Welcome to ROMLEX

ROMLEX documents the Romani lexicon. It gives users an opportunity to consult materials in different dialects of Romani, and to obtain translations into different languages.

ROMLEX is not a Romani dictionary in the usual sense. ROMLEX is a lexical database. It contains data that are representative of the variation in the lexicon of all Romani dialects, and offers almost complete coverage of the basic lexicon of the Romani language. At present, data are available online covering many Romani dialects. These are accompanied by translations into English and, depending on the Romani dialect, into other European languages as well. By providing an electronic resource of the highest quality, which can constantly be updated, the ROMLEX database can serve as a foundation for future dissemination of Romani literary resources and Romani language literacy itself.

ROMLEX has been started in 2000 using the Romani translators, which were developed by the Graz Romani Project, as a basis. Until the end of August 2008 the tasks were mainly supported by the Open Society Institute (OSI). Since September 2008 the scientific part of ROMLEX (harmonisation of lexical coverage, supplying etymologies and inter-and intra-dialectal linking of basic vocabulary) is funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) with a three years grant. ROMLEX has always been co-funded by the Austrian Federal Chancellery's Minority Promotion. The individual project tasks so far have been accomplished by the Graz Romani Project in collaboration with the Manchester Romani Project and in co-operation with various other partners, i.a. the Departments of Linguistics at Aarhus University and the Charles University in Prague, as well as other academic and non-academic organisations, i.a. Roma NGOs working in the field of Romani, minority languages and language politics.

To use ROMLEX click on the link "Lexical Database" at the top of the page.