Historical principles vs. synchronic approaches

Abstract

Although there have been numerous studies of both synchronic and historical lexicographical features of dictionaries, few of them have been directly comparative, and this might seem surprising. In this chapter, a number of questions are addressed. What is the context and background for synchronic and historical approaches in dictionaries, and what does it mean to make this distinction in the first place? What are the key distinguishing features of synchronic and historical descriptions, and why do they matter, for the user or for anyone else? Also, what are the individual challenges and issues in the two approaches? As well as an overview of some key moments in the development of the debate, the questions will be approached by means of a case study – of the word “capital” – and analysis of specific lexicographical features. The examples are drawn from English language lexicography and are focused on general dictionaries (as opposed to dictionaries specially designed for children or learners of English), but there is an expectation that many of the observations can be generalized to apply to other languages and lexicographical contexts.