A critical review of the contribution of Manuel de Aréjula to chemical nomenclature and the history of scientific language

Abstract

The publication of the Méthode de nomenclature chimique in 1787 proposed a systematization of chemical terminology. From France, through scholars from other countries residing in France and epistolary exchanges, the content of this work spread across Europe and was soon adopted by the chemical community of the time—though not without generating numerous debates regarding language-specific adaptations, the theoretical implications of the proposed nomenclature, and the still-persistent ideas about chemical tradition. Within this framework, the present study provides an updated review of the significance of Juan Manuel de Aréjula in the context of Spanish chemistry of his time, building on research from the 1970s by Gago and García Ballester Carrillo (Gago et al., 1974; Carrillo & Gago, 1975; Gago & Carrillo, 1979). It also offers a critical analysis of the ideas presented in Aréjula’s Reflexiones sobre la nueva nomenclatura química for the history of specialized language. The preliminary conclusions highlight Aréjula as a key figure in the negotiations over Spanish chemical terminology of his era and assert his Reflexiones as an essential text for the study of scientific terminology.