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Explanatory Dictionary of the Live Great Russian language

Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language
Dal Dictionary title.jpg
Vol.1 of the 1880 edition
Author Vladimir Dahl
Original title Толковый словарь живого великорусского языка
Country Russian Empire
Language Russian
Subject General
Genre Reference encyclopedia
Publisher M. O. Wolf
Publication date
1863 and on
Media type 4 volumes (hardbound)

The Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language (Russian: Толко́вый слова́рь живо́го великору́сского языка́), commonly known as Dahl's Explanatory Dictionary (Russian: Толко́вый слова́рь Да́ля), is a major explanatory dictionary of the Russian language. It contains about 200,000 words and 30,000 proverbs. It was collected, edited and published by academician Vladimir Ivanovich Dahl (Russian: Влади́мир Ива́нович Даль) (1801–1872), one of the most prominent Russian language lexicographers and folklore collectors of the 19th century.

Dahl's Explanatory Dictionary of the Great Russian language was the only substantial dictionary printed repeatedly (1935, 1955) in the Soviet Union in compliance with the old rules of spelling and alphabet, which were repealed in 1918.

The author shows his specific understanding of the Russian language on the cover, using the old spelling Толковый словарь живаго великорускаго языка (with single "s" in "Russian"). However, this is a unique spelling deviation from the standard grammar, on which Dahl insisted. In his speeches at the Russian Geographical Society (traditionally published with his forewords in a preface) Dahl opposes the "illiterate" distortion of words in vulgar parlance. However he distinguishes between these distortions and regional dialectical variations, which he collected meticulously over decades of travel from European Russia to Siberia.

Another principle on which Dahl insisted rigorously was the rejection of transliterated/transcribed foreign-language roots as base words, in favour of Russian roots. However certain loanwords like "проспект" (Prospekt (street)) were included.


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