Lexicography
Lexicography is either of two things- Practical lexicography is the art or craft of writing dictionaries.
- Theoretical lexicography is the scholarly discipline of analyzing and describing the semantic relationships among the items of the lexicon (vocabulary) of a language.
There seems to be a discussion of the definition of lexicology. Some use that word as a synonym for theoretical lexicography, others use it for a branch of linguistics pertaining to the treasure of words in a particular language.
Most English lexicographers would find interest in Samuel Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language (1755). He famously defined a lexicographer as "A writer of dictionaries; a harmless drudge that busies himself in tracing the original, and detailing the signification of words".
Introductory books to lexicography:
- Landau, Sidney, Dictionaries: The Art and Craft of Lexicography, 2nd ed., 2001
- Bejoint, Henri, Modern Lexicography: An Introduction, 2000
- Hartmann, R. R. K., Teaching and Researching Lexicography, 2001
- Hartmann, R. R. K., Dictionary of Lexicography, 1998
- Ooi, Vincent Ooi, Computer Corpus Lexicography, 1998 http://www.fas.nus.edu.sg/ell/Vincent/