Micronational dictionary

This article is about the concept itself. For for the print dictionary published by Zabëlle Skye, see Micronational Dictionary.

Pages of the fourth edition of the Micronational Dictionary (2024), published by Zabëlle Skye of the Institute of Micropatriological Research

A micronational dictionary is a dictionary of micronational parlance—words specific to the intermicronational community or a particular sector (subculture or community) within it. As of 2024, there have been six known micronational dictionaries—all in the English language—variously available online, as downloadable software, or in print since January 2001—when the first known dictionary, a website entitled A glossary of micronational terms, was launched. Of the six known dictionaries, four were websites and one each were downloadable software and a book—the latter available in print and as an ebook. Of the four websites, two were wikis—meaning anyone could freely edit them and add new entries. The Micronational Dictionary, with four editions published since its creation on 18 October 2022, is the only micronational dictionary available in print form.

Micronational jargon intensified after 1995 with the rise of micronationalism on the Internet. Before about 1996, the micronational community did not exist; micronations were largely isolated, and most unaware of the existence of other micronational entities. As such, slang words unique or comprehensible only to micronationalists could not have as easily developed as they presently do. The recording of micronational terminology predates the launch of the first dictionary in January 2001; The Micronations Page, the first webpage dedicated to micronationalism launched in either November or December 1995, already recorded several synonyms for micronation by as early as at least September 1996—some used exclusively by micronationalists. The Portuguese-language Enciclopédia Jéssica, an online micronational encyclopaedia published on 22 November 1999, included, amongst its 561 entries, several articles on micronational words.

The earliest dictionary of micronational terms, a webpage entitled A glossary of micronational terms, was created in January 2001 by the Sovereign Principality of Corvinia and last updated on 20 May 2003. Although the webpage contained 52 entries—including proper nouns—many were without any additional information beyond a listing, lacking even a definition. The second-known dictionary to be launched was the Dictionary for Micronationalism on 1 November 2002 as a free downloadable computer software developed by the Micropatriology Research Center. It had 34 entries, including political terms not strictly related to micronationalism like citizen, constitutional monarchy and recognition. It was only ever available in beta, and the project was possibly abandoned by at least 25 November according to snapshots of the website on the Internet Archive.

On 30 November 2009, the Organisation of Active Micronations launched The Micronational Dictionary. Initiated and maintained by Secretary-General Gordon Freeman, the online dictionary had 20 entries, with the last known addition being on 10 June 2011. The OAM dissolved on 29 December. The administration of MicroWiki would launch the MicroWikiDictionary as a publicly-editable wiki on 7 April 2019, which gained ten entries by 17 May and 43 entries as of 10 May 2020. However, MicroWikiDictionary was widely considered as an unsuccessful project, and went offline in August 2022. Micropatriologist Zabëlle Skye launched another wiki, Microtionary, on 6 September 2022, that reached over 110 lemmas—including proper nouns and acronyms—by 9 September. However, though the website is still online, Skye has neglected Microtionary since the publication of his print Micronational Dictionary on 18 October. Published by his Institute of Micropatriological Research, the fourth edition published on 4 January 2024 has 402 entries across 72 pages.

Background

The use and prevalence of micronational slang intensified after 1995 with the rise of micronationalism on the Internet. Before about 1996, the micronational community did not exist; micronations were largely isolated, and most unaware of the existence of other micronational entities. As such, slang words unique or comprehensible only to micronationalists could not have as easily developed as they presently do. The recording of micronational terminology predates the launch of the first dictionary in January 2001; The Micronations Page, the first webpage dedicated to micronationalism launched in either November or December 1995, already recorded several synonyms for micronation by as early as at least September 1996—some used exclusively by micronationalists. The Portuguese-language Enciclopédia Jéssica, an online micronational encyclopaedia published on 22 November 1999, included, amongst its 561 entries, several articles on micronational words. However, these were not dictionaries in themselves.

List

A glossary of micronational terms (January 2001–20 May 2003)

A glossary of micronational terms, a webpage created in January 2001 and last updated on 20 May 2003

The earliest dictionary of micronational parlance was a webpage entitled A glossary of micronational terms, launched in January 2001 and last updated on 20 May 2003. Hosted as a subdomain of corvinia.org, it was a historical dictionary, meaning that it included the etymologies of its listed entries. The website was developed by Peter Ravn Rasmussen, Prince of the Sovereign Principality of Corvinia, but maintained by—denoted on the website as "an informational document of"—the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, of which Graham John Francis de Sales Wheeler was the minister. The project was announced on the micro-nations.org discussion forum by Rasmussen on 20 April 2001 as a "micronational jargon file". He intended for the website to educate new micronationalists on the "more confusing terms" used within the intermicronational community.

Although the webpage contained 52 entries—including proper nouns—many were without any additional information beyond a listing, lacking even a definition. Rasmussen stated in his original forum post that the dictionary was presently "somewhat sketchy," elaborating that many of the unfinished entries were entered solely as placeholders. Activity in Corvinia dwindled throughout 2004 and 2005; the website went offline after 18 January 2007, not having been updated for nearly four years.

