Dictionary format

[Pierre Abbat <phma@oltronics.net>]

I'm thinking that, besides the dictionary format we currently have
(jukni:juk:spider:x1 is a spider of species x2:sometimes long list of comments
and cross-references), which is good for the Web, especially with the
cross-references rendered as hyperlinks, we should have a more traditional
dictionary format which would look something like this:

danlu [2 species; dal, da'u] animal
cakcinki [danlu] beetle
tirxe [danlu 3 stripes] tiger
o [a] if and only if, iff
a [between two sumti] or
thumbnail, n. (xan)tajycalku, (xan)tajyja'u; picture: cmaxra, cmabasti

The stuff in the brackets immediately after the word is grammatical
information. For a brivla, it is the place structure (explicit or
cross-reference or both) and the rafsi, if any; for a cmavo it is the selma'o,
unless the cmavo is the type-word for that selma'o, in which case it is an
explanation of how it is used. The word "picture:" would be in italics.

I think that this format, in book form, would be easy to digest for those used
to foreign-language dictionaries. What do you think?

phma