logomachy
    n 1: argument about words or the meaning of words

Logomachy \Lo*gom"a*chy\, n. [Gr. ?; lo`gos word + ? fight,
   battle, contest: cf. F. logomachie.]
   1. Contention in words merely, or a contention about words; a
      war of words.
      [1913 Webster]

            The discussion concerning the meaning of the word
            "justification" . . . has largely been a mere
            logomachy.                            --L. Abbott.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. A game of word making.
      [1913 Webster]

LOGOMACHY, n.  A war in which the weapons are words and the wounds
punctures in the swim-bladder of self-esteem -- a kind of contest in
which, the vanquished being unconscious of defeat, the victor is
denied the reward of success.

    'Tis said by divers of the scholar-men
    That poor Salmasius died of Milton's pen.
    Alas! we cannot know if this is true,
    For reading Milton's wit we perish too.