LEMDO: Encode Terms

Encode Terms

Introduction

LEMDO uses the


                                          <term>

element to tag terms of art, technical terms, and dictionary headwords. You are likely to use these types of terms in your critical paratexts and annotations. Where you use terms, especially in cases where you immediately offer an explanation, definition, or gloss, you will tag them with the


                                          <term>

element as explained in this documentation.

In addition to terms of art, technical terms, and dictionary headwords, words that are used sufficiently differently in the early modern period than they are now—and therefore need a gloss for modern readers—should also be tagged as terms.

Practice

Wrap the


                                          <term>

element around a single-word, multi-word, or symbolic designation that you regard as a technical term.

A gloss is not required after a


                                          <term>

element, though you will often choose to include one. If you do offer a synonym, explanation, or definition immediately after the term, wrap your clarifying word or phrase in the


                                          <gloss>

tag.

You will probably not need to use


                                          <term>

in the modern primary text (although LEMDO does not prohibit its use).

Disambiguation: Terms, Mentioned Words, and Quotes

It can be challenging to differentiate between


                                          <term>


                                          <mentioned>

, and


                                          <quote>

. If the word is being glossed or explained in an annotation, or defined in a terminology list, tag it with


                                          <term>

. If the word is in the sentence only so you can comment on the fact of the word being used, tag it with


                                          <mentioned>

. If you are quoting a word from a source, use


                                          <quote>

to give credit where credit is due. If you want to talk about someone’s use of a word or talk about a word as a word, tag the word with


                                          <mentioned>

Examples

Uncommon Words

Sometimes you will want quotation marks to appear around an uncommon word but not around its gloss.

In this example from the Oth annotations, editor Jessica Slights explains the term blazon without using a


                                             <gloss>

element:

<note type="gloss"> In love poetry, the term <term>blazon</term> describes verses that detail parts of a woman’s body. </note>

LEMDO rendering: In love poetry, the term blazon describes verses that detail parts of a woman’s body.

In this example from the Oth annotations, Jessica Slights comments on a term:

<note type="gloss">

My own; the duke uses the royal <term>we</term>

</note>

LEMDO rendering: My own; the duke uses the royal we.

Glossing a Term

You will often use the


                                             <term>

and


                                             <gloss>

elements together when glossing terms. You will also use the


                                             <term>

and


                                             <quote>

elements together frequently when citing from dictionaries (e.g., OED). In this example from Jessica Slight’s annotations on Oth, the term arrivance is glossed:

<note type="gloss">
<term>Arrivance</term> = <gloss>arrival</gloss>
</note>

LEMDO rendering: Arrivance = “arrival”.

In this example from David Bevington’s annotations on AYL, leave is glossed:

<note type="gloss">


<term>Leave</term> means <gloss>permission</gloss>

</note>

LEMDO rendering: Leave means “permission”.

In this example from Jessica Slight’s annotations on Oth, the well-known term execute is given a gloss to ensure that modern readers understand all the valences of the term:

<note type="gloss"> Since <term>execute</term> can also mean <gloss>put to death</gloss>, Iago implies a serious, even murderous, attack. </note>

LEMDO rendering: Since execute can also mean “put to death”, Iago implies a serious, even murderous, attack.

In this example from Jessica Slight’s annotations on Oth, two terms are glossed:

<note type="gloss">
<term>Anthropo</term>- = <gloss>human</gloss> + <term>phagy</term> = <gloss>the eating of; thus, man-eaters.</gloss>
</note>

LEMDO rendering :Anthropo- = “human” + phagy = “the eating of; thus, man-eaters”.

In this example from David Bevington’s annotations on AYL, the OED is quoted to define the term colour:

<note type="gloss"> The <title level="m">OED</title> quotes this passage as its first usage of <term>colour</term> meaning <quote>kind</quote>. </note>

LEMDO rendering: The OED quotes this passage as its first usage of colour meaning kind.

Headwords in Annotations

In annotations, use


                                             <term>

for the headword to which you want to direct a reader in a dictionary. In this example from James Mardock’s annotations on H5, the reader is directed to the headword prince in the second edition OED:

<note type="gloss"> Monarchs (<ref type="bibl" target="bibl:OEDT2">
<title level="m">OED</title>, 2nd ed. <term>prince</term>, n.I.1.a</ref>). </note>

LEMDO rendering: Monarchs (OED, 2nd ed. prince, n.I.1.a).

Prosopography

Isabella Seales

Isabella Seales is a fourth year undergraduate completing her Bachelor of Arts in English at the University of Victoria. She has a special interest in Renaissance and Metaphysical Literature. She is assisting Dr. Jenstad with the MoEML Mayoral Shows anthology as part of the Undergraduate Student Research Award program.

