DicML
Encyclopedia
dicML is an XML
-based markup language
currently being developed to describe the contents of dictionaries
. Each document can represent one of the following:
The declared purpose of dicML and accompanying dictionary software is to make electronic dictionaries more attractive to users by specifying logical features that should be present and searchable in a uniform manner across many different electronic dictionaries.
markup languages serve a similar purpose. Currently, neither concept is specified completely. For example, XDXF lacks elements to annotate possible hyphenations, while the recent working draft of dicML does not include elements to describe the etymology of words.
XML
Extensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....
-based markup language
Markup language
A markup language is a modern system for annotating a text in a way that is syntactically distinguishable from that text. The idea and terminology evolved from the "marking up" of manuscripts, i.e. the revision instructions by editors, traditionally written with a blue pencil on authors' manuscripts...
currently being developed to describe the contents of dictionaries
Dictionary
A dictionary is a collection of words in one or more specific languages, often listed alphabetically, with usage information, definitions, etymologies, phonetics, pronunciations, and other information; or a book of words in one language with their equivalents in another, also known as a lexicon...
. Each document can represent one of the following:
- a word list
- a definition
- a translation
- a monolingual dictionary
- a bilingual dictionary
The declared purpose of dicML and accompanying dictionary software is to make electronic dictionaries more attractive to users by specifying logical features that should be present and searchable in a uniform manner across many different electronic dictionaries.
Alternatives
The XDXFXDXF
XDXF is a project to unite all existing open dictionaries and provide both users and developers with universal XML-based format, convertible from and to other popular formats like Mova, PtkDic, StarDict...
markup languages serve a similar purpose. Currently, neither concept is specified completely. For example, XDXF lacks elements to annotate possible hyphenations, while the recent working draft of dicML does not include elements to describe the etymology of words.