Julián Sancha Vázquez
Within the field of Hispanic lexicography, there is still a significant —and largely unnoticed— gap in the historiographical study of a specific type of dictionary. We are referring to the so-called “orthographic dictionaries”, which flourished in the nineteenth century, but gradually disappeared (or transformed) during the twentieth century and have survived to the present day as a remnant that has been incorporated into doubt dictionaries. Telling their story may require an analysis that has not (at least partially) been carried out in historiographical works. In addition, we have carried out an in-depth study of a previously unstudied dictionary that has not yet been included in lexicography, the Diccionario ortográfico. Parónimos y vocablos semejantes compilados y ordenados. This work was published in Montevideo in 1906 by a Uruguayan justice of the peace, Serafín Ledesma. The importance of rescuing this work from oblivion lies in the potential impact it could have had, as we could have just discovered one of the most ambitious and comprehensive dictionaries in its category.