Vocabularies are complex structures. This complexity derives on the one hand from the large number of elements (words and their usages) and on the other from the fact that there are a multiplicity of structuring principles at work. We can regard the development of vocabulary as the interplay between factors favouring both stasis and change in complex systems. The aim is to describe, document, and, if possible, explain this interplay. The book has two major objectives, (a) lexicological: developing a coherent 'pragmatic' conception of the organization and dynamics of vocabulary, and (b) empirical: using this conception to describe German vocabulary around 1600 and - in a longitudinal study - to chart the astonishing history of cross-referential vocabulary in German.