VgA, or Vocabulaire de lgyptien Ancien, is an innovation in the field of

Egyptology. This new online digital dictionary is the result of public/private

collaboration in the LabEx Archimde within the Paul-Valry University of

Montpellier, as well as the research of Egyptologists and methodologies of design

and IT. It aims to become an unavoidable source for Egyptology and constantly

updated, and support international scientific collaboration for decades to come.

With VgA each user, whether amateur or professional, beginner student or

linguist, is able to study the words of the Egyptian vocabulary, accessing the latest

online academic information available on the subject.

SUMMARY

1. OF AMBITIOUS OBJECTIVES

AND AN INTERNATIONAL OPENING . . . . . . . . . 3

2. A FRUITFUL PUBLIC/PRIVATE COLLABORATION

WITHIN THE UNIVERSITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

3. AN INNOVATIVE TOOL WHICH REVOLUTIONISES

SCIENTIFIC PRACTICE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

4. THE MILESTONES OF THE PROJECT . . . . . . . . . 5

5. DESCRIPTION OF

THE LEXICOGRAPHIC NOTICES OF VgA . . . . . 6

APPENDIX 1: The name of a star

for a global ambition! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

APPENDIX 2: Identity card

techniques of VgA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

APPENDIX 3: The people

involved in VgA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

CONTACT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

OF AMBITIOUS OBJECTIVES AND AN INTERNATIONAL OVERTURE

The development of VgA has several objectives. Its main objective is to become the reference digital dictionary for the international community to Egyptology, that is to say, a tool created by and for specialists but also an entry point for lovers of this discipline. The approach is therefore to create an interactive and easy to use tool to model and represent the evolutionary knowledge of ancient Egyptian, grouping and intersecting words, their attestations, their references, their different spellings in hieroglyphs and photographs of the texts concerned. This online tool will constantly be updated by adding new words from unpublished sources and updated to reflect the latest lexicographical studies. Secondary objectives are many and varied. First, VgA aims to gather the lexicographical knowledge available to date and dispersed in various sources, whether dictionaries relating to a stage of Egyptian, or more specialized works in the vocabulary of certain aspects of the civilization of ancient Egypt (medicine, minerals, botanical...) and, of course, the great German dictionary of the Berlin Academy with extent and quality previously unmatched: the Wrterbuch der gyptischen Sprache1 (5 volumes), obsolete but still widely used today, and that an electronic version (Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae) online but this has awkward ergonomics. In this sense, VgA will become an essential tool for researchers in Egyptology, which will save time in their research (a few weeks or several months compared to a day2) through digital search capabilities, the indexing and visualization

offered by the tool and fruitful relationships with existing document databases. Second, the Vega will create a shared platform dedicated to ancient Egyptian via the invitation to contribute to the project, to be launched in the French and international Egyptological community. In addition, it will give the opportunity to run this collaborative knowledge, rigorously developed on sound scientific bases, with a large audience that will access VgA in consultation at the latest in 2016. Finally, the features deployed in VgA will permit the exploiting of its data in similar programs. The technological choices are perennial, providing the flexibility of the orientDB graph database tool, an HTML5 interface to access the tool via a simple web browser, secure data storage on the TGIR Huma-Num... Partner projects already plan to connect to the dictionarys resources - such as the Karnak Project, which references the inscriptions of the temples of Karnak, whose website is the most visited in 2014 among the SHS programs of CNRS.

FRUITFUL PUBLIC/PRIVATE COLLABORATION WITHIN THE UNIVERSITY

VgA was born from a successful collaboration between the public sector and the private sector. The public sector is represented by LabEx3 Archimde - "Archaeology and History of the Mediterranean and ancient Egypt" - and by the "Archaeology of Mediterranean societies" laboratorys mixed research unit (UMR 5140), the Paul-Valry University of Montpellier, CNRS and the Ministry of Culture and Communication. LabEx and UMR are headed by Professor David Lefvre. The

1: In French, Dictionnaire de la langue gyptienne. Dictionary developed between 1897 and 1961 including old Egyptian, middle Egyptian and new Egyptian, and hieroglyphic inscriptions from Graeco-Roman Egypt. About 16,000 entries. 2: Indeed, individually, no dictionary or lexicon gives the current state of knowledge of Egyptologists, either because it is obsolete, or because it reproduces the old translations without actually controlling them. Any research must necessarily cross the information of several books, where the amount and nature are determined in relation to the purpose. 3: Portmanteau for "Excellence laboratory": a laboratory at a very high scientific level, internationally recognized, capable of attracting the best researchers, and invested heavily in innovative projects. The LabEx approach is part of the Future Investments program launched by the French government to encourage research and innovation in all the sciences.

