The first volume of the Swedish Academy Dictionary (SAOB) was published in 1898 and the latest in 2009. A lot has happened during this time within lexicographic theory as well as in general linguistics, and to SAOB editors today the view of language and linguistics is to a large extent unlike the one the editors had in the late nineteenth century. Comparative linguistic research dominated in the nineteenth century, and the Neogrammarian impact on SAOB is obvious. Since the beginning of the SAOB project the form and structure have been essentially fixed in terms of the layout of articles, the definition language etc. In this study I investigate whether it is possible to trace a change of overarching linguistic theories in the dictionary text. The study is based on a comparison of current and older manuals and set of rules and instructions that are available to the editors.
