October 21, 2016
Supporting a new version of the Vocabulary: The Thistle and the Fleur de Lys.
At the Council Meeting of the Franco-Scottish Society of Scotland in November 2014, Professor Sam Taylor, Chairman of the Franco-Scottish Society (St Andrews Branch) proposed that the Franco-Scottish Society of Scotland initiate a project to produce a new version of the Vocabulary, The Thistle and the Fleur de Lys by Isabel Sinclair. Sinclair’s book was published in 1904 and in the following century cultural outputs in Scots and scholarly research on Scots language and culture reached a level and importance that Sinclair could not have envisaged.
The initial idea for an update was circulated in a letter sent by Professor Taylor to colleagues at the universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow. Professor Philip Bennett, Emeritus Professor of Medieval French at Edinburgh University, agreed to take the project forward and set up a team. The Association Franco-Ecossaise de Paris was very pleased to be part of the team and to help whenever possible.
The new version of the work would initially be presented as a web-based database, searchable alphabetically, thematically, chronologically and by source. The paper version of the Vocabulary would effectively be a cut-down version of the website. It is anticipated that this dual approach will make the Vocabulary attractive and useful to a variety of users, including students in schools, colleges and universities, an informed general public and scholars.
At the AGM of the Franco-Scottish Society of Scotland in June 2016, funding was requested from the Franco-Scottish Society for work to be undertaken to produce a feasibility study and project definition for the website.