Ancient Greek among the eighteenthcentury languages of science: Linnaeus, Dillenius, and the lexicographical record.

This paper discusses an episode in the history of the use of ancient Greek as a language of science. It begins by examining the condemnation of the borrowings from Greek of the botanist Carolus Linnaeus by his older contemporary Johann Jakob Dillenius. An underlying cause of this disagreement was the fact that botanical terminology was imperfectly registered in eighteenth-century dictionaries of ancient Greek, and this point is discussed with general reference to developments in the lexicography of Greek between the Renaissance and 1800, and with specific reference to the treatment of some botanical names. The paper then returns to Linnaeus and his creative response to the imperfections of the lexicographical record as he handled these particular names, and concludes by suggesting a broader context for Dillenius' strongly negative response to this creativity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]