semasiology

Etymology

From Ancient Greek σημασία (sēmasía, “the meaning of a word”) + -ology.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌsiːmeɪsɪˈɒləd͡ʒɪ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /sɪmeɪsiˈɑləd͡ʒi/

Noun

semasiology (usually uncountable, plural semasiologies)

1. (linguistics) Semantics; a discipline within linguistics concerned with the meaning of a word independent of its phonetic expression.
   • 1992, Brigitte Nerlich, Semantic Theories in Europe, 1830-1930, →ISBN:

     Stylistics seemed to have become a four-letter-word in German semasiology, a fact that shows how far official German semasiology had shifted away from Reisig's initial outline, and how different it was from Bréal's semantics of language-use and Wegener's semantics of communication.

   • 2001, Federica Busa et al., The Language of Word Meaning:

     "The early theories of semasiology attempted to account for meaning shifts in language."

   • 2002, Nicolas Slonimsky et al., The Listener's Companion: Great Composers and Their Works:

     It must be left to students of musical semasiology to account for the psychological association that exists between the spiritual concept of goodness and saintliness and the notational accident of the absence of sharps and flats in the key signature, which results in the 'whiteness' of the music.

Further reading

• semasiology on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “semasiology”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “semasiology”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.