Lexicography: Jacob Grimm — yes, the… | etymologist.ai
lexicography
/ˌlɛk.sɪˈkɒɡ.rə.fi/·noun·1680 (English); the practice itself stretches back to Sumerian scribes c. 2300 BCE, who compiled the earliest known word lists·Established
Origin
From Greek lexikon ('wordbook', from lexis 'word', from legein 'to gather, to speak') + -graphia ('writing', from graphein 'to write'). Literally 'word-writing' — the art of collecting and recording the vocabulary of a language. The PIEroot *leǵ- ('to collect') also gives us logic, legal, legend, lecture, catalogue, and intelligent. This word names what every dictionary-maker does: gathers scattered words and fixes them on the page.
Definition
The practice and art of compiling dictionaries; the systematic recording, analysis, and description of vocabulary, including a word's meaning, pronunciation, etymology, and usage.
The Full Story
Greek (via New Latin lexicographia)17th centurywell-attested
Formed from Greek λεξικόν (lexikon, 'wordbook, of or pertaining to words'), the neuter of λεξικός (lexikos, 'of words'), from λέξις (lexis, 'word, speech, diction'), itself from λέγειν (legein, 'to speak, to gather, to collect, to read'). The second element is -γραφία (-graphia, 'writing, description'), from γράφειν (graphein, 'to write, to scratch, to carve'). The compound literally means 'word-writing' — the act of gathering words and
' (cf. Latin legere), and only later came to mean 'to speak' — as if speech were the gathering of thoughts into utterance. Every lexicographer, then, is etymologically a collector who writes: one who gathers the scattered words of a language and fixes them on the page. Key roots: *leǵ- (Proto-Indo-European: "to collect, to gather — the root behind an enormous family: lecture, legend, legal, legislature, logic, logarithm, dialect, catalogue, analogy, dyslexia, eligible, select, collect, intelligent, lesson, and lexicon itself"), *gerbʰ- (Proto-Indo-European: "to scratch, to carve — the root of graphein, giving graph, geography, biography, photography, calligraphy, telegram, and every -graphy compound"), λέξις (lexis) (Greek: "word, speech, diction — from legein"), γράφειν (graphein) (Greek: "to write, to scratch, to carve — from PIE *gerbʰ-").