Marine Lexicon

Marine Lexicon

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Marine Lexicon is a cooperation initiative between Portugal and Norway, funded by EEA Grants and CHAM – Centre for the Humanities, aiming at the construction of a thesaurus of European common names of marine mammals (cetaceans, seals and sea lions, and sirenians), symbolic elements (sea monsters, hybrid beings, folklore creatures) represented in the early modern age (15th-18th centuries) and place names related to the exploitation of marine mammals.

For now, a thesaurus with words and expressions from 10 languages, including old versions of the respective languages, will be included in a database; five South European and five North European. All are languages from countries and regions with a coastal line. The thesaurus is presented here, allowing scholars and the public to search within the true ocean of possibilities that is the European vocabulary about marine mammals.

Thesaurus