Kef's Old English dictionary

To search the dictionary online, go to http://oedict.furrykef.com/

This project is currently a work in progress, but it should contain most of the most common words, and quite a few words that aren't so common. It is inspired in large part by Whitaker's Words (https://archives.nd.edu/whitaker/words.htm), and compiled mainly as a way to study the language rather than out of any particular need for a new dictionary.

Thanks to the Englisċ Discord (https://discord.gg/9rwnDRC) for all their help!

About the dictionary

This dictionary attempts to prefer conservative spellings, on the grounds that it is easier to predict later forms from earlier ones than the other way around. Thus, for example, we prefer burg to burh, since the Proto-Germanic form was *burgz; likewise, we prefer the Early West Saxon form hīeran to the Late West Saxon form hȳran, since īe indicates the vowel was produced by i-mutation of a diphthong. This is contrary to the practice of some dictionaries to prefer Late West Saxon forms. However, it is often tricky to determine which spelling is the most conservative, especially with our limited knowledge and resources, so we may not have always been successful.

In any case, the dictionary tool attempts to account for variations in spelling, so, for example, looking up hyran will correctly pull up hīeran, kiningc will correctly pull up cyning, etc. This feature is not complete, however, and will probably miss many common spellings.

References

"The profession of lexicography is, inevitably, a plagiaristic one, a linguistic Pac-Man that moves on, gobbling up its predecessors as it goes." — Jonathon Green, Cassell's Dictionary of Slang

Assume that any dictionaries or glossaries listed as public domain have been mercilessly ransacked for definitions. With other dictionaries, including Wiktionary, we have tried to be careful not to copy them too closely.

• Wiktionary, by many authors. CC BY-SA 3.0.
• An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, by Joseph Bosworth and T. Northcote Toller. Public domain.
• An Anglo-Saxon Reader, by Henry Sweet. Public domain.
• An Old English Grammar, by Randolph Quirk and C.L. Wrenn.
• Old English Dictionary, by Matthew Eagles
• Old English Grammar and Exercise Book, by C. Alphonso Smith. Public domain.
• An Introductory Grammar of Old English with an Anthology of Readings, by R.D. Fulk. Open Access.