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Royal Academy of the Basque Language finishes 16-volume dictionary
The final volume of dictionary Orotariko Euskal Hiztegia-Diccionario General Vasco has been completed today, after 18 years of hard work. At the presentation ceremony, academy member Ibon Sarasola has explained that “it is a descriptive work, not a prescriptive one that expects to gather the large lexicographical heritage of the Basque language”.
Euskaltzaindia, the Royal Academy of the Basque Language, has presented today the last volume of the 16-volume dictionary, Orotariko Euskal Hiztegia-Diccionario General Vasco, after 18 years of hard work that began professor and academy member Koldo Mitxelena.

The last volume as well as the other 15 ones have been introduced today to the media. Among others, president of Euskaltzaindia Andres Urrutia and Ibon Sarasola, academy member and the person in charge of the project since the death of Mitxelena, have attended the ceremony.

Sarasola has specified that the dictionary “expects to collect the large lexicographical heritage of the Basque language, of all times and places. It is, therefore, a descriptive work, not a prescriptive one”, which main aim is to show the most complete work about the different ways of speech through the centuries.

The conscientious and meticulous development of this project has lasted 18 years. The dictionary has 125,987 entries and 14,028 pages.