In:Basilio Brollo’s Dictionarium sinico-latinum (Chinese-Latin dictionary): A critical edition of the manuscript Rinuccini 22 (Biblioteca Mediceo-Laurenziana)
Gabriele Tola
[Studies in the History of the Language Sciences 134] 2026
► pp. 143–160
Chapter 9Brollo’s Dictionarium sinico-latinum database
Developing a flexible information system for the digital analysis of ancient bilingual Chinese dictionaries
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Abstract
As part of the project aimed at creating an accessible and searchable information system (IS), a relational
database has been developed to digitise and organise the data coherently. The proposed structure provides a solid foundation
for indexing and querying through a search engine capable of navigating both the information explicitly present in ancient
sources, which can be implicitly inferred. Despite its apparent complexity, this approach ensures high flexibility and broad
applicability: it allows for the generation of grammatical indexes that can be easily applied to a wide range of written
sources and can be progressively enriched to include new graphic variants, pronunciations, or meanings.
A set of pilot tools has also been developed, demonstrating the effectiveness of the framework. This
chapter focuses primarily on a case study: the extraction and data analysis of disyllabic examples included in the Latin
definitions.
Article outline
- 1.Analysing the problem: Sorting apples from oranges
- 2.Enriching the grammar section: What kind of apples are up there on the tree?
- 3.Managing semantic and logical-syntactic relations: Grouping apples from the same orchard
- 4.Building the ancient source branch: Time to stock the oranges
- 5.Structuring the backend: Server architecture, data normalisation, and migration
- 6.Unlocking potential: Implementations and applications of the relational database for data analysis, custom tools, and web integration
- 7.Examples
- 7.1Extraction of romanised examples
- Workflow
- Practical example
- Results
- 7.2Proposed reconstruction of the example in Chinese
- Workflow
- Practical example
- Results
- 7.1Extraction of romanised examples
- 8.Conclusions and future directions
- Author queries
References
References (4)
Primary sources
Brollo, Basilio. 1694. Hanzi xiyi 漢字西譯 — Sinicarum Litterarum Europea Expositio Dictionarium
sinico-latinum suis fratribus sinicae missionis tyronib. Elaboratum per frem Basilio a Glemona ordinis minorum
strictioris observantiae Venetae D. Antonijs Provinciae alumnum: Anno Dei
MDCXCIV. Manuscript copy “Rinuccini
22” (Florence: Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana).
Secondary sources
Albano, Antonio, Renzo Orsini & Giorgio Ghelli. 2025. Fondamenti
di basi di dati. Bologna ([URL]).