"dogsbody" meaning in English

See dogsbody in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /ˈdɒɡz.bɒ.dɪ/ [UK], /ˈdɔɡz.bɑ.di/ [US], /ˈdɑɡz.bɑ.di/ [US] Audio: en-us-dogsbody.ogg [US], en-au-dogsbody.ogg [Australia] Forms: dogsbodies [plural]
Etymology: From dog + -s- + body. 1818, British navy slang, originally derogatory reference to unappetizing pease pudding (compare dog's breakfast), as if it were made of mashed dog meat. In 20th century applied to low-ranked sailors, thence menial servants in wider usage. Etymology templates: {{affix|en|dog|-s-|body}} dog + -s- + body, {{m|en|dog's breakfast}} dog's breakfast Head templates: {{en-noun}} dogsbody (plural dogsbodies)
  1. (British, Ireland) A person who does menial work, a servant. Tags: British, Ireland Categories (topical): People Synonyms: factotum, gofer, handyman, jack of all trades, odd job Translations (Person who does menial work): poskok [masculine] (Czech), komisiito (Esperanto), sendito (Esperanto), kuriero (Esperanto), juoksupoika (Finnish), larbin [masculine] (French), petite main [feminine] (French), Handlanger [masculine] (German), Diener [masculine] (German), Scherge [masculine] (German), tonotono (Maori), mandado [masculine] (Spanish)
    Sense id: en-dogsbody-en-noun-OBpVJ-Jh Disambiguation of People: 100 0 Categories (other): British English, Irish English, English entries with incorrect language header, English entries with topic categories using raw markup, English terms interfixed with -s- Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 96 4 Disambiguation of English entries with topic categories using raw markup: 97 3 Disambiguation of English terms interfixed with -s-: 89 11

Verb

IPA: /ˈdɒɡz.bɒ.dɪ/ [UK], /ˈdɔɡz.bɑ.di/ [US], /ˈdɑɡz.bɑ.di/ [US] Audio: en-us-dogsbody.ogg [US], en-au-dogsbody.ogg [Australia] Forms: dogsbodies [present, singular, third-person], dogsbodying [participle, present], dogsbodied [participle, past], dogsbodied [past]
Etymology: From dog + -s- + body. 1818, British navy slang, originally derogatory reference to unappetizing pease pudding (compare dog's breakfast), as if it were made of mashed dog meat. In 20th century applied to low-ranked sailors, thence menial servants in wider usage. Etymology templates: {{affix|en|dog|-s-|body}} dog + -s- + body, {{m|en|dog's breakfast}} dog's breakfast Head templates: {{en-verb}} dogsbody (third-person singular simple present dogsbodies, present participle dogsbodying, simple past and past participle dogsbodied)
  1. To act as a dogsbody, to do menial work:
    Sense id: en-dogsbody-en-verb-gdTQ9Sb~

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for dogsbody meaning in English (6.9kB)

