Here is a description of the source and licensing for the three word lists included in the wordgame package: words.txt ========= This file contains the OWL2+LWL lexicon as contained in Michael Thelen's excellent zyzzyva program, available under the GPL from http://www.zyzzyva.net/ Michael has the following to say about the lexicon: Zyzzyva's OWL2+LWL lexicon is 100% accurate as verified by the metrics available on the NSA Dictionary Committee's website[*]. Zyzzyva has been used successfully as a Word Judge at many North American SCRABBLE® tournaments, including BAT, Oregon TILE, and the 2006 U.S. SCRABBLE® Open! http://www.scrabble-assoc.com/boards/dictionary/octwl2.html The relevant information from the dictionary committee website is as follows: If you're not sure you have the correct version of the digital file, here are some statistics you can check. There are currently 101 2-letter words, 1015 3, 4030 4, 8938 5, 15788 6, 24029 7, 29766 8, 29150 9, 22326 10, 16165 11, 11417 12, 7750 13, 5059 14 and 3157 15. The master file lists all words in lower case in alphabetical order, one per line, with each line terminated by a Unix line break. It is 1763167 bytes long and has BSD checksum ('cksum -o 1') 12722, System V checkum ('cksum -o 2') 24638, 32-bit CRC ('cksum -o 3') 2022312244, ISO/IEC 8802-3:1989 checksum ('cksum') 427611949 and MD5 checksum dfd408f47cc1a324eb0ab5577910e4e3. I (Carl Worth) have verified the contents of words.txt as included in the wordgame package with resepct to the word counts listed above as well as the MD5 checksum. obscure.txt =========== I created this file from both words.txt and 2of12inf.txt (described below). It consists of words which appear in OWL2+LWL but that do not appear in 2of12inf.txt. Note that this list does not include the 1083 2-15 letter words that appear in 2of12inf.txt but not in OWL2+LWL nor does it contain the 832 words in 2of12inf.txt that have more than 15 letters. For the purposes of generating obscure.txt, the plurals of uncountable nouns marked with % are considered as included in 2of12inf.txt, (that is, they are not considered obscure). 2of12inf.txt ============ This word list is the result of an attempt to create a list of common English words suitable for use in a word game. The list is the result of efforts by Kevin Atkinson and Alan Beale. The list was obtained as part of the 12dicts package from: http://wordlist.sourceforge.net/12dicts-readme.html The copyright and licensing for this word list is detailed below: The final product is under the following copyright, as well as any copyrights mentioned below. Copyright 2000 by Kevin Atkinson Permission to use, copy, modify, distribute and sell this database, the associated scripts, the output created form the scripts and its documentation for any purpose is hereby granted without fee, provided that the above copyright notice appears in all copies and that both that copyright notice and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation. Kevin Atkinson makes no representations about the suitability of this array for any purpose. It is provided "as is" without express or implied warranty. The part-of-speech database used is created form the Moby part-of-speech database which is in the public domain: The Moby lexicon project is complete and has been place into the public domain. Use, sell, rework, excerpt and use in any way on any platform. Placing this material on internal or public servers is also encouraged. The compiler is not aware of any export restrictions so freely distribute world-wide. You can verify the public domain status by contacting Grady Ward 3449 Martha Ct. Arcata, CA 95521-4884 grady@netcom.com grady@northcoast.com and the WordNet database which is under the following copyright: This software and database is being provided to you, the LICENSEE, by Princeton University under the following license. By obtaining, using and/or copying this software and database, you agree that you have read, understood, and will comply with these terms and conditions.: Permission to use, copy, modify and distribute this software and database and its documentation for any purpose and without fee or royalty is hereby granted, provided that you agree to comply with the following copyright notice and statements, including the disclaimer, and that the same appear on ALL copies of the software, database and documentation, including modifications that you make for internal use or for distribution. WordNet 1.6 Copyright 1997 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. THIS SOFTWARE AND DATABASE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND PRINCETON UNIVERSITY MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. BY WAY OF EXAMPLE, BUT NOT LIMITATION, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES OF MERCHANT- ABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR THAT THE USE OF THE LICENSED SOFTWARE, DATABASE OR DOCUMENTATION WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY THIRD PARTY PATENTS, COPYRIGHTS, TRADEMARKS OR OTHER RIGHTS. The name of Princeton University or Princeton may not be used in advertising or publicity pertaining to distribution of the software and/or database. Title to copyright in this software, database and any associated documentation shall at all times remain with Princeton University and LICENSEE agrees to preserve same. The word list used is a combination of several word list: 1) Most of the word lists from the Moby Words package: 10196pla.ces 113809of.fic 21986na.mes 256772co.mpo 354984si.ngl 3897male.nam 4160offi.cia 4946fema.len 6213acro.nym 74550com.mon The Moby Word package, like the Part-Of-Speech database is in the public domain. 2) The ENABLE2K word lists which is in the public domain: The ENABLE master word list, WORD.LST, is herewith formally released into the Public Domain. Anyone is free to use it or distribute it in any manner they see fit. No fee or registration is required for its use nor are "contributions" solicited (if you feel you absolutely must contribute something for your own peace of mind, the authors of the ENABLE list ask that you make a donation on their behalf to your favorite charity). This word list is our gift to the Scrabble community, as an alternate to "official" word lists. Game designers may feel free to incorporate the WORD.LST into their games. Please mention the source and credit us as originators of the list. Note that if you, as a game designer, use the WORD.LST in your product, you may still copyright and protect your product, but you may *not* legally copyright or in any way restrict redistribution of the WORD.LST portion of your product. This *may* under law restrict your rights to restrict your users' rights, but that is only fair. 3) All of the word lists in the ENABLE2K Supplemnt which consists of: 2DICTS.LST ALSO.LST LETTERS.LST OSPDADD.LST UCACR.LST ABLE.LST LCACR.LST NOPOS.LST PLURALS.LST UPPER.LST All of these word lists are also in the public domain. 4) The list of signature words from the YAWL package which is in the public domain. 5) The UK Advanced Cryptics Dictionary which in under the following copyright: Copyright (c) J Ross Beresford 1993-1999. All Rights Reserved. The following restriction is placed on the use of this publication: if The UK Advanced Cryptics Dictionary is used in a software package or redistributed in any form, the copyright notice must be prominently displayed and the text of this document must be included verbatim. 6) Some extra words found in the Part-Of-Speech database that was not found in any of the above word list. 7) Words found in the Jargon File Word List package, available at http://aspell.sourceforge.net/wl/, which is in the Public Domain. 8) And finally some extra words that I added myself. These words can be found in the file "extra-words" The "dontuse", "irregular", and "variant" file was created by me (Kevin Atkinson) from numerous sources.