Eesti liitsõnast kakskeelses sõnaraamatus
Estonian Compounds in Bilingual Dictionaries

Summary/Abstract: An overview is given of some of the most important issues concerning Estonian compound words in bilingual dictionaries (having Estonian as the source language). As compound words occupy a considerable place in the Estonian vocabulary (according to some researchers, as many as 70% of the Estonian words can be considered compounds) it can be understood why the question has such a strong impact on the dictionary-making process. Lexicographers must take many important decisions on which words (and how many) they should include in a dictionary, how to build up the headword list (should compounds appear on the same level as examples, i.e. in nests, or should they rather be treated as separate keywords?), what kind of morphophonological information should be given in a compound article, etc. The treatment of Estonian compounds varies to a great extent in different dictionaries. While in older works compounds are mainly given in nests, in more recent dictionaries they often constitute a separate keyword. A tendency to give more detailed morphophonological information in more recent dictionaries can be observed, as well as a trend to present units smaller than words (e.g. parts of productive compounds) as keywords.

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