{Słownik łaciny średniowiecznej w Polsce} – problemy metodologiczne w pracy nad słownikiem historycznym
{Lexicon Mediae et Infimae Latinitatis Polonorum} – Methodological Problems in Writing a Scholarly Historical Dictionary

Summary/Abstract: The paper discusses the characteristics of scholarly historical dictionaries using the example of {Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum}. It argues that if the dictionary is conceived as a thesaurus containing the whole vocabulary delivered by text‑sources of the period, then one must admit, as well, how highly differentiated these texts are in the terms of the registers of the language to which they belong. (One has, for example, accounts written by uneducated scribes alongside treatises written by the greatest scholars of the period). The dictionary should certainly reflect the distance of these writers from the norm, this having been established, by the community of users of the ancient language. It should particularly register non-standard forms, as these identify difference in the user's linguistic competence. However, the greatest challenge faced by the lexicographer concerns the choice of definition. Contrary to the tendency observed in dictionaries of modern languages, it is often not possible to avoid encyclopaedic definitions in scholarly historical dictionaries.

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