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Chaucer wrote in Middle English”, a form very different from present English usage. Hence, his works are not as spotlighted in literary contexts as they should be. In fact, the linguistic obscurity of Chaucer’s works almost makes them appear untouchable, particularly for non-native speakers. This dictionary intends to reduce the time and energy expended by students and scholars in researching or referencing Chaucer’s words. In so doing, it hopes to introduce more readers to Chaucer’s exciting literary world.

For the moment, the dictionary only contains adjectives and users can obtain the following information: i. Vocabulary-related details including who said the words to whom, complementary terms in other sources, and so on. ii. Scansion of quoted lines iii. Comparisons between manuscripts and editions iv. Translations of terms into modern English, Japanese, and Chinese v. Mentions of the words in previous studies vi. Editorial remarks In addition, the dictionary includes numerous original analyses based on careful reading and unpublished results of studies previously conducted by the editor.

Traditional Chaucer dictionaries provide word-oriented information, providing general definitions and instances of use. Though inclusive, such dictionaries do not offer the reader exhaustive information about a specific narrative or extend more in-depth knowledge about aspects such as lexical sources. This dictionary positions every word within the context of its narratives and analyses the vocabulary through careful textual reading. At the same time, it incorporates the information of traditional dictionaries and also includes relevant observations from various previous studies to ensure the objectivity of the results. Since every quoted line is scanned from the original texts and marked with stress symbols, this dictionary also serves as a scansion tool for readers interested in the meter.