No abstract

The Opera del Vocabolario Italiano was given a mandate in 1964 to create a Historical Dictionary of the Italian Language. The main objective was to provide a tool which would give vital information on the development of the Italian language from its origins to the present day. In 1986 the Center incorporated modern computer technology into the project and this led to a series of decisions which affected the nature and the outcome of the project. This article traces the development of the project, and describes both hardware and software systems used, as well as the nature of the relational database being created and its linguistic applications.