The DOM has set itself the task of presenting the vocabulary of Old Occitan in a form that will satisfy modern standards of scholarship, thus superseding the existing dictionaries by Raynouard (1836–1845) and Levy (1894–1924), which, though long-serving, are anything but comprehensive. The main emphasis is on a detailed semantic analysis of the entries, with reference made not only to literary language (especially the language of the troubadours) but also to non-literary vocabulary.