diff --git a/cspi-schema/src/main/java/org/collectionspace/chain/csp/schema/Spec.java b/cspi-schema/src/main/java/org/collectionspace/chain/csp/schema/Spec.java
index 218e698548..b58992f02f 100644
--- a/cspi-schema/src/main/java/org/collectionspace/chain/csp/schema/Spec.java
+++ b/cspi-schema/src/main/java/org/collectionspace/chain/csp/schema/Spec.java
@@ -248,7 +248,7 @@ public Object populate(Object parent, ReadOnlySection section) {
 				boolean dfault=false;
 				String value=(String)section.getValue("/@default");
 				dfault=(value!=null && ("yes".equals(value.toLowerCase()) || "1".equals(value.toLowerCase())));
-				n.addOption((String)section.getValue("/@id"),(String)section.getValue(""),(String)section.getValue("/@sample"),dfault);
+				n.addOption((String)section.getValue("/@id"),(String)section.getValue(""),(String)section.getValue("/@sample"),dfault,(String)section.getValue("/@desc"));
 				return n;
 			}
 		});
diff --git a/tomcat-main/src/main/resources/defaults/base-instance-vocabularies.xml b/tomcat-main/src/main/resources/defaults/base-instance-vocabularies.xml
index 4853822067..6001d0b7e1 100644
--- a/tomcat-main/src/main/resources/defaults/base-instance-vocabularies.xml
+++ b/tomcat-main/src/main/resources/defaults/base-instance-vocabularies.xml
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
                         <title>Languages</title>
                         <options>
                     		<option id="ara">Arabic</option>
-						<option id="hye">Armenian</option>
+						<option id="hye" desc="An optional description for any vocabulary term can be entered here">Armenian</option>
 							<option id="zho">Chinese</option>
 							<option id="eng">English</option>
 							<option id="fra">French</option>