# Digital Transformation of the Elymological Dictionary of Geographical Names
## 3 Model Design
The association with a real object must be inferred from the provided description (if such a description exists within the dictionary entry). It is also worth remembering that the etymological descriptions of the entries evolved. In the first volume, they followed a structural classification, distinguishing the appellative and toponymic derivatives [22]. In subsequent volumes, this structure was replaced by unstructured text, written in natural language, with some abbreviations. This was done to improve the readability of entries for common readers. Scientific considerations, such as those on compounding in Polish described in [23], were not in focus. However, remarks on the formal methodology used were given inside introductory chapters. The following excerpt of etymological descriptions of _Adamowice_ from the first and the last volumes demonstrate the effects of this change (instead of numbers \"II 3\" reflecting a structural classification, a descriptive explanation was introduced: \"Dawna n. patr....\" (pol.) --\"an old patronymic name...\"). _Adamowice_ (vol. 1): II 3--_Adam_ n. os. ; cf. pol. n. patr. _Adamowice_, czes. 'ts'. _Adamowice_ (vol. 17): Dawna n. patr. _Adamowice_ od im. Adam z przyr. - (_owice_. Since the compilation of the full dictionary took several decades, during which significant changes occurred in the administrative division of Poland, some of the published data became outdated. Therefore, the possibility of updating them would be a valuable extension. Moreover, the final form of the model should be shaped with a view of improving search mechanisms and integration with other systems by linking data. These observations led to the following assumptions:  
* Parts of the entries that do not determine real objects can be treated as abstract toponyms. Because of the existence of two kinds of entries, the abstract toponyms can be divided into: explicated toponyms (which are abstract toponyms associated directly with detailed descriptions of real objects) and compared toponyms (which are abstract toponyms associated with the other abstract toponyms through the comparison list. The entry parts that are related to real objects (real places) can be treated as concrete toponyms. They are characterized by attributes such as: name, genitive, location, etymology, etc. * There exists an association between concrete toponyms and explicated toponyms belonging to the same entry: the attributes shared among concrete toponyms, like part of the etymological description, are assigned to the corresponding explicated toponym. * Each concrete toponym is affiliated with the proper administrative unit valid at the time of publication of the particular volume. However, adding the current administrative affiliation should also be possible. * To facilitate advanced searching and linking, the following model extensions are required: classifying attributes for reasonable cross-sectioning, georeferenced location for positioning in the real world, external links to related Web resources, and references to historical materials managed in external systems. * Ideally, all references appearing in the descriptive parts of the entries should be converted into hyperlinks. Therefore, the data types used to implement the relevant parts of the model should offer such a possibility. * There should be some elements available to declare data certainty. * The form of etymological description should be preserved, but its structuring should be considered. Based on these assumptions, two models were designed: an entity-relationship model and a graph model.