Huelva, España
The aim of this article is to evaluate and reappraise the role of Componential Analysis of meaning as a methodological tool in Old English historical lexicology and lexicography. The author starts by reappraising the anthropological linguistics background for the semantic side of distinctive feature analysis and then goes on to criticize the CA outcomes in Old English, which move from domain-based semantics to word semantics. It is the author's contention that the introduction of a systemic perspective and the retrieval of traditionally neglected linguistics topics such as axiology represent a lexicological breakthrough in understanding change of meaning, a significant thrust forwards which most radical versions of diachronic cognitive semantics should take into account.