Duration: 1984 to 2007

The Diccionario del español medieval (DEM) aimed to compile a comprehensive inventory of the entire Old Spanish lexicon, from the earliest attested examples in the 10th century up to around 1400, including lexicographical processing and a presentation annotated with historical linguistic commentary. It was intended to be the first exhaustive historical dictionary of the Spanish language. Beyond Hispanic studies and Romance linguistics, the project’s results benefit all disciplines that deal with older texts in the Spanish language (literary studies, cultural, legal, social, and general history, philosophy, theology, medieval studies, Medieval Latin, Arabic studies, Jewish studies), or that rely on older language forms as a basis for research (Creole studies, Latin American studies), or that require interdisciplinary data from the field of Spanish (language contact, interference, and internationalism studies, etc.).

The volumes of the dictionary produced in the course of this work were published in the form of fascicles. Each volume includes a comprehensive index of word forms as well as an etymological index. Based on well over 600 literary and non-literary works, as well as collections of texts and documents, these volumes cover the history of the development of Spanish vocabulary from the 10th century to the early 15th century.

History of the research center

Unfortunately, the planned takeover and continuation of the dictionary project by the University of La Laguna (Tenerife, Spain) in April 2005 could not ultimately be carried out for financial reasons, so the project had to be suspended for the time being in 2007. Thanks to the efforts of Prof. Dr. Jutta Langenbacher-Liebgott(external link) and Prof. Dr. Rafael Arnold, as well as funding from the DFG, the project was fortunately able to continue in a modified form from 2016 until October 2022. The DEM (Diccionariodel Español Medieval) evolved into the DEMel (Diccionariodel Español Medieval electrónico(external link)), which aims to make the research already conducted digitally accessible. In this way, the valuable lexical material on Medieval Spanish, which has been researched and collected over many years at the Heidelberg research center, can now continue to be used for scholarly purposes through the DEMel.

On February 14, 2022, following this eventful funding history, DEMel was launched as an open-access database, as noted in the University of Rostock’s press release(external link) marking the launch.

In light of the successful publication of the DEMel, several events were organized in 2022. At the end of May 2022, Prof. Dr. Rafael Arnold presented the DEMel at the IX Congreso Internacional de Lexicografía Hispánica(external link) (La Laguna). In July, Prof. Dr. Langenbacher-Liebgott chaired a session at the Congreso Internacional de Lingüística y Filología Románicas ( external link) (La Laguna) together with a Spanish colleague and an Italian colleague, focusing on DEM research. Also in July, an international conference took place at the University of Rostock as part of the DEMel project.

Chair of the Commission:

Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Max Pfister

Head of the Research Unit:

Prof. Dr. Bodo Müller (1924–2013)

Employees:

• Dr. Eva Güida
• Annette Lattermann, M.A.
• Claudia Nieto-Klotz
• Cristina Morales Kött

Contact

Prof. Dr. Rafael Arnold(external link) is the director of the follow-up project DEMel.

On the DEMel website(external link), you will find extensive information on the history and research of the DEM and DEMel.