. This comes as part of the effort to promote Gaelic in as many areas of Scottish life as possible. The Herald Scotland brought this news to us in their article “Past brought to life via Gaelic web thesaurus.”
Terminology relating to areas such as architecture, archaeology and history as well as place names for many historical sites is featured. One example includes the English term “gallows mound,” a natural or man-made earth mound on which a gallows was erected for executions. In Gaelic it is Cnoc a’Chrochadair.
The initiative is a joint project by Historic Scotland and the Royal Commission for the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland, with financial support from Bòrd na Gàidhlig, the statutory language development agency, as part of an effort to save Gaelic from extinction as a relevant living language.
Melody K. Smith
Sponsored by Access Innovations, the world leader in thesaurus, ontology, and taxonomy creation and metadata application.
