| semasiology |
| Definition: The original name for the area of linguistics that studies meaning that is now called semantics. |
| Etymology: The word derives from the Greek sema, sign. |
| Oxford English Dictionary: Its first (English) citation is from 1847: "The development of intellectual and moral ideas from physical, constitutes an important part of semasiology, or that branch of grammar which treats of the development of the meanings of words." (J. W. Gibbs Philol. Studies (1857) 18) |