@sc-voice/ms-dpd

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

MS-DPD Command Line Interface

In its simplest form, MS-DPD can be installed as a command line script on a Linux distribution. In particular, the dpd script provides a subset of the full capability of the Digital Pali Dictionary.

Install CLI

The Command Line Interpreter (CLI) requires NodeJS version 20 or later. If you do not have NodeJS installed, consider using nvm to install NodeJS.

The first step in installing the CLI is to clone the MS-DPD repository. If you are a contributor to MS-DPD itself, you should use a read/write clone of MS-DPD:

git clone [email protected]:sc-voice/ms-dpd.git

However, for most users, the a read-only clone will be fine:

git clone https://github.com/sc-voice/ms-dpd

Once you have cloned the repository, complete the installation:

cd ms-dpd
npm install
./scripts/dpd --help

After installing the CLI, you can call it to find the meaning of a Pali word in supported languages. The default language is EN, but we are also working towards DE,PT,ES and FR translations.

German query

Sample output for finding the meaning of evaṁ in German:

./scripts/dpd -l de evam
-------------------------------
 find:"evam" method:unaccented
 -------------------------------
# WORD PAT MEANING
1 evaṁ     so; dies; solcherart; ähnlich; in derselben Art und Weise
2 evaṁ     ja!; das ist richtig!; genau!

English query

Sample output for finding the meaning of devi in the default language English. The PAT field, if present, identifies the pattern of inflections that apply to the word (e.g. feminine inflections with primary suffix -i):

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

Library

MS-DPD is also a Javascript library ready for web use. MS-DPD has dynamically loaded language modules for supported languages. 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
• lemma_1 unique headword and number
• ...

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 [email protected]:sc-voice/ms-dpd.git
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: [email protected]

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

DPD Updates

To update this library when DPD is updated:

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

Multilingual

Multilingual content is split out by language code in the dpd directory. The English meanings come directly from the DPD and should not be changed manualy since they are updated by whien building this library.

Acknowledgements

This work would not have been possible without the help of many others. Their kindness, dedication, thoroughness and energy are sources of inpiration to all of us. In particular, we would like to thank:

• Venerable Bodhirasa and the Digital Pali Dictionary team for all their past and ongoing efforts to provide the world with the great gift of the Digital Pali Dictionary.

• Venerable Sujato and the SuttaCentral team for the their impeccable efforts to translate and collect in one place the teachings of the Buddha found in the Early Buddhist Texts (EBT).

• All of the users of SC-Voice, who are constantly teaching us better ways to access the wisdom found in the EBTs.