head of the VgA project is Frdric Servajean, professor of Egyptology and Chair of the "History of art and archeology" Department of the Paul-Valry University Montpellier. The private sector concerns Intactile DESIGN, a Montpellier company created in 2000 by designer Yves Rinato and specialized in the design of digital interfaces for expert fields (aeronautics, medical, information visualization, mapping of knowledge...). The co-conception and design of VgA was done by Nicolas Chauveau. The Archimde LabEx mobilized a team of ten researchers on this project. The work is monitored by a scientific committee of internationally renowned researchers. This Committee reviews the adequacy of the work done using set objectives. Every day, 7 scientific staff are dedicated to realizing the VgA projects lexicographical work required to develop the dictionary. For its part, Intactile DESIGN, mobilized on this project since late 2013, has a design methodology where creativity and innovation are expressed as part of a collective intelligence. The results from reflection of meetings with Egyptologists, which have been conducted with 6 members of the agency, first took shape in the form of models and storyboards, and then in successive versions of software the tool, with the Montpellier company also being responsible for IT development.

AN INNOVATIVE TOOL WHICH REVOLUTIONISES SCIENTIFIC PRACTICE

VgA is the realization of an innovative approach at several levels. First, it follows an approach new to the social sciences, namely Egyptology, integrating design tools in scientific research. Vega is therefore evidence of a forward-thinking approach from the LabEx Archimde, who wished to enlist the expertise of a company with research experience in the design that perfectly fit the needs of Egyptologists.

Indeed, the Intactile designers integrate the multidisciplinary teams and creative practice of their profession with researchers and companies to high technological potential. They jointly explore use-sketching and visual forms. They constantly implement and invent micro-testing of ownership of digital objects, not hesitating to consult users on different domains. Second, VgA encourages the public to consider looking from a different, more modern, angle, far from a solitary activity conducted in libraries closed to outside scrutiny. Indeed, this high-tech tool has been possible thanks to interdisciplinary work, combining the expertise of Egyptologists and digital designers in a single goal: to create a dictionary of ancient Egyptian accessible to all on the Internet so that everyone can do their own research at their level, discover an exciting and constantly evolving discipline - all that has not yet been discovered or identified - and above all contribute to the enrichment of the tool if they have the skills. Third, the methodology used in this project between researchers in human and social sciences, digital designers and computer scientists with revolutionary practices, and shows that co-conception widens the boundaries of each area - and, in this case, why not imagine an application available on your smartphone or tablet to decipher hieroglyphics in real time written on the walls of an Egyptian temple, during a tourist trip? This innovative methodology, based on the digital user-centered design, is transferable to other areas of research and could apply wherever custom tools to meet specific needs and new features are felt. Finally, VgA opens research perspectives in the field of Egyptology, in this case via the partnership with the National Research Typographic Workshop (ANRT) to create a digital tool optimizing typographic transcription of ancient Egyptian. Indeed, at present, transcription of hieroglyphic texts poses computer input, coding and design problems. Vega therefore aims in the medium term, to acquire its own composer

of graphics, as well as a full sign database - a necessary evolution to permit the indexing and optimization of the database. The result of all these innovative approaches is a tool, the first developed by professional Egyptologists worldwide via the creation of an international and multidisciplinary team working on parts accessible to several public professionals and amateurs. This database will allow the use of a simple interface and validated information made available by scientists to use at any time, and their

integration into any subject of ongoing research. Users will be able to analyse or even complete them according to their own discoveries, developing knowledge in Egyptology and increasing the productivity of the entire industry. This mass of academic data will obviously result in breaking down disciplinary barriers and ultimately encourage the public to discover the complexity of the scientific approach, the only guarantee of reliable information.

THE MILESTONES OF THE PROJECT

December 2010 The Service Research Partnership at the Paul-Valry University of Montpellier is consulted by Egyptologists from ENiM4 of the UMR 5140 team "Archaeology of Mediterranean societies." This is in relationship with Intactile DESIGN. Together, Egyptologists and designers create the first sketches of the tool.

1st March 2012 Obtaining the LabEx Archimde project, led by the Paul-Valry University of Montpellier in partnership with the CNRS, the University of Perpignan Via Domitia, the Ministry of Culture and Communication and the Inrap.

