A Dictionary of European Anglicisms. A Usage Dictionary of Anglicisms in Sixteen European Languages. Ed. Manfred Görlach.

• Wolfgang Viereck

This is a disappointing book; why will be explained below. In doing so, I will follow the author’s introduction and refer to dictionary entries whenever appropriate. The project was “effectively started in 1993” (p. XV). Thus, it took the compiler a mere 8 years not only to complete it in manuscript, but also to publish it! Any serious dictionary needs much, much longer to come to fruition. The reader is then informed that “there has never been an exhaustive comparative treatment of the phenomenon” of anglicisms (ibid.). I have never seen an exhaustive dictionary yet. This one is neither exhaustive with regard to the languages spoken in Europe, although 16 is no mean number, nor with regard to the anglicisms included, nor with regard to how they are treated. A further surprise is the fact that the compiler does not define the term ‘anglicism’. There are a number of (narrower and wider) definitions of this term with consequences for what to include and what not to include in a dictionary.

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