The Origins of Music Lexicography in Spanish. Metalexicographic Observations

Abstract

Lexicographical works have played an important role in the dissemination of scholarly knowledge, reflecting the creation and development of different disciplines that make up society. As a cultural expression, music has been the subject of these types of works and musical terms have formed part of this process of systemisation and dissemination. During the 18th century, the boom in music making in Spain led to the emergence of translations and vocabularies written in Spanish, which were included in works of different kinds. In the 19th century, this led to the compilation of the first dictionaries exclusively focusing on musical terms, based on those produced in Europe and, specifically, in France. This article aims to identify the origins of the production and textual dialogue of the first independent and specialised music dictionaries published in Spanish between 1852 and 1899, employing a methodology based on linguistic historiography.