New plants & new names: botanical terminology in late modern English lexicography

The Late Modern Period, and in particular the early decades spanning from the 1740s to the mid-1770s, testifies to the increase in the production and publication of lexicographic works which primarily aim at spreading innovative scientific contents and the emerging specialised and technical vocabulary in an expanding world. The need to distinguish, define, and categorise – or classify – the many emerging disciplinary domains, and to make them “searchable” on a lexical basis (semasiological approach), following the order of the alphabet, established lexicographic works as the main references for both consultation, and close reading. The colonial expansion of the British Empire around the world and its trade posts, the exploration of new territories, the many institutional expeditions organised by universities and learned societies to describe the natural environment, and record unknown plants and animals, stimulated the exchange of information for scientific issues. Cutting-edge discoveries in geography, natural history, and medicine are shared and disseminated: letters from voyagers or physicians were sent from the colony to learned men in Europe, then relayed to a learned society, and then published; or, learned men sent specific questions to voyagers to investigate the natural world on fieldwork. In this perspective, natural history inevitably becomes one of the most interesting and investigated fields of knowledge among late 18th century scholars,19 and one of the most fashionable in contemporary European society. Among these developing disciplines, botany is the one which best represents the copiousness and luxuriance of a complex and still unexplored natural world “on the move”, since «plants, like people, were constantly in motion». Specimens of new seeds and plants for different usages arrived in Europe. New names, which were borrowed and adapted from other (indigenous) languages, and whose origin is not always possible to trace, came along with them. Lexical variety and ambiguity prevailed: different names for the same plants, and the same name for different plants within the same language and across languages were a typical feature. The general aim of the present study is an introductory discussion on botanical terminology included in British medical dictionaries from the 1740s to the end of the century, with reference to lexicalisation processes (the role of spelling variants and equivalents; the use of Latin and/or Latinate terms vs. English and/or Anglicised terms; the inclusion of other languages and their botanical denominations),30 and to lexicographic and encyclopaedic treatment (entry structure and components; semantic load). The focus is on new plants and new terms coming from abroad, in a period restricted to early and late Modern colonial expansion and discovery. The expression botanical terminology in this context refers to, and mainly includes, medicine and pharmacy, or medicinal plants used as medicines and remedies, but also as food, refined products and habits (e.g. perfumes).