Lemmaselektion i en dansk-engelsk ordbog

Abstract

The article discusses possible princip les for the selection oflemmas on the background of the revision of a Danish- English dictionary with 65 000 headwords. The three sources: other dictionaries, introspection and texts are briefly looked at. The problems presented by the selection are treated under the headings: time (obsolete words and neologisms), place (dialect words and foreign, particularly English, Joan words), grammar (inflected forms, derivatives, compounds, proper names), style and register (slang, taboo words, technical words). The conclusion is that at the end of the day the decision depends upon the subjective judgment of the editor.