The Swedish Academy's dictionary (SAOB) is a historical dictionary that describes the Swedish written language from 1521 to the present day.

It has been called both the "national treasure" and the "ancestor of dictionaries".

The dictionary has previously been financed with the help of income from Post- och inrikestidningar.

However, the fee system has now been discontinued, which has meant a loss of SEK 13 million per year.

In 2024, the Swedish Academy will begin work on an updated version of SAOB.

The total cost is SEK 100 million, of which the Swedish Academy accounts for SEK 45 million.

The remaining costs are covered by Helge Ax: son Johnson's Foundation, the Swedish Literary Society in Finland, the Swedish Academy of Sciences and the Riksbank's Jubilee Fund.

The updated dictionary will be completely digital and the work must be completed in a maximum of ten years.

More than a thousand linguists, authors and translators have previously appealed in a call to the Swedish Academy to let SAOB live on.

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Christian Mattsson Bo Wendt and Eva Nordgren work at the Swedish Academy's dictionary editorial office in Lund.

Photo: Johan Dernelius / SVT