D’histoires oubliées et langues perdues. Le lexique comme outil de recherche dans l’histoire de l’alchimie et de la chimie

Abstract

In an academic environment devoted to a progressive anglicisation of the scientific debate, how can we achieve exhaustive results – within historicophilosophical analysis – having to deal with sources written in a multiplicity of languages, including the specific vocabularies of obsolete or extinct epistemological systems? The present paper questions the possibility of creating specific lexicons, both period- and author-oriented, as dedicated research tools for historians of science.

Keywords

• alchemy
• chemistry
• ether
• lexicon
• translation