From 24 to 27 June 2025, Lisbon hosted the 15th edition of the International Conference on Historical Lexicography and Lexicology (ICHLL15), under the theme “Selected Pages from Selected Dictionaries.” Organized by the Lisbon Academy of Sciences, the Faculty of Arts of the University of Lisbon, and NOVA University Lisbon, the conference brought together around 150 researchers from 33 countries to share studies, analytical methodologies, and reflections on historical dictionaries.

The event opened with a tribute to the Portuguese lexicographic tradition through the keynote lecture by Ana Salgado, who traced the trajectory of the dictionaries of the Lisbon Academy of Sciences. This was followed by four intensive days of presentations, parallel sessions, roundtables, poster exhibitions, and visits to the Academy, in an atmosphere of scientific dialogue and international exchange.

Among the most memorable moments were the plenary lectures by Simeon Tsolakidis (Academy of Athens), who reflected on the historical dictionaries of Modern Greek and the importance of lexical chronology; Philip Durkin (Oxford English Dictionary), who explored the paths of word histories through dictionaries; and Marco Passarotti (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore), who presented the LiLa Knowledge Base project and demonstrated how historical lexical data can be interlinked in open and interoperable digital environments.

Thematic diversity was a hallmark of the event: from Portuguese phonetics to musical lexicography, from 19th-century bilingual dictionaries to medical terminology, including projects dedicated to lexematic revitalization, classical languages, digital heritage, and open data modelling. The ARIANE/MÉTALEX symposium also offered an in-depth overview of the challenges and methodologies of European digital dictionaries.

The conference concluded with a closing session led by the organizers Alina Villalva, Ana Salgado, Esperança Cardeira, and Rute Costa, who thanked all participants and emphasized the vital role of international and interdisciplinary collaboration in advancing historical lexicography.

ICHLL15 left a clear message: the history of words continues to inspire curiosity and scholarship — and can now be written in a digital and open format.