Editing Onomasiology (section)

{{More citations needed|date=July 2023}}{{Short description|Branch of linguistics concerned with how to express a given concept}}
'''Onomasiology''' (from {{langx|el|ὀνομάζω}} ''onomāzο'' 'to name', which in turn is from ὄνομα ''onoma'' 'name') is a branch of [[linguistics]] concerned with the question "how do you express X?" It is in fact most commonly understood as a branch of [[lexicology]], the study of words (although some apply the term also to [[grammar]] and conversation).

Onomasiology, as a part of lexicology, starts from a concept which is taken to be prior<ref>OED: "The study of language which deals with the identification of a preconceived
meaning or concept by name or names"</ref>
(i.e. an idea, an object, a quality, an activity etc.) and asks for its names. The opposite approach is known as [[semasiology]]: here one starts with a word and asks what it means, or what concepts the word refers to. Thus, an onomasiological question is, e.g., "what are the names for long, narrow pieces of potato that have been deep-fried?" (answers: ''french fries'' in the US, ''chips'' in the UK, etc.), while a semasiological question is, e.g., "what is the meaning of the term ''chips''?" (answers: 'long, narrow pieces of potato that have been deep-fried' in the UK, 'slim slices of potatoes deep fried or baked until crisp' in the US).

Onomasiology can be carried out [[wikt:synchronic|synchronically]] or [[wikt:diachronic|diachronically]], i.e. historically.