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "dog",
        "3": "-s-",
        "4": "body"
      },
      "expansion": "dog + -s- + body",
      "name": "affix"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "dog's breakfast"
      },
      "expansion": "dog's breakfast",
      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From dog + -s- + body. 1818, British navy slang, originally derogatory reference to unappetizing pease pudding (compare dog's breakfast), as if it were made of mashed dog meat. In 20th century applied to low-ranked sailors, thence menial servants in wider usage.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "dogsbodies",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "dogsbody (plural dogsbodies)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "British English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Irish English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "96 4",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "97 3",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with topic categories using raw markup",
            "Entry maintenance"
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          "source": "w+disamb"
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          "_dis": "89 11",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms interfixed with -s-",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
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        {
          "_dis": "100 0",
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          "langcode": "en",
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          "orig": "en:People",
          "parents": [
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            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1976, “Anarchy in the U.K.”, performed by Sex Pistols",
          "text": "'Cause I, I wanna be anarchy! / No dogsbody!",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1994, Blackadder (television production)",
          "text": "That's just Baldrick, my dogsbody.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1995, Paul Kussmaul, Training The Translator, John Benjamins Publishing Co, page 146",
          "text": "Furthermore, there are still rather backward opinions in our society about the role of a translator. A translator is often regarded as a linguistic dogsbody.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A person who does menial work, a servant."
      ],
      "id": "en-dogsbody-en-noun-OBpVJ-Jh",
      "links": [
        [
          "person",
          "person"
        ],
        [
          "menial",
          "menial"
        ],
        [
          "work",
          "work"
        ],
        [
          "servant",
          "servant"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(British, Ireland) A person who does menial work, a servant."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "factotum"
        },
        {
          "word": "gofer"
        },
        {
          "word": "handyman"
        },
        {
          "word": "jack of all trades"
        },
        {
          "word": "odd job"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "British",
        "Ireland"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "cs",
          "lang": "Czech",
          "sense": "Person who does menial work",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "poskok"
        },
        {
          "code": "eo",
          "lang": "Esperanto",
          "sense": "Person who does menial work",
          "word": "komisiito"
        },
        {
          "code": "eo",
          "lang": "Esperanto",
          "sense": "Person who does menial work",
          "word": "sendito"
        },
        {
          "code": "eo",
          "lang": "Esperanto",
          "sense": "Person who does menial work",
          "word": "kuriero"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "Person who does menial work",
          "word": "juoksupoika"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "Person who does menial work",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "larbin"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "Person who does menial work",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "petite main"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "Person who does menial work",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "Handlanger"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "Person who does menial work",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "Diener"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "Person who does menial work",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "Scherge"
        },
        {
          "code": "mi",
          "lang": "Maori",
          "sense": "Person who does menial work",
          "word": "tonotono"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "sense": "Person who does menial work",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "mandado"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈdɒɡz.bɒ.dɪ/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈdɔɡz.bɑ.di/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈdɑɡz.bɑ.di/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-dogsbody.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/c/c6/En-us-dogsbody.ogg/En-us-dogsbody.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c6/En-us-dogsbody.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (US)"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-au-dogsbody.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/e/eb/En-au-dogsbody.ogg/En-au-dogsbody.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/eb/En-au-dogsbody.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "pease pudding"
  ],
  "word": "dogsbody"
}

