diff --git a/dict.c b/dict.c
index 3579f64d..6de2f03f 100644
--- a/dict.c
+++ b/dict.c
@@ -150,6 +150,9 @@ unsigned int rand_seed = 0;
  * Do the dictionary mutex initialization.
  * this function is not thread safe, initialization should
  * preferably be done once at startup
+ *
+ * Returns 0 if initialization was already done, and 1 if that
+ * call led to the initialization
  */
 int xmlInitializeDict(void) {
     if (xmlDictInitialized)
diff --git a/doc/symbols.xml b/doc/symbols.xml
index 56a18775..1695bb3c 100644
--- a/doc/symbols.xml
+++ b/doc/symbols.xml
@@ -1741,8 +1741,9 @@
     <symbol file="globals">xmlStructuredErrorContext</symbol>
     <symbol file="xinclude">xmlXIncludeProcessTreeFlagsData</symbol>
   </release>
-  <release version="2.7.9">
+  <release version="2.8.0">
     <symbol file="xmlreader">xmlTextReaderRelaxNGValidateCtxt</symbol>
     <symbol file="tree">xmlBufferDetach</symbol>
+    <symbol file="dict">xmlInitializeDict</symbol>
   </release>
 </symbols>
diff --git a/libxml2.syms b/libxml2.syms
index b82f46ca..93eff536 100644
--- a/libxml2.syms
+++ b/libxml2.syms
@@ -2239,5 +2239,8 @@ LIBXML2_2.8.0 {
 
 # tree
   xmlBufferDetach;
+
+# dict
+  xmlInitializeDict;
 } LIBXML2_2.7.4;