Sassoleix

Sassoleix is presented here as a fictional open-data linguistic resource described as a cross-linguistic lexicon focused on Romance languages and Latin, with emphasis on etymology, semantic relationships, and diachronic development. The project is imagined to provide researchers with linked lexicon entries, cognate groups, and historical sound correspondences, enabling exploration of how words evolve across related languages. The name combines Italian sasso, meaning stone, and lexis, meaning word, conveying the idea of a repository that reveals words embedded in history.

History and scope: In the hypothetical account, sassoleix was conceived by a collaborative group of linguists and software developers in the early 2010s and envisioned as a community-maintained resource. It is described as aggregating data from dictionaries, corpora, and historical grammars to form a unified lexical collection that supports cross-language comparison and diachronic study.

Data model and content: Each entry in sassoleix is imagined to include lemma, part of speech, a sense inventory, etymology, example sentences, and cross-language cognates. The platform would expose semantic relations such as hypernyms and hyponyms, and connect etymological trees to historical sound correspondences. The dataset is described as being extensible, with contributions from scholars and volunteers.

Platform and usage: The fictional project is said to offer a web interface and an API for search, retrieval, and programmatic analysis, with an open-data license intended to encourage reuse in research, education, and language technology development. Critics in this imagined scenario point to data quality and licensing as ongoing considerations.

See also: Lexicon, Etymology, Cognates, Wiktionary, Language resource.