So it looks like lack of font isn't the issue after all. You need to be careful about which edict file you download and use. Some older ones cause segfaults in the software. It works well with the recommended edict file. I'll be cleaning it up and making sure it conforms to the packaging guidelines before submitting a patch.

6.3.8 depends on gtk2, there is a new version which uses gtk3. I've tried to compile it but it seems to want mysql installed and available before i can go further.

Well, i got this building and "running", however it doesn't seem to properly inherit the theme and searching for anything causes a segfault

I think I'm going to try this one myself