lexicology

Lexicology is younger than it looks. Its raw materials are ancient Greek λέξις, léxis, meaning "word" or "expression," and λόγος, lógos, meaning "account" or "study." Greek supplied the parts, but not the finished English headword. The modern scholarly compound arose much later in western Europe.

French formed lexicologie in the early nineteenth century as linguistics grew more specialized. That formation used Greek elements in a learned modern way, the same pattern seen in many scientific terms of the period. English adopted lexicology soon after. By the mid nineteenth century it named the study of a language's vocabulary.

The new term filled a gap between grammar and dictionary making. Lexicography is the practice of compiling dictionaries, while lexicology is the analysis of words as a system. That distinction became clearer as comparative linguistics and semantics expanded in the nineteenth century. Universities and reference works then fixed the contrast.

Today lexicology refers to the branch of linguistics that studies words, their meanings, relations, formation, and history within a language. The word still shows its composite birth plainly: lexis plus -logy. It is modern in form, Greek in material, and academic in purpose. Its history is short, but its parts are ancient.