lexicography
lexicography
Greek
“Surprise: lexicography was born as writing about words.”
Greek léxis means "word" or "speech" and graphía means "writing". The compound lexikographía is attested in scholarly Greek usage. It referred to the practice of compiling and describing words. The parts point to writing about language itself.
Latin adopted the learned compound as lexicographia. In the 17th century, English writers began to use lexicography for dictionary making. Early English examples date to the 1650s. The word came with the rise of national dictionaries.
By the 18th century, lexicography named both the craft and its scholarship. It covered selection, definition, and arrangement of entries. The term grew alongside print culture. The science of the dictionary had a name.
Modern lexicography includes corpus methods and computational tools. It also still means the art of making dictionaries. The core idea remains writing about words. The compound has stayed transparent across languages.
Related Words
Today
Lexicography is the practice and study of making dictionaries. It includes choosing words, writing definitions, and organizing entries.
It also names the field that studies how dictionaries are made. The craft is the message. Words make their own map.
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