Rola tzw. Słownika wileńskiego w upowszechnianiu XIX-wiecznej terminologii chemicznej (na marginesie monografii Bogdana Walczaka, Słownik wileński na tle dziejów polskiej leksykografii)

The considerations presented in the article concern the role of the Vilnius Dictionary in the dissemination of chemical terminology in the context of the formation, unification and polishing of scientific terminology in the 19th century. The nominations of chemical elements were examined in detail. Being a general lexicon, the Vilnius Dictionary is a record of the formation (enrichment and deepening) of chemical terminology and its image in the first half of the century. The authors recalled, according to the state of science at the time, all the names of 66 elements, noting the unstable status of some of them. Juxtaposing several terms of the same concept in synonymous sequences, they highlighted the ongoing discussions which mainly concerned the introduction of nominations of the discovered elements, the interpolation of foreign names, the abandoning of the Latin -um ending in the Polish nomenclature and the change of names that reflected the “false” function of the elements. In doing so, they took into account the latest proposals set forth by terminology developers of the time. The Vilnius Dictionary reflects the linguistic practice of scientific communication, which contributed to the standardisation and dissemination of chemical terminology at the time.