The study lays bare the cross-language principles governing semantic innovation. The theoretical approach builds a) on a semantic/semiotic model integrating conceptual knowledge and language knowledge, and b) the associative principles similarity , contrast and contiguity . On this basis it is possible to chart and typologize the development potentials and the linguistic processes determining meaning change over time. In addition, an entirely new systematization of language-user motives for semantic innovation is advanced and polysemy is discussed as a synchronic representation of meaning change.