Mallorca dictionary project digitises 25,500 word slips
Mallorca’s dictionary project has digitised 25,500 original word slips in 2026: the notes are being prepared for searches alongside the entries they helped create. The Island Council of Mallorca says it is providing 30,000 euros this year to digitise and transcribe 10,000 slips for the collection’s database. Its vice-president and culture and heritage councillor, Antònia Roca, has visited the Francesc de Borja Moll Institution to see the work.
Three million notes behind the dictionary
The Diccionari català-valencià-balear has 150,963 entries. Around 3,000 people gathered more than three million slips recording words, expressions, proverbs and how language was used.
Antoni M. Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll directed the project from Mallorca. Alcover called for people to help in 1901, and the dictionary’s first instalment appeared in 1926.
A way to search the original notes
The original collection is known as the cedulari, or slip archive. Each digitised slip includes an image of the original and is catalogued using the same fields as the dictionary. That will allow searches to connect the two databases.
For example, a search for Mallorca in the proverb field could show both dictionary entries and the original slips behind them. The digitised collection is due to be available through www.dcvb.cat, the institution’s portal.
Source: Europa Press / Mallorca.com