October 2013 Start of phase 1, still underway, financed by LabEx (2M: contracts for researchers and collaborating scientists, and 80% of operating VgA - to the tune of 295,000) and Intactile DESIGN (20% of VgA which is 75,000). Phase 1 has three objectives: 1: co-conception and development of digital tools; 2: realization of a sufficient number of complete lexicographical instructions for testing the digital tool in depth; 3: establishing the list of words (two to three years are needed to complete this phase 1 and reach approximately 30,000 words).

18 December 2014 Delivery of VgA v1.0. Egyptologists who are members of the publication committee can begin to enter the first notices.

6 May 2015 Delivery of VgA v1.3, and the first presentation in the University Paul-Valry Montpellier.

End of 2015 Opening the tool for international partnerships. The idea of a meeting of all the actors in the discipline at the international level was accepted by future partners.

From 2016 Opening to the rest of the scientific community and the general public, once a sufficient number of records have been entered and completed. Extension and constant sharing of content based on all the scientific publications on Egyptian lexicography and information collected by users. Updating and adding features to the tool (semantic, geographical and temporal mapping; annotation tools, sharing, search lists, comments...), connection to other partner services.

4: The Nile and Mediterranean Egypt. The team of the Joint Research Unit 5140 "Archaeology of Mediterranean societies" was devoted for several years, in one of its lines of research, to achieving the first general dictionary of ancient Egyptian in French since the deciphering of hieroglyphics by Champollion in 1822, specifically purely lexicographical work for the development of this new dictionary.

DESCRIPTION OF THE LEXICOGRAPHIC NOTICES OF VgA

The "words" of VgA are listed in alphabetical order by their transliteration5. Each entry is attached to a full record, including in particular transliteration, spellings and the French translation of the term. Each notice is prepared on the basis of collaborative work open to the scientific community, pushing a lexicographical research approach to identify all occurrences relating to the "word" concerned and the most recent knowledge on the subject.

Principal

hieroglyphics for the word

Tab

Tab DICTIONARIES

the references

An attestation

this nuance

of the periods

Tab REMARKS,

First nuance

Third nuance

the text in French

of the source document

validity of

Access to the

5: Writing to a certain extent, to perform a phonetic reading of ancient Egyptian.

Beside: wide view of the tool in use (photo Kit No. 004). detailed view of a record (photo Kit No. 005).

APPENDIX 1: THE NAME OF A STAR FOR A GLOBAL AMBITION!

Vega is the brightest star in the constellation Lyra. Viewed from Earth, it is the fifth brightest star in the sky. Because of its properties, Vega was the subject of numerous studies by astronomers, and has repeatedly played an important role in the history of astronomy. The term "Wega" (now Vega) comes from a transliteration of the Arabic word waqi "falling" within the phrase ' (an-Nasr al-waqi'), a source which translates as the "falling eagle" or the "dipping vulture", as the constellation is represented by a vulture in ancient Egypt, and by an eagle or vulture in ancient India. The Arabic term appeared in the West in the Alfonsine Tables, which were created between 1215 and 1270. In Spanish, vega means "the fertile plain." (Source: Wikipedia)

APPENDIX 2: IDENTITY CARD TECHNIQUES OF VgA

Name: VgA

Born: December 18, 2014

Parents: LabEx Archimde UPVM Intactile DESIGN

Address: www.vega-vocabulaire-egyptien-ancien.fr

Nationality: Global!

Language: HTML5 / OrientDB

Hosted at: TGIR (Thrice Grand Infrastructure Research) Huma-Num [Digital-Humanities]

Size: 30,000 notices referenced

APPENDIX 3: THE PEOPLE INVOLVED IN VgA

LabEx Archimde Side Universit Paul-Valry Montpellier (UPVM)

Frdric SERVAJEAN Professor of Egyptology, Head of programme

Adrienn ALMSY Doctor in Egyptology, scientific collaborator

Charlne CASSIER Doctor of Egyptology, scientific collaborator

Janie CHUN-HUNG-KEE Doctor of Egyptology, scientific collaborator

Federico CONTARDI Doctor of Egyptology, scientific collaborator

Magali MASSIERA Doctor of Egyptology, scientific collaborator

Alexandra NESPOULOUS-PHALIPPOU Doctor of Egyptology, scientific collaborator

Frdric ROUFFET Doctor of Egyptology, scientific collaborator

Isabelle RGEN (2007-2012) Research Engineer

Intactile DESIGN Side

Yves RINATO Designer, founder

Nicolas CHAUVEAU Designer

Christophe FAGOT Head of R&D Information

Sbastien BOULET Lead Developer

Olivier TORRES Developer

Thomas PAILLOT Designer Developer