.gif)
LEO (website)
Encyclopedia
LEO is an Internet based electronic dictionary
and translation dictionary initiated by the computer science
department of the Technische Universität München (Technical University of Munich
) in Germany
. After a spin out
, the dictionaries have been run since 3 April 2006 by the limited liability company Leo GmbH
, formed by the members of the original Leo team, and is partially funded by commercial advertising on the website. Its dictionaries
can be consulted free online from any web browser
or from LEO's Lion downloadable user interface (GUI
) which is free since version 3.0 (released 13 January 2009) to private users only and no longer sold as shareware. Corporate users and research institutions are however required to purchase a licence.
s to further dictionary queries, thereby facilitating back translation
s. The dictionaries are partly added to and corrected by large vocabulary donations of individuals or companies, partly through suggestions and discussions on the LEO language fora.
Due to its open collaborative nature, many entries are added without lexical supervision, creating in some instances, duplication and a lack of additional lexical information such as gender, inflected and irregular forms, plurals, and other contextual indicators. In many cases however, extensive references to the translations are provided in the form of example phrases of language in use.
-German
dictionary run by Leo since 1995 contains about 660,000 entries and receives an average of 12 million queries per weekday.
–German dictionary was added to the site's services and has about 202,000 entries. This gets about 2 million queries each weekday.
–German dictionary with about 157,000 entries was introduced on 3 April 2006. It gets about 1.2 million queries each weekday.
-German was started on 3 April 2008. At the time of the public launch, the dictionary contained about 140,000 entries and received 77,000 queries on the first day. Today it contains about 141,000 entries and receives an average of 500,000 queries each weekday.
–German dictionary was started on the same date as the Italian–German dictionary, 3 April 2008. Queries can be entered by using Pinyin
, or traditional
or simplified
characters. The dictionary started with about 65,000 entries and received about 93,000 queries on the first day. Today it contains about 132,000 entries and receives an average of 75,000 queries each weekday.
Due to text encoding limitations, the Chinese dictionary cannot be used in the Lion software interface.
dictionary brand.
The new dictionary became publicly available on 12 April 2010 after a couple of testing days. It started with 77,934 entries and received 38,800 queries on 13 April 2010. As the dictionary only went online in the evening it only received 3,607 queries on its first day.
Today it contains about 80,000 entries and receives an average of 33,000 queries each weekday.
software and archived data which was put together by students at Munich University of Technology and Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich
even before HTML
and HTTP
existed. The original aim was to create a single, huge archive by linking up archives run by the different research groups (hence its name LEO – Link Everything Online. The archive was sorted thematically and the different sections organised and kept up to date by archivists.
When the World Wide Web
came into common use, HTTP access to the archive was at first added as an alternative to FTP. Students developed various services in their free time, in particular the dictionaries. Some services have been dropped in the course of the spin out, such as the software archive.
from the name Leo: the Bavaria
n coat of arms
features a lion
. Originally, the service was named ISAR (a backronym for Isar
river, on the banks of which Munich is situated; here, ISAR stood for Informations Systeme und Archiv München, but it had to be renamed as there was another firm of the same name.
Electronic dictionary
An electronic dictionary is a dictionary whose data exists in digital form and can be accessed through a number of different media. Electronic dictionaries can be found in several forms, including:*as dedicated handheld devices...
and translation dictionary initiated by the computer science
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
department of the Technische Universität München (Technical University of Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
) in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. After a spin out
Spin out
A spin-out, also known as a spin-off or a starburst, refers to a type of corporate action where a company "splits off" sections of itself as a separate business....
, the dictionaries have been run since 3 April 2006 by the limited liability company Leo GmbH
Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung
Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung is a type of legal entityvery common in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and other Central European countries...
, formed by the members of the original Leo team, and is partially funded by commercial advertising on the website. Its dictionaries
Dictionary
A dictionary is a collection of words in one or more specific languages, often listed alphabetically, with usage information, definitions, etymologies, phonetics, pronunciations, and other information; or a book of words in one language with their equivalents in another, also known as a lexicon...
can be consulted free online from any web browser
Web browser
A web browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web. An information resource is identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier and may be a web page, image, video, or other piece of content...
or from LEO's Lion downloadable user interface (GUI
Gui
Gui or guee is a generic term to refer to grilled dishes in Korean cuisine. These most commonly have meat or fish as their primary ingredient, but may in some cases also comprise grilled vegetables or other vegetarian ingredients. The term derives from the verb, "gupda" in Korean, which literally...
) which is free since version 3.0 (released 13 January 2009) to private users only and no longer sold as shareware. Corporate users and research institutions are however required to purchase a licence.
Dictionaries
The website hosts five free German language based bilingual dictionaries and fora for additional language queries. The dictionaries are characterized by providing translations in forms of hyperlinkHyperlink
In computing, a hyperlink is a reference to data that the reader can directly follow, or that is followed automatically. A hyperlink points to a whole document or to a specific element within a document. Hypertext is text with hyperlinks...
s to further dictionary queries, thereby facilitating back translation
Translation
Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. Whereas interpreting undoubtedly antedates writing, translation began only after the appearance of written literature; there exist partial translations of the Sumerian Epic of...
s. The dictionaries are partly added to and corrected by large vocabulary donations of individuals or companies, partly through suggestions and discussions on the LEO language fora.
