Abstract: This article deals with the way a set of 18 terms from semantics and lexicology have been described in linguistics dictionaries (7) and textbooks (8). The quality of the description is analyzed together with the historical information which is presented in it (dates, theoretical context, association with key figures…). The diversity of the authors’ positions and the “polychrony” of terminological usages partly explain the heterogeneous, and sometimes approximate terminological descriptions.
