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Where does the information in dictionaries come from?

Share you views on evidence sources for dictionaries.
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Welcome to week three! Have you ever wondered where lexicographers take inspiration from when they create an entry? This week you will learn about the different evidence sources used by lexicographers throughout the history of lexicography and today. You will even have a go at creating an entry yourself. All of this will hopefully satisfy your curiosity and make you more aware as a dictionary user. To kick off the discussion, share your thoughts
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about this question: Where does information contained in dictionaries come from? Please post your ideas as usual.

In Week 1, you had the opportunity to share your views about how you use dictionaries.

You also started familiarising yourself with different types of dictionaries: expert-produced, collaborative and crowdsourced. What all dictionaries have in common is that they tell us something about one language (in the case of monolingual dictionaries) or more languages (as in the case of bilingual dictionaries).

Your task

Now we would like you to focus on the following questions:
  • Where does the information in collaborative and crowdsourced dictionaries come from?
  • Where do you think the information comes from in dictionaries produced by experts?
Share your ideas in the comments area.
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Understanding English Dictionaries

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