Numerous reasons can be cited by scholars concerning lexical problems that face anyone embarking upon such an enterprise as that of preparing a Basque-English dictionary. First, "euskera," a term given to this ancient tongue, is both written and spoken today as it was millennia ago. Second, Basque, as a result, has not been subjected to constant revisions, improvements, additions and deletions of vocabulary as has occurred in English. Third, in reference to linguistic classification, the former, like Finnish, is both flexional and agglutinative, while the latter, by distinction, is flexional but isolating, which implies being completely analytic. Fourth, and perhaps the most salient characteristic of Basque, and which indeed presents enormous problems to any linguist, is the complex structure of dialectal variations inherent in the language's syntax and vocabulary. These variations, in terms of spellings and meanings, are not mutually understandable by Basques. Basque lexicographers concur that having a Basque-English dictionary would serve not only as an indispensable tool to scholarly research in determining clues to the mystery surrounding the origin of Basque, but would be an instructive guide in terms of furnishing precise information relative to etymology, morphology, syntax and semantics. Lastly, Basques in America and elsewhere would have a text of English vocabulary, word meanings and their essential components to improve their skills in the two languages. (Author/CFM)