lexicology (n.)

A term used in SEMANTICS for the overall study of a language’s vocabulary (including its history). It is distinguished from lexicography, which is the art and science of dictionary-making, carried out by lexicographers. Lexicography could accordingly be seen as a branch of ‘applied lexicology’. The term lexicologist is less widely used: someone interested in vocabulary would normally be considered a species of semanticist. The psychological study of word meaning (e.g. the linguistic expression of spatial relations) is sometimes known as psycholexicology.