@sc-voice/ms-dpd

MS-DPD: A multilingual JavaScript library for searching a condensed version of the Digital Pali Dictionary

Command Line

In its simplest form, MS-DPD can be installed as a command line script on a Linux disttribution. The command line MS-DPD gives users a quick access to Pali lookup:

> ./scripts/dpd devi
--------------------------
 find:"devi" method:entry
--------------------------
# WORD PAT   MEANING
1 devi ī fem queen
2 devi ī fem goddess
> ./scripts/dpd help

The command line program requires NodeJS version 20 or later. If you do not have NodeJS installed, consider using nvm to install NodeJS.

git clone https://github.com/sc-voice/ms-dpd
cd ms-dpd
npm install
./scripts/dpd --help
./scripts/dpd dhamma
./scripts/dpd -mu dhamma
./scripts/dpd -md 'superior virtue'

Library

For an existing Javascript project (browser or web), install the library as follows:

npm install @sc-voice/ms-dpd@latest

Dictionary

The primary class of interest is Dictionary:

import { Dictionary } from '@sc-voice/pali/main.mjs'

let dict = await Dictionary.create();
let dhamma = dict.find("dhamma", {method: 'entry'});

Returns undefined if not found.

Returns JS object if found:

{
  pattern: "dhamma",
  method: "entry",
  data: [...fields]
}

Data fields comprise headword information:

• construction how is the word constructed?
• meaning_1 contextual meaning in current language
• meaning_2 contextual meaning per Buddhadatta in current language
• meaning_lit literal meaning in current language
• pattern inflection pattern
• pos part of speech
• stem stem upon which the inflection pattern is built.
• word Pali lookup word
• ...

Search methods include:

• entry search for exact Pali word
• definition search for definition pattern
• unaccented search for Pali words ignoring accents

Development

The Digital Pali Dictionary (DPD) (DPD) uses a SQLite3 database which needs to be downloaded for development:

git clone https://github.com/sc-voice/ms-dpd
cd ms-dpd
npm install
./scripts/dpd-install
npm run test

Design overview

MS-DPD is a Javascript library built upon a condensed version of the Digital Pali Dictionary (DPD). MS-DPD is multilingual by design: headwords can be translated into multiple languages using individual translation files dedicated to a single contemporary language.

Condensed content

The DPD itself is enormous, with a goal to span the entire Pali corpus. Indeed, the DPD SQLite3 database alone is 2G. Simply put, the full DPD is much too large to squeeze into a simple JS library. We need some way of condensing the content.

Fortunately, it is possible to select a minimal set of content that can be used in applications such as SuttaCentral or SC-Voice. Specifically, we can condense content as follows:

• Restrict lookup to prefixes of words in the Mahāsańghīti corpus
• Convert 5 digit headword keys to radix-62 as <=3 UTF-8 bytes.
• Replace HTML content with concise semantic equivalent
• Split headwords into two files: Pali grammar vs. language-specific meaning
• Omit unused headword fields such as Sanskrit
• Provide users with headword links back to main DPD website
• Only include meaning_2 if substantially different than meaning_1
• (TBD) share unique grammar content in a separate file

With the above condensation, we can reduce DPD content from 2G to ~8M, which is a 25:1 reduction. In addition, since headword meaning is separated from Pali grammar, it is now possible to add multilingual translations at a cost of about 3-4M per contemporary language.

Updates

MS-DPD is updated regularly following updates to the DPD itself.

Process:

./scripts/dpd-install
./scripts/build-dpd

Support

We welcome corrections and suggestions. Direct support inquiries to email: sc.voice.friends@gmail.com

References

Many thanks to Venerable Bodhirasa and the entire DPD team for the wonderful gift of the Digital Pali Dictionary.

• DPD tables used by MS-DPD
• MS-DPD data files