Over the past decade, we have witnessed the emergence of computational historical lexical change as a distinct research field at the intersection of historical linguistics and computational linguistics. This development has been driven by the increasing availability of large-scale digitized historical corpora and the rapid advancements in computational methods—without which the field could not have flourished. However, alongside its successes, questions of disciplinary „ownership“ and “purpose” have arisen: Is this field fundamentally rooted in computational linguistics and NLP, in linguistics (particularly historical and cognitive linguistics), or in the humanities and social sciences more broadly?

In this talk, I will provide a concise historical overview of this rapidly evolving discipline, highlighting key milestones that have shaped its development and contributed to its success and popularity in research. I will review recent research advancements while also drawing attention to critical gaps that must be addressed if we aim to establish this field as a mature and influential area of study.