Book contents
- Conversations on Dictionaries
- Conversations on Dictionaries
- Copyright page
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Contributors
- Introduction
- 1 Ancient Greek
- 2 Esperanto
- 3 German
- 4 Chinese
- 5 Hybrid Languages
- 6 English
- 7 French
- 8 Italian
- 9 Arabic
- 10 Hebrew
- 11 Indigenous Languages
- 12 Irish
- 13 African Languages
- 14 Nahuatl
- 15 Yiddish
- 16 Portuguese
- 17 Japanese
- 18 Russian
- 19 Quechua
- 20 Scandinavian
- 21 Spanish
- Epilogue
- Index
- References
20 - Scandinavian
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 December 2025
Edited by
Book contents
- Conversations on Dictionaries
- Conversations on Dictionaries
- Copyright page
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Contributors
- Introduction
- 1 Ancient Greek
- 2 Esperanto
- 3 German
- 4 Chinese
- 5 Hybrid Languages
- 6 English
- 7 French
- 8 Italian
- 9 Arabic
- 10 Hebrew
- 11 Indigenous Languages
- 12 Irish
- 13 African Languages
- 14 Nahuatl
- 15 Yiddish
- 16 Portuguese
- 17 Japanese
- 18 Russian
- 19 Quechua
- 20 Scandinavian
- 21 Spanish
- Epilogue
- Index
- References
Summary
In the context of this book, Scandinavian must be understood as a combination of linguistic and geographical criteria. The conversation deals with both the five closely related North Germanic languages – Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Icelandic, and Faroese – and the Finno-Ugric language Finnish. The chapter covers the background and development of dictionaries in the Nordic countries over the last 500 years, from early bilingual Latin glossaries to the newly completed monumental dictionary of the Swedish Academy. The main focus is on the larger monolingual dictionaries that have played important roles in the formation of national standard languages. The development reflects historical and political changes and the evolving needs of society, transitioning from simple educational tools to complex, accessible digital resources. We also discuss the determination of orthography and even highlight the contributions of a few overlooked female lexicographers.
Keywords
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- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Conversations on DictionariesThe Universe in a Book, pp. 248 - 262Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2025
References
Suggested Readings
Bokmålsordboka og Nynorskordboka. https://ordbokene.noGoogle Scholar
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Íslex, multilingual dictionary with Icelandic as source language. https://islex.arnastofnun.is/isGoogle Scholar
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www.kotus.fi/en/dictionaries, website with access to Finnish and Swedish monolingual, bilingual, and dialectal dictionaries.Google Scholar
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