sumer (version 1.0.0)

read_dictionary: Read a Sumerian Dictionary from File

Description

Reads a Sumerian dictionary from a semicolon-separated text file, optionally displaying the metadata header with author, version, and update information.

Usage

read_dictionary(file = NULL, verbose = TRUE)

Value

A data frame with the following columns:

sign_name

The Sumerian sign name (e.g., "A", "AN", "ME")

row_type

Type of entry: "cunei." (cuneiform character), "reading" (phonetic readings), or "trans." (translation)

count

Number of occurrences for translations; NA for cuneiform and reading entries

type

Grammatical type (e.g., "S", "V") for translations; empty string for other row types

meaning

The cuneiform character(s), phonetic reading(s), or translated meaning depending on row_type

Arguments

file

A character string specifying the path to the dictionary file. If NULL (default), the package's built-in dictionary sumer-dictionary.txt is loaded.

verbose

Logical. If TRUE (default), the metadata header (author, year, version, URL) is printed to the console.

Details

File Format

The function expects a semicolon-separated file with a metadata header. Lines starting with # are treated as comments. The expected format is:

###---------------------------------------------------------------
###                Sumerian Dictionary
###
### Author:  Robin Wellmann
### Year:    2026
### Version: 0.5
### Watch for Updates:
###   https://founder-hypothesis.com/en/sumerian-mythology/downloads/
###---------------------------------------------------------------
sign_name;row_type;count;type;meaning
A;cunei.;;;<here would be the cuneiform sign for A>
A;reading;;;{a, dur5, duru5}
A;trans.;3;S;water

Encoding

The file is read with UTF-8 encoding to properly handle cuneiform characters.

See Also

save_dictionary for saving dictionaries to file, make_dictionary and convert_to_dictionary for creating dictionaries.

Examples

# Load the built-in dictionary
dic <- read_dictionary()

# Load a custom dictionary
filename <- system.file("extdata", "sumer-dictionary.txt", package = "sumer")
dic <- read_dictionary(filename)

# Look up an entry
look_up("d-suen", dic)