Due to its open collaborative nature, many entries are added without lexical supervision, creating in some instances, duplication and a lack of additional lexical information such as gender, inflected and irregular forms, plurals, and other contextual indicators. In many cases however, extensive references to the translations are provided in the form of example phrases of language in use.
English–German
The EnglishEnglish language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
-German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
dictionary run by Leo since 1995 contains about 660,000 entries and receives an average of 12 million queries per weekday.
French–German
In 2004, a FrenchFrench language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
–German dictionary was added to the site's services and has about 202,000 entries. This gets about 2 million queries each weekday.
Spanish–German
A SpanishSpanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
–German dictionary with about 157,000 entries was introduced on 3 April 2006. It gets about 1.2 million queries each weekday.
Italian–German
An ItalianItalian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
-German was started on 3 April 2008. At the time of the public launch, the dictionary contained about 140,000 entries and received 77,000 queries on the first day. Today it contains about 141,000 entries and receives an average of 500,000 queries each weekday.
Chinese–German
The ChineseChinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
–German dictionary was started on the same date as the Italian–German dictionary, 3 April 2008. Queries can be entered by using Pinyin
Pinyin
Pinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into...
, or traditional
Traditional Chinese character
Traditional Chinese characters refers to Chinese characters in any character set which does not contain newly created characters or character substitutions performed after 1946. It most commonly refers to characters in the standardized character sets of Taiwan, of Hong Kong, or in the Kangxi...
or simplified
Simplified Chinese character
Simplified Chinese characters are standardized Chinese characters prescribed in the Xiandai Hanyu Tongyong Zibiao for use in Mainland China. Along with traditional Chinese characters, it is one of many standard character sets of the contemporary Chinese written language...
characters. The dictionary started with about 65,000 entries and received about 93,000 queries on the first day. Today it contains about 132,000 entries and receives an average of 75,000 queries each weekday.
Due to text encoding limitations, the Chinese dictionary cannot be used in the Lion software interface.
Russian–German
On 18 February 2009, LEO announced a forthcoming release of a German–Russian dictionary. The starter database has been provided in collaboration with ABBY Europe GmbH, the producers of the LingvoLingvo
Lingvo, a family of dictionary software for desktop PC, PDA and smartphones, gives translations of words and phrases for 11 European and Asian languages, accompanied with transcription, pronunciation, word usage examples and the list of inflected forms. The languages are: Russian, English, German,...
dictionary brand.
The new dictionary became publicly available on 12 April 2010 after a couple of testing days. It started with 77,934 entries and received 38,800 queries on 13 April 2010. As the dictionary only went online in the evening it only received 3,607 queries on its first day.
Today it contains about 80,000 entries and receives an average of 33,000 queries each weekday.
History
The site grew out of a network of FTPFile Transfer Protocol
File Transfer Protocol is a standard network protocol used to transfer files from one host to another host over a TCP-based network, such as the Internet. FTP is built on a client-server architecture and utilizes separate control and data connections between the client and server...
software and archived data which was put together by students at Munich University of Technology and Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich
Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich
The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich , commonly known as the University of Munich or LMU, is a university in Munich, Germany...
even before HTML
HTML
HyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....
and HTTP
Hypertext Transfer Protocol
The Hypertext Transfer Protocol is a networking protocol for distributed, collaborative, hypermedia information systems. HTTP is the foundation of data communication for the World Wide Web....
existed. The original aim was to create a single, huge archive by linking up archives run by the different research groups (hence its name LEO – Link Everything Online. The archive was sorted thematically and the different sections organised and kept up to date by archivists.
When the World Wide Web
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
came into common use, HTTP access to the archive was at first added as an alternative to FTP. Students developed various services in their free time, in particular the dictionaries. Some services have been dropped in the course of the spin out, such as the software archive.
Name
The name of the site is actually a backronymBackronym
A backronym or bacronym is a phrase constructed purposely, such that an acronym can be formed to a specific desired word. Backronyms may be invented with serious or humorous intent, or may be a type of false or folk etymology....
from the name Leo: the Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
n coat of arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
features a lion
Lion
The lion is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...
. Originally, the service was named ISAR (a backronym for Isar
Isar
The Isar is a river in Tyrol, Austria and Bavaria, Germany. Its source is in the Karwendel range of the Alps in Tyrol; it enters Germany near Mittenwald, and flows through Bad Tölz, Munich, and Landshut before reaching the Danube near Deggendorf. At 295 km in length, it is the fourth largest river...
river, on the banks of which Munich is situated; here, ISAR stood for Informations Systeme und Archiv München, but it had to be renamed as there was another firm of the same name.
External links
- LEO's entry page (in German)
- The dictionary (in German)
- The dictionary (in English)