Janelle Jenstad

Janelle Jenstad is a Professor of English at the University of Victoria, Director of The Map of Early Modern London, and Director of Linked Early Modern Drama Online. With Jennifer Roberts-Smith and Mark Beatrice Kaethler, she co-edited Shakespeare’s Language in Digital Media: Old Words, New Tools (Routledge). She has edited John Stow’s A Survey of London (1598 text) for MoEML and is currently editing The Merchant of Venice (with Stephen Wittek) and Heywood’s 2 If You Know Not Me You Know Nobody for DRE. Her articles have appeared in Digital Humanities Quarterly, Elizabethan Theatre, Early Modern Literary Studies, Shakespeare Bulletin, Renaissance and Reformation, and The Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies. She contributed chapters to Approaches to Teaching Othello (MLA); Teaching Early Modern Literature from the Archives (MLA); Institutional Culture in Early Modern England (Brill); Shakespeare, Language, and the Stage (Arden); Performing Maternity in Early Modern England (Ashgate); New Directions in the Geohumanities (Routledge); Early Modern Studies and the Digital Turn (Iter); Placing Names: Enriching and Integrating Gazetteers (Indiana); Making Things and Drawing Boundaries (Minnesota); Rethinking Shakespeare Source Study: Audiences, Authors, and Digital Technologies (Routledge); and Civic Performance: Pageantry and Entertainments in Early Modern London (Routledge). For more details, see janellejenstad.com.

Joey Takeda

Joey Takeda is LEMDO’s Consulting Programmer and Designer, a role he assumed in 2020 after three years as the Lead Developer on LEMDO.

Mahayla Galliford

Project manager, 2025-present; research assistant, 2021-present. Mahayla Galliford (she/her) graduated with a BA (Hons with distinction) from the University of Victoria in 2024. Mahayla’s undergraduate research explored early modern stage directions and civic water pageantry. Mahayla continues her studies through UVic’s English MA program and her SSHRC-funded thesis project focuses on editing and encoding girls’ manuscripts, specifically Lady Rachel Fane’s dramatic entertainments, in collaboration with LEMDO.

Martin Holmes

Martin Holmes has worked as a developer in the UVic’s Humanities Computing and Media Centre for over two decades, and has been involved with dozens of Digital Humanities projects. He has served on the TEI Technical Council and as Managing Editor of the Journal of the TEI. He took over from Joey Takeda as lead developer on LEMDO in 2020. He is a collaborator on the SSHRC Partnership Grant led by Janelle Jenstad.

Navarra Houldin

Training and Documentation Lead 2025–present. LEMDO project manager 2022–2025. Textual remediator 2021–present. Navarra Houldin (they/them) completed their BA with a major in history and minor in Spanish at the University of Victoria in 2022. Their primary research was on gender and sexuality in early modern Europe and Latin America. They are continuing their education through an MA program in Gender and Social Justice Studies at the University of Alberta where they will specialize in Digital Humanities.

Nicole Vatcher

Technical Documentation Writer, 2020–2022. Nicole Vatcher completed her BA (Hons.) in English at the University of Victoria in 2021. Her primary research focus was women’s writing in the modernist period.

Tracey El Hajj

Junior Programmer 2019–2020. Research Associate 2020–2021. Tracey received her PhD from the Department of English at the University of Victoria in the field of Science and Technology Studies. Her research focuses on the algorhythmics of networked communications. She was a 2019–2020 President’s Fellow in Research-Enriched Teaching at UVic, where she taught an advanced course on Artificial Intelligence and Everyday Life. Tracey was also a member of the Map of Early Modern London team, between 2018 and 2021. Between 2020 and 2021, she was a fellow in residence at the Praxis Studio for Comparative Media Studies, where she investigated the relationships between artificial intelligence, creativity, health, and justice. As of July 2021, Tracey has moved into the alt-ac world for a term position, while also teaching in the English Department at the University of Victoria.

Bibliography

OED: The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989.

Orgography

LEMDO Team (LEMD1)

The LEMDO Team is based at the University of Victoria and normally comprises the project director, the lead developer, project manager, junior developers(s), remediators, encoders, and remediating editors.

Metadata

Authority title	Encode Terms
Type of text	Documentation
Publisher	University of Victoria on the Linked Early Modern Drama Online Platform
Series	Linked Early Modern Drama Online
Source	TEI Customization created by Martin Holmes, Joey Takeda, and Janelle Jenstad; documentation written by members of the LEMDO Team
Editorial declaration	n/a
Edition	Released with Linked Early Modern Drama Online 1.0
Encoding description	Encoded in TEI P5 according to the LEMDO Customization and Encoding Guidelines
Document status	prgGenerated
Funder(s)	Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
License/availability	This file is licensed under a CC BY-NC_ND 4.0 license, which means that it is freely downloadable without permission under the following conditions: (1) credit must be given to the author and LEMDO in any subsequent use of the files and/or data; (2) the content cannot be adapted or repurposed (except in quotations for the purposes of academic review and citation); and (3) commercial uses are not permitted without the knowledge and consent of the editor and LEMDO. This license allows for pedagogical use of the documentation in the classroom.