| About the SEAlang Library Lao Dictionary Resources |
| These resources are primarily based on two like-named texts: |
| Lao-English Dictionary, William L. Patterson and Mario E. Severino (1995, Dunwoody Press), based on the Morev, Vasil'eva, and Plam Lao-Russian Dictionary (1982, Russkiy Yazik). This dictionary of more than 32,000 entries represents modern Lao usage, including many new expressions introduced by the Lao government since 1975. It was designed for the reader of current newspapers, and is based primarily on the Lao-Russian Dictionary published by the Russkiy Yazik Publishing House (1982, Moscow). |
| Lao-English Dictionary, Allen Kerr, with the assistance of Sing Bourommavong, Houmphent Phetmongkhonh, Samreung Singhavara, and Somsangouane loungsisomkham (1972, Catholic University Press). Compiled in the period 1960 - 1971 from existing dictionaries, publications, and native speakers, Kerr's dictionary has some 44,000 entries, evenly split between heads and compounds. It is particularly notable for its coverage of flora and fauna, including locations found (mainly from Jules Vidal). |
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Spelling and romanization As of 1975 Lao spelling has reflected sound, rather than etymological derivation. Kerr's dictionary retains the earlier spelling, while Patterson & Severino use the modern standard. Romanization for Kerr has been adapted from his original text, while the P & S romanization was generated using John Durdin's Lao Script tool (see www.laoscript.net). There is a slight difference in tone marking as a result. |
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Searching
The dictionary can be searched by Lao orthography, IPA romanization, or the words found in any definition. Tone (but not vowel length) is always ignored in IPA searches. - V can substitute for any vowel or series of vowels (including the 'long vowel' mark :). - C can substitute for any consonant (including aspirates with raised 'h' characters). |
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Font requirements
- Saysettha_OT.ttf for Lao Unicode. - Charis SIL (or Doulos SIL) for IPA. |
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Known issues This site is still under active development. Some issues to be aware of include: |
| - The original dictionaries do not always assign data for part of speech, usage, etc., and do not always use the same terms when they do (e.g. P&S entries marked as 'onom.' are often actually reduplicatives). |
| - Compounds from P&S have not been split into (and indexed under) headwords. |
| - Some flora/fauna locations are mistakenly cited as dialect names. |
| - Some P&S entries aren't tagged properly, and are either marked as errors (SNARK!) or obviously contain munged data (e.g. KHZVAHNFZAYPHZUNG1KHYHN2THZOM1...). |
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Copyright notices Source material is copyrighted 1995 Dunwoody Press, and 1972 Catholic University Press. |
| Look for continuing development of SEAlang Library Lao resources. |