In Latin, German, English, Spanish, Finnish, French, Icelandic, Italian, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese and Swedish. Farmers and the general public usually know weeds by their common names. These names also frequently used in non-scientific technical literature. The fact that one species may have several common names. while in some cases one name can apply to several species, creates much ambiguity and confusion. Although some European countries have attempted to solve this problem by producing official or semi-official lists in which one common name is given for each species, some of these lists have only a limited circulation. The Education Committee of the European Weed Research Society has gathered together national lists and attempted to remedy their deficiencies. The result is this dictionary in which over 1,000 plant species have been classified giving the common name for each, where it exists, in all of the major European languages.