29 September 2026 to 3 October 2026
OeAW Main Seat
Europe/Vienna timezone

From Ḋamma to Ġabra: Four Centuries of Maltese Lexicography

1 Oct 2026, 15:00
30m
02 | Museumszimmer (02 | Museumszimmer, OeAW Main Seat, 2nd floor)

02 | Museumszimmer

02 | Museumszimmer, OeAW Main Seat, 2nd floor

Austrian Academy of Sciences Dr. Ignaz Seipel-Platz 2 1010 Vienna

Speakers

Michael Spagnol (University of Malta) John J. Camilleri (Chalmers University of Technology and the University of Gothenburg) Dwayne Ellul (University of Malta)

Description

This paper presents a historical and typological overview of Maltese lexicography, tracing the development of lexical resources from the earliest manuscript dictionaries to recent digital initiatives. It surveys major multilingual, bilingual, monolingual and specialised dictionaries while discussing the methodologies underlying Maltese lexicography over the years. Emphasis is given to the interaction between the hybrid lexical structure of Maltese and lexicographic practice, including issues of lemmatisation, orthography and dictionary structure. The paper also discusses recent digital initiatives, particularly Ġabra and Dizzjunarju.mt, which illustrate the growing role of computational methods in Maltese lexicography.

Presentation materials

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