Searching in the dictionary can be done from a whole word or a part of a word. In the latter case, the missing part should be replaced by the character *. For example, re* will match all the words beginning with "re". This function is especially useful to find words for which a part is missing because of a break in the tablet. For example, *catu will match all words ending in "šatu".
Searching can be made on Akkadian words, but also on French and English words contained in the entries of the dictionary. This feature can be used to realize "reverse" searches French / English → Akkadian. English and French searches are done on part of words. For example, using the key chercher in a French search will return words containing rechercher. In order to search only full words, put the search word between quotes.
In order to look up an Akkadian word, the following syntax must be respected :
For example, in order to search the Akkadian word šâṭu, the key szat,u or cat,u should be used.
Choosing a category can be used to limit the search to a restricted semantic field, especially when searching from a part of a word.
Akkadian words are normally stored with the Old-Babylonian spelling whose mimation has been omitted, but a link from the Standard Babylonian spelling is generally present. For example, the main entry ṭiābu can be reached from a secondary entry ṭâbu.
If a word is not attested in Old-Babylonian, it is stored in the dialect in which it is attested.
Verbs are indexed by their infinitive in the G stem ; the other stems are defined in the same entry. When a verb is not attested in the G stem, it is indexed by its infinitive in the attested stem (for example kullu).
Quadriliteral verbs are indexed by their infinitive in the N stem (for example nabalkutu).
It is possible to look for words in the dictionary by means of their ideographic spelling. Ideograms should be entered with indices, and the character Š should be replaced by SZ or C. For example ÚŠ should be entered as USZ2 or UC2.
Ideograms are separated by a dot. It is possible to use the character ? in order to replace any sign, and the character * to replace one or several unspecified signs. For example, MUNUS.* can be used to look for words whose ideographic spelling starts with the sign MUNUS. This functionality can be especially useful to find a word whose beginning is missing: searching with ?.GAL will find all the words whose first sign is unknown and the second sign is GAL.
Ideographic searching is done according to the shape of the sign and not according to its (Sumerian) reading. Thus, searching with MUNUS, MI2 or SAL will return the same result since they correspond to the same sign. Moreover, composite signs are taken into account: searching with MUNUS.* returns amongst other words EME3 since this sign is written MUNUS+ANŠE.
Determinatives can be omitted even if they are part of the normal writing. For example, searching with TUKUL will return the Akkadian word kakku since its ideographic writing is GIŠ.TUKUL where GIŠ is a determinative.
This command is used to configurate the fonts used to display words in the following languages :
When a font is not configurated, a default font is used which should be present on most systems.
If the default font does not fit, it is possible to select another font in a list, along with its size (this option is only available with Internet Explorer).
In order to correctly display transcriptions with latin characters, a rich enough font must be installed on the system so that characters used in Assyriology can be displayed. The dictionary uses by default the fonts "Arial Unicode MS", or "Code 2000" if the first one is not present. Code 2000 can be downloaded here.