Dictionary for Micronationalism (November 2002)

The second-known dictionary to be launched was the Dictionary for Micronationalism, a free downloadable computer software developed by the Micropatriology Research Center (MRC)—a micronational think tank and research institute. This dictionary was likely a glossary, producing only the definitions of entries. The words were defined based on a criteria concerning an entry's historical usage, origin, "natural meaning" and contemporaneous use. Headed by Steven C. F. Foong as research coordinator of the MRC, the Dictionary for Micronationalism was in development by Foong and Scott Alexander since as early as at least 22 October 2002.

The software's beta launch was announced on micronations.net on 1 November by Foong, who stated "the dictionary is pretty thin but should be a good place to start for future enhancements." The beta launch had 34 entries, including political terms not strictly related to micronationalism, such as citizen, constitutional monarchy and recognition. The dictionary project was possibly abandoned after this; the webpage for the Dictionary for Micronationalism was not updated after at least 25 November according to snapshots of it on the Internet Archive.

The Micronational Dictionary (30 November 2009–10 June 2011)

The Micronational Dictionary

On 30 November 2009, the Organisation of Active Micronations (OAM), an intermicronational organisation in the MicroWiki sector, launched The Micronational Dictionary as its own website. A glossary initiated by Secretary-General of the organisation Gordon Freeman (also known as Philip Fish), all member states of the OAM were able to participate and submit new additions. Aiming to "compile all terms used by micronations and micronationalists in [...] one easily accessible place," the website also stated that anyone was "more than welcome" to aid in contributing, and that those interested should e-mail the OAM.

However, despite this, Freeman would ultimately end up contributing all of the dictionary's 20 entries, with the last known addition being on 10 June 2011. The most viewed entry in said dictionary as of 14 August 2011—the date of the last available snapshot of the website on the Internet Archive—was micropatrology, with 209 views. Though the official fate of The Micronational Dictionary is unknown, the OAM ultimately dissolved on 29 December, and the website is now offline.

MicroWikiDictionary (7 April 2019–August 2022)

Main article: MicroWikiDictionary

In March 2019, Zabëlle Skye, a micropatriologist and micronational historian originating from the MicroWiki sector, conceived the idea to launch his own online dictionary of micronational jargon. After presenting his idea to the MicroWiki@Discord discussion venue in early April, the principal technical administrator of MicroWiki, Karl "Luxor" Friedrich, stated that he could host a micronational dictionary as a subdomain of MicroWiki. Similar to MicroWiki, it would run on MediaWiki and operate with a wiki-based editing system, allowing anyone to contribute. Skye opted to abandon his dictionary in favour of this project, believing that it would be more easily accessible on an already established website; on 7 April, MicroWikiDictionary was launched. However, additions of new entries were slow; by 17 May, only ten articles had been created. By 10 May 2020, this number had risen to 43 entries, but MicroWikiDictionary was largely considered by several MicroWiki editors to be a failed project. It went offline by at least 28 June 2022.

Microtionary (since 6 September 2022)

On 21 June 2022, Skye founded the Institute of Micropatriological Research (IMR). In July, while researching websites pertaining to the early history of micronationalism on the Internet, Skye discovered A glossary of micronational terms and became fascinated by its entry for YAMO; it dated the origin of the phrase to "at least 1998", which astonished Skye as he had assumed that the term was coined in the early 2010s in the MicroWiki community. Realising that other micronationalists would also be unaware of the origins of many micronational terms like YAMO, Skye became motivated to restart work on a micronational dictionary. He began collecting and formatting entries between 22–30 July, and on 6 September, launched Microtionary on the wiki hosting service Miraheze as a project of the IMR. By 9 September, it had over 110 lemmas—including proper nouns and acronyms. By 1 November, it had 253 total entries (including alternate spellings and capitalisations of words); however, by 3 August 2023, this number had risen to only 259 as Skye has neglected Microtionary since the publication of his Micronational Dictionary on 18 October 2022.

Micronational Dictionary (since 18 October 2022)

Main article: Micronational Dictionary

Adrianne and Kevin Baugh, President and First Lady of the Republic of Molossia respectively, holding a copy of the third edition of the Micronational Dictionary at MicroCon 2023 in Belgium

In early October, Skye conceived the idea for a PDF listing micronational phrases, but later decided to convert the dictionary into an ebook. He began writing the dictionary on 15 October, taking and copyediting the entries he had collected for Microtionary, which was finished and published three days later on 18 October by Skye's IMR as the Micronational Dictionary. Comprising 161 entries across 18 pages, Skye produced three copies in paperback format and released the work online for free on the Internet Archive. It was received positively, with many micronationalists expressing amazement that there were enough unique terms within micronationalism to warrant an entire full-length dictionary.

The success of the dictionary lead to the publication of a 32-page long second edition with a preface and special chapters on 15 May 2023, with 211 entries. It was digital-only. The third edition, 54 pages long with 306 entries, was published in print-only format on 11 August 2023 and presented at MicroCon 2023 in Belgium. It included the addition of an introduction, chapter on the etymology of micronation, a dedication to micropatriologist Fabrice O'Driscoll (1949–2008) and an acknowledgement for individuals who had helped with the creation of any edition of the Micronational Dictionary. The fourth edition was published online and in print on 4 January 2024 and dedicated to both O'Driscoll and Nicholas Randouler (2004–2020), the latter a late micronationalist and former friend of Skye. With 402 entries across 72 pages, the fourth edition also introduced an author page and stylised table of contents.

See also

• Glossary of micronational jargon
• List of micronational encyclopaedias
• List of micronational wikis