The lexicographer as anatomist: Body words in eighteenth-century English dictionaries

Body words – i.e. words denoting and describing the parts and functions of the human body – have often been a thorny issue in lexicography, as their usage is largely conditioned by the dominant ideology, which determines what is to be considered as a taboo in a given culture and time. The present paper will focus on body words and their lexicographical treatment in a selection of representative eighteenth-century dictionaries of the English language. Apart from highlighting the British eighteenth century’s mental attitude to man’s physical reality and animal functions, the data will clarify that dictionaries are not the objective, neutral representations of languages as is commonly thought, but a repository of (sometimes competing) ideologies and worldviews.