Log-file research inspired New Dictionary of Fixed Expressions
Ordbogen over Faste Vendinger can be seen as the result of log-file research since it replaces the Danish online dictionary Idiomordbogen, which contained 8,000 entries for Danish idioms and was available from 2003 to January 2007). Although the number of uses was quite high (ranging between 100,000 and 200,000 per year), the files showed that in 27 per cent of all cases people were looking for things which did not fall under the category of idiom (as defined in the Idiomordbogen), which showed the need for a dictionary of this kind with a wider scope of entries. As a result, Ordbogen over Faste Vendinger was set up and has been available on the internet since January 2007: the dictionary can be described as a work-in-progress. It contains 12,300 articles, all of which have at least a short lexicographical definition, but only 5,875 are finished (September 2008).

Cooperative dictionary
The dictionary can be described as a work-in-progress in that a team of two lexicographers – Henning Bergenholtz and Esben Bjærge – are working on the dictionary. We expect to have finished the work in about three years (2011). Ordbogen over Faste Vendinger is a dictionary of fixed expressions in Danish for native speakers of Danish: it contains multi word combinations, which are subclassified into the following categories:

1. idioms {idiom}
2. proverbs {ordsprog}
3. sayings {bevinget ord}
4. further word combinations {andre ordforbindelser}

Sophisticated search options
If parts of a proverb such as The early bird catches the worm or It's no use crying over spilt milk also occur independently, this is reflected by the fact that the dictionary contains a separate entry for idioms such as the early bird or spilt milk, which are then classified as idioms (because they do not represent full sentences). Such multi-word lemmata can be accessed in many different ways: the key word, a part of the key word, words or one of the words occurring in the fixed expressions listed and – in some nodes – words occurring in examples and notes. There are rather sophisticated query mechanisms: for instance, it can be specified in the search whether the words used as query occur at the beginning, at the end or in the middle of the expression looked for.

Future development
The dictionary comprises 12,900 articles (January 2011). They all have lexicographic definitions, but only 11,500 articles are completely ready. Three employees are involved in the project: Henning Bergenholtz, Richard Almind and Esben Bjærge. We hope to be able to complete the project sometime during 2011.