A PHRASEOLOGICAL JOURNEY

 

A Phraseological Journey

Ediciones del Serbal, Barcelona, published my A Phraseological Dictionary, English and Spanish in 1995. Two years later, I was invited by the eminent philologist and theologian Xesús Ferro Ruibal to speak about it at the I Coloquio Galego de Fraseoloxía in Santiago de Compostela — a great honor and a memorable occasion.

But even then, I knew the work could go further. I sought a comprehensive dictionary of parallel idiomatic phrases in both English and Spanish. When the contract with Serbal expired in 2000, I chose not to renew it, determined to widen the scope and improve the book in every dimension. Other writing projects intervened, as often happens — man proposes and God disposes — but the idea never left me.

Finally, in 2020, I found the uninterrupted time to spit in my hands, roll up my sleeves, and return to the task. Since then, I have worked four to five hours a day, Sundays and holidays included, and the dictionary has grown immensely: from 10,000 idioms to 33,000 so far, with 9,000 literary citations added for the most controversial or nuanced phrases.

Back in 1993–95, when I compiled the original edition, I worked on an IBM PC1 that forced me to keep a separate file for each letter of the alphabet in each language. Technology has advanced so quickly that printed reference works are becoming relics — even the Oxford English Dictionary is no longer issued on paper. AI is now everywhere, though phraseology still presents challenges that demand human insight and judgment.

My question now is simple: how can I make this expanded dictionary available to linguists, translators, and students at large? I want it to be accessible and useful to anyone who works between these two great languages.

If you have ideas about publication, digital preservation, or institutional collaboration, I would be grateful to hear from you. After years of quiet work, I am ready for this dictionary to find its readers.