Dictionaries of the Scots Language (DSL)

Description

Dictionaries of the Scots Language (DSL) is Scotland's independent lexicographical body for the Scots language, a registered Scottish charitable incorporated organisation that maintains and develops the two great historical dictionaries of Scots online: the Scottish National Dictionary, covering Scots from 1700 to the present, and A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue, covering Scots to 1700. Together these are published as DSL Online, which launched in 2004.

The body has been a continuously registered charity since 2002, when it was constituted as Scottish Language Dictionaries Limited, and it converted to a charitable incorporated organisation in 2021. Its lineage runs back further through the Scottish National Dictionary Association, founded in 1929, the Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue begun around 1919, and the Joint Council for the Scottish Dictionaries established in the early 1950s. Faclair na Gaidhlig, the historical dictionary of Scottish Gaelic, was spun off from the same organisation in 2003.

Alongside the dictionaries it produces derivative publications including a schools app, a concise print dictionary and a Scots predictive keyboard released in 2017, publishes a Scots Word of the Week, and contributes lexicographical expertise to publicly funded projects. It issues periodic releases of its underlying data, and it is governed by a board of governors with a small permanent editorial team. Most of its activity is funded by an annual Scottish Government grant, supplemented by donations.

Follow DSL on YouTube.

Currently active

Yes

Offers funding

No, this infrastructure does not provide funding.

Founding year

2002

Contact details

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Categorisation

Type

Tags

Partner Infrastructures

Faclair na Gàidhlig

Faclair na Gàidhlig is an inter-university project building a historical dictionary of Scottish Gaelic on the model of the great historical dictionaries of other European languages, tracing the… read more about Faclair na Gàidhlig

Isle of Skye

Partner Universities

University of Glasgow

Additional Partnerships

Scottish Government; Scottish National Dictionary Association