How many words are there in a language? Is the Finnish language particularly rich in vocabulary? You can search for the answers to these questions in a dictionary, but there is no definitive answer. The old Nykysuomen Sanakirja (Engl. dictionary of modern Finnish) has 200,000 headwords, while the newer three-volume version has only half of that. The archive of Finnish dialects has approximately 8 million entries.

The etymological dictionary of Finnish words has 10,000 entries, but a great part of the derivatives of basic words are grouped under one entry. It also gives information on a word’s possible Finno-Ugric counterparts or sources of borrowing, or both. There are also words of unknown origin such as saita (‘miserly’), itara (‘stingy’) and äveriäs (‘wealthy’), all perfectly familiar to Finnish readers of Donald Duck since they are all used to describe his uncle.

Words tend to slip out of the scholar’s and dictionary maker’s hands. More are being made as you read this text, most commonly by compounding and derivation. Expressive, affective and slang words especially are anarchists who have no intention of obeying the traditional rules of derivation, which is what makes them fascinating. Words are also constantly being borrowed from other languages.

Bilingual dictionaries are familiar to many language users. Those who compile them are faced with the need to pick out which 40,000 words are most needed and should be put in a medium-sized dictionary. To what degree can one be up to date and take the newest words when it is impossible to know how long they will be in use. The makers of the new Finnish-Hungarian dictionary have been wondering whether to include some (abbr. sosiaalinen media, ‘social media’) and sote (abbr. sosiaali- ja terveydenhuollon palvelurakenneuudistus, ‘structural reform of social and health care services’). An entirely new word might even replace the word ‘selfie’ next year.