This work examines the development of lexical semantics within the evolution of modern linguistics, beginning with nineteenth century scholars, whose orientation was purely historical. Against this backdrop, the study focuses on the subsequent shift toward a synchronic perspective and the consequences for both descriptive and theoretical semantics. The survey clarifies the distinction between structural linguistics in its European and American manifestations and moves toward an analysis of competing models of semantics as they developed within the framework of transformational generative grammar. Among scholars whose work is examined in detail are Friedrich Haase, Michel Breal, Ferdinand de Saussure, C.K. Ogden & I.A.Richards, J.R. Firth, Gustav Stern, Pierre Guiraud, Leonard Bloomfield, Eugene Nida, Martin Joos, Uriel Weinreich, J.J. Katz & J.A.Fodor, and Jeffrey Gruber.