diff --git a/lib/linguist/lexer.rb b/lib/linguist/lexer.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..9f9ac26c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/linguist/lexer.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+require 'yaml'
+
+module Linguist
+  class Lexer < Struct.new(:name, :aliases, :filenames, :mimetypes)
+    @name_index  = {}
+    @alias_index = {}
+
+    def self.find_by_name(name)
+      @name_index[name.downcase]
+    end
+
+    def self.find_by_alias(name)
+      @alias_index[name.downcase]
+    end
+
+    def self.[](name)
+      find_by_name(name) || find_by_alias(name)
+    end
+
+    def to_s
+      aliases.first
+    end
+
+    def ==(other)
+      eql?(other)
+    end
+
+    def eql?(other)
+      equal?(other)
+    end
+
+    YAML.load_file(File.expand_path("../lexers.yml", __FILE__)).each do |lexer|
+      @name_index[lexer.name.downcase] = lexer
+      lexer.aliases.each do |name|
+        @alias_index[name.downcase] = lexer
+      end
+    end
+  end
+end
diff --git a/test/test_lexer.rb b/test/test_lexer.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b81fd5a6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/test_lexer.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+require 'linguist/lexer'
+
+require 'test/unit'
+
+class TestLexer < Test::Unit::TestCase
+  include Linguist
+
+  def test_find_by_name
+    assert_equal Lexer['Ruby'], Lexer.find_by_name('Ruby')
+    assert_equal Lexer['Ruby'], Lexer.find_by_name('ruby')
+    assert_equal Lexer['Ruby'], Lexer.find_by_name('RUBY')
+  end
+
+  def test_find_by_alias
+    assert_equal Lexer['Ruby'], Lexer.find_by_alias('rb')
+    assert_equal Lexer['Ruby'], Lexer.find_by_alias('ruby')
+    assert_equal Lexer['Ruby'], Lexer.find_by_alias('duby')
+  end
+
+  def test_name
+    assert_equal 'Ruby',   Lexer['Ruby'].name
+    assert_equal 'Python', Lexer['Python'].name
+    assert_equal 'Perl',   Lexer['Perl'].name
+  end
+
+  def test_aliases
+    assert_equal ['rb', 'ruby', 'duby'], Lexer['Ruby'].aliases
+    assert_equal ['python', 'py'],       Lexer['Python'].aliases
+    assert_equal ['perl', 'pl'],         Lexer['Perl'].aliases
+  end
+
+  def test_eql
+    assert Lexer['Ruby'].eql?(Lexer['Ruby'])
+    assert !Lexer['Ruby'].eql?(Lexer['Python'])
+    assert !Lexer['Ruby'].eql?(Lexer.new('Ruby'))
+  end
+end