The dictionary was created on the initiative of Catherine II in 1787 and published at the Schnorr printing house. Responsible editor - P. S. Pallas, ethnographer, zoologist, botanist, man of encyclopedic knowledge. More than half of the words, Pallas notes in the introductory article, are collected by the queen herself. The sources of the dictionary were mostly handwritten dictionaries collected by Catherine the Great and Pallas himself. The memories of travelers were also used (for example, the "Kamchadal language" was studied according to the memoirs of the traveler Krasheninnikov). Conversations with representatives of a particular nationality were also a direct source.