Romance Etymological Dictionary (DÉRom). Second stage: the panromanic core 2 – DÉRom

Comparative reconstruction

The principal result lies in the dictionary itself. However, DÉRom includes an innately inherent aspect which goes beyond the project itself: it also handles strategic issues in terms of paradigm shift, uniting driving forces, and educating young academics in the field of Romance etymology. Hence, DÉRom is not only a dictionary, but also a movement.
Indeed DÉRom appears to be the vehicle of an ongoing paradigm shift in Romance etymology, where the traditional method, based on written Latin data, is being replaced by the comparative method. Whilst the DÉRom holds a monopoly in the practice of Panromance etymology, the theoretic debate is in full swing within the community of the Romanists.
Beginning with a team of 13 researchers, DÉRom has profited from a vast membership movement. Thus, the project plays a unifying role within a scientific community which before presented itself in a quite strongly dispersed manner. Strategically speaking, one of DÉRom's most important results is the significant increase in the number of Romanists doing research on all Romance languages: the species of Vollromanist, virtually in jeopardy in 2007, now stands firm for many years to come.
Finally, educating young academics in the field of Romance etymology is one of the project's declared objectives, for at a moment when the European landscape of research and higher education is being thoroughly restructured, it seems important to strive to maintain and to develop knowledge of and skills in Romance etymology in France and Germany, the key players in this field.

Publication of the book «Le Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom).
Genèse, méthodes et résultats« by De Gruyter in 2014.

- Bastardas i Rufat, Maria Reina, Buchi, Éva & Cano González, Ana María (2013) : « Etimoloxía asturiana ya etimoloxía romance : aportaciones mutues nun contestu de camudamientu metodolóxicu pendiente ». Lletres Asturianes 108, 11-39.
- Bastardas i Rufat, Maria Reina, Buchi, Éva & Cano González, Ana María (accepté) : « La etimología (pan-)románica hoy : noticias del Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom) ». Revista de Filología Románica.
- Buchi, Éva (2012) : « Des bienfaits de l’application de la méthode comparative à la matière romane : l’exemple de la reconstruction sémantique ». In : Vykypel, Bohumil & Bocek, Vít (éd.) : Methods of Etymological Practice, Prague, Nakladatelství Lidové noviny, 105-117.
- Buchi, Éva, González Martín, Carmen, Mertens, Bianca & Schlienger, Claire (accepté) : « L’étymologie de FAIM et de FAMINE revue dans le cadre du DÉRom ». Le français moderne.
- Buchi, Éva & Schweickard, Wolfgang (accepté) : « Per un’etimologia romanza saldamente ancorata alla linguistica variazionale : riflessioni fondate sull’esperienza del DÉRom (Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman) ». In : Boutier, Marie-Guy, Hadermann, Pascale & Van Acker, Marieke (éd.), Variation et changement en langue et en discours, Helsinki, Société Néophilologique.
- Florescu, Cristina (2012) : « The Academic Dictionary of the Romanian Language (‘Dictionarul academic al Limbii Române’ – DLR). Lexicological Relevance and Romanic Context ». Philologica Jassyensia 8, 19-26.
- Schweickard, Wolfgang (2012) : « Le Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom) entre tradition et innovation ». In : Trotter, David (éd.) : Present and future research in Anglo-Norman : Proceedings of the Aberystwyth Colloquium, 21-22 July 2011, Aberystwyth, The Anglo-Norman Online Hub, 173-178.

The central aim of the DÉRom (Dictionnaire Etymologique Roman) project consists of rebuilding the etymology of the common core (some 500 etyma, of which about 200 were compiled during the first stage of the project) of the inherited Romance lexicon according to the method of comparative grammar- a method so far judged to be of little profit in Romanistics because of the massive evidence of written Latin -and in its presenting phonological, semantic, and stratigraphic analysis in a lexicographical, computer-mediated form.

However, DÉRom includes an innately inherent aspect which goes beyond the project itself: it also handles strategic issues in terms of paradigm shift, uniting driving forces, and educating young academics in the field of Romance etymology. Hence, DÉRom is not only a dictionary, but also a movement.

Indeed DÉRom appears to be the vehicle of an ongoing paradigm shift in Romance etymology, where the traditional method, based on historical grammar and written Latin data, is being replaced by the comparative method. Whilst the DÉRom holds (against its will) a monopoly in the practice of Panromance etymology, the theoretic debate is in full swing within the community of the Romanists.

Beginning with a team of 13 researchers, DÉRom has profited from a vast membership movement, numbering 53 members today. Thus, the project plays a unifying role within a scientific community which before presented itself in a quite strongly dispersed manner, despite the existence of two major players, the Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch (FEW) and the Lessico Etimologico Italiano (LEI). Strategically speaking, one of DÉRom's first stage's most important results is the significant increase in the number of Romanists doing research on all Romance languages- not only on Italian, French and Spanish, but also on Romanian, Dalmatian, Sardinian, Portuguese etc.: the species of Vollromanist, virtually in jeopardy in 2007, now stands firm for many years to come.

Finally, educating young academics in the field of Romance etymology is one of the project's declared objectives, for at a moment when the European landscape of research and higher education is being thoroughly restructured, it seems important to strive to maintain and to develop knowledge of and skills in Romance etymology in France and Germany, the key players in this field.