Dictionary of Serbo-Croatian Literary and Vernacular Language

The Dictionary of Serbo-Croatian Literary and Vernacular Language (Речник српскохрватског књижевног и народног језика, Rečnik srpskohrvatskog književnog i narodnog jezika) or the Dictionary of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (Речник Српске академије наука и уметност, Rečnik Srpske akdemije nauka i umetnosti, or Rečnik SANU for short) is the official dictionary of the Serbo-Croatian language published by the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts. The publication of the Dictionary has started in 1959, and is ongoing. So far, 20 volumes have been published, with the latest, 20th volume, published in 2018 covering words starting with letter "p". About fifty more years are needed for the completion of the whole project. It is a historical dictionary whose entries are based on primary sources of actual usage in the last two centuries.[1]

The first 19 volumes of the Dictionary

First 20 volumes contain around 243,000 entries, while the complete Dictionary is expected to have 40 volumes and around 500,000 entries. When completed, it will be one of the most comprehensive dictionaries in the World. By comparison, the Oxford English Dictionary has around 300,000, German Deutsches Wörterbuch has around 350,000, and Dutch Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal has about 430,000 entries.[2]

The publication of the Dictionary started in 1959 in Yugoslavia when the official name of the language was "Serbo-Croatian". Since the break-up of Yugoslavia, the publication was continued by Serbia, whose official language is now called "Serbian" but the title of the Dictionary was not changed. It still contains words from the whole area of Shtokavian dialects, i.e. words that now also belong to Croatian, Bosnian and Montenegrin standards.[3] The publication of the Dictionary is mandated by the Serbia's Law on the Dictionary of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (2005).[4]