Research Section

Since its foundation, Euskaltzaindia has prioritised the compilation of dictionaries. This is in fact a fundamental task for an academy of a language. One of the five commissions set up by the newly-created Academy in 1920 was precisely "Iztegisaila".

In 1955 the Royal Academy of the Basque Language commissioned Koldo Mitxelena, one of its members, to update, correct and compose the Diccionario Vasco-Español-Francés (Basque-Spanish-French Dictionary) (1905-06) by Resurrección María Azkue. Mitxelena soon realised the need for more exhaustive work to complete the dictionary, carried out not by a single researcher but by a large work group. This was the first step in the compilation of Orotariko Euskal Hiztegia (the Basque General Dictionary).

Meanwhile, Euskaltzaindia also worked on compiling dictionaries of a different kind: small dictionaries and specialised nomenclatures by areas, especially in the late 1960s. In the following decade the dictionaries Merkatalgo izendegia (Nomenclature of Commercial Terms) (1974) and Zortzi urte arteko ikastola hiztegia (School Dictionary for Children up to Eight Years Old) (1975).

In the following years the Academy compiled the dictionary Hiztegi Batua (HB), a spelling dictionary that would serve as the starting point for the dictionary Euskaltzaindiaren Hiztegia (EH) (Dictionary of Euskaltzaindia).

Euskaltzaindia today has two main dictionaries: Orotariko Euskal Hiztegia (OEH), a descriptive/historical dictionary covering our tradition, and Euskaltzaindiaren Hiztegia, the Academy's normative dictionary.