Towards a Data-Driven History of Lexicography: Two Alchemical Dictionaries in TEI-XML

Abstract

Martin Ruland’s Lexicon Alchemiae, in its 1612 edition, and Sommerhoff’s German-Latin dictionary (1701) in TEI-XML format provide valuable resources for understanding the cryptic language of alchemy, characterized by its use of codenames, or Decknamen. Alchemical terminology, often allegorical and poetic, arose as a shared vocabulary for laboratory practices before the advent of modern analytical chemistry. Lacking precise measurements, chymists relied on these terms to describe sensory experiences and chemical processes, forming a language that, while obscure to outsiders, enabled communication within their community. Together, the two dictionaries contain some 20,000 entries in Latin and German.

Keywords

• text encoding initiative
• lexicography
• alchemy
• chymistry
• martin ruland the younger
• johann christoph sommerhoff