Consolidated dialect dictionary: some problems of semantic description

The article presents some experience of working on a consolidated dialect dictionary, started from the 1960s. We have revealed the problems arising in the semantic description of dialect data. It is noted that the Dictionary of Russian Folk Dialects is a differential type dictionary. In a number of cases it was difficult to derive an exact interpretative formula, since there was no enough information in the source. More than 4,000 lexemes were left without interpretation on the pages of the dictionary in 52 volumes. We have considered the problems of identifying and highlighting homonyms dictionary entries, which are often associated with the lack of etymological developments of lexicographed dialect data. It is also noted that folklore works were used as material for the vocabulary, and quotes confirming the presence of a word in a particular dialect were also drawn from the same source, however the lexicographic development of the vocabulary of folklore encounters serious difficulties.