{
  "etymology_templates": [
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      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "dog",
        "3": "-s-",
        "4": "body"
      },
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      "name": "affix"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "dog's breakfast"
      },
      "expansion": "dog's breakfast",
      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From dog + -s- + body. 1818, British navy slang, originally derogatory reference to unappetizing pease pudding (compare dog's breakfast), as if it were made of mashed dog meat. In 20th century applied to low-ranked sailors, thence menial servants in wider usage.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "dogsbodies",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "dogsbodying",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "dogsbodied",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "dogsbodied",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
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  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
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    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1989, Tim Parks, Family Planning",
          "text": "Perhaps because, having been brought up in all those different countries and languages, and then studying economics of all things for just a year, followed by four years dogsbodying for a haulage company, he had never got any serious reading done.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To act as a dogsbody, to do menial work:",
        "To act as a dogsbody, to do menial work"
      ],
      "id": "en-dogsbody-en-verb-gdTQ9Sb~",
      "links": [
        [
          "work",
          "work"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "To act as a dogsbody, to do menial work:"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈdɒɡz.bɒ.dɪ/",
      "tags": [
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      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈdɔɡz.bɑ.di/",
      "tags": [
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    {
      "ipa": "/ˈdɑɡz.bɑ.di/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
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      "audio": "en-us-dogsbody.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/c/c6/En-us-dogsbody.ogg/En-us-dogsbody.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c6/En-us-dogsbody.ogg",
      "tags": [
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    {
      "audio": "en-au-dogsbody.ogg",
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      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/eb/En-au-dogsbody.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "pease pudding"
  ],
  "word": "dogsbody"
}
{
  "categories": [
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    "English compound terms",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms interfixed with -s-",
    "English terms with IPA pronunciation",
    "English terms with audio links",
    "English verbs",
    "en:People"
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  "etymology_templates": [
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      "args": {
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        "4": "body"
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      "name": "affix"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "dog's breakfast"
      },
      "expansion": "dog's breakfast",
      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From dog + -s- + body. 1818, British navy slang, originally derogatory reference to unappetizing pease pudding (compare dog's breakfast), as if it were made of mashed dog meat. In 20th century applied to low-ranked sailors, thence menial servants in wider usage.",
  "forms": [
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      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
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      "args": {},
      "expansion": "dogsbody (plural dogsbodies)",
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
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      "categories": [
        "British English",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Irish English"
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1976, “Anarchy in the U.K.”, performed by Sex Pistols",
          "text": "'Cause I, I wanna be anarchy! / No dogsbody!",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1994, Blackadder (television production)",
          "text": "That's just Baldrick, my dogsbody.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1995, Paul Kussmaul, Training The Translator, John Benjamins Publishing Co, page 146",
          "text": "Furthermore, there are still rather backward opinions in our society about the role of a translator. A translator is often regarded as a linguistic dogsbody.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A person who does menial work, a servant."
      ],
      "links": [
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          "person"
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        [
          "menial",
          "menial"
        ],
        [
          "work",
          "work"
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        [
          "servant",
          "servant"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(British, Ireland) A person who does menial work, a servant."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "British",
        "Ireland"
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    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈdɒɡz.bɒ.dɪ/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈdɔɡz.bɑ.di/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈdɑɡz.bɑ.di/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
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      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c6/En-us-dogsbody.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
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      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/eb/En-au-dogsbody.ogg",
      "tags": [
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  "synonyms": [
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      "word": "factotum"
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    {
      "word": "gofer"
    },
    {
      "word": "handyman"
    },
    {
      "word": "jack of all trades"
    },
    {
      "word": "odd job"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "cs",
      "lang": "Czech",
      "sense": "Person who does menial work",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "poskok"
    },
    {
      "code": "eo",
      "lang": "Esperanto",
      "sense": "Person who does menial work",
      "word": "komisiito"
    },
    {
      "code": "eo",
      "lang": "Esperanto",
      "sense": "Person who does menial work",
      "word": "sendito"
    },
    {
      "code": "eo",
      "lang": "Esperanto",
      "sense": "Person who does menial work",
      "word": "kuriero"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "Person who does menial work",
      "word": "juoksupoika"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "Person who does menial work",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "larbin"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "Person who does menial work",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "petite main"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "Person who does menial work",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "Handlanger"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "Person who does menial work",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "Diener"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "Person who does menial work",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "Scherge"
    },
    {
      "code": "mi",
      "lang": "Maori",
      "sense": "Person who does menial work",
      "word": "tonotono"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "Person who does menial work",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "mandado"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "pease pudding"
  ],
  "word": "dogsbody"
}

{
  "categories": [
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    "English compound terms",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms interfixed with -s-",
    "English terms with IPA pronunciation",
    "English terms with audio links",
    "English verbs",
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        "1": "en",
        "2": "dog's breakfast"
      },
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    }
  ],
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  "forms": [
    {
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      "tags": [
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        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "dogsbodying",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "dogsbodied",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "dogsbodied",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
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  "head_templates": [
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
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        {
          "ref": "1989, Tim Parks, Family Planning",
          "text": "Perhaps because, having been brought up in all those different countries and languages, and then studying economics of all things for just a year, followed by four years dogsbodying for a haulage company, he had never got any serious reading done.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To act as a dogsbody, to do menial work:",
        "To act as a dogsbody, to do menial work"
      ],
      "links": [
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          "work"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "To act as a dogsbody, to do menial work:"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈdɒɡz.bɒ.dɪ/",
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈdɔɡz.bɑ.di/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈdɑɡz.bɑ.di/",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-dogsbody.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/c/c6/En-us-dogsbody.ogg/En-us-dogsbody.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c6/En-us-dogsbody.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (US)"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-au-dogsbody.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/e/eb/En-au-dogsbody.ogg/En-au-dogsbody.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/eb/En-au-dogsbody.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "pease pudding"
  ],
  "word": "dogsbody"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.