terminology

n., pl. -gies.

1. The vocabulary of technical terms used in a particular field, subject, science, or art; nomenclature.
2. The study of nomenclature.

[German Terminologie, from Medieval Latin terminus, expression. See term.]

terminological ter'mi·no·log'i·cal (-nə-lŏj'ĭ-kəl) adj.
terminologically ter'mi·no·log'i·cal·ly adv.
terminologist ter'mi·nol'o·gist n.

The terminology used in the computer and telecommunications field adds tremendous confusion not only for the lay person, but for the technicians themselves. What many do not realize is that terms are made up by anybody and everybody in a nonchalant, casual manner without any regard or understanding of their ultimate ramifications. Programmers come up with error messages that make sense to them at the moment and never give a thought that people actually have to read them when something goes wrong. In addition, marketing people turn everything upside down, naming things based on how high-tech and sexy they sound. And, the worst of all is naming specific technologies with generic words. See naming fiascos and technical writer.

Following is an example of two routing protocols that are used to keep routers up-to-date with network information. OSPF and IS-IS do similar things; in fact, OSPF evolved from IS-IS, yet every element associated with these standards has a different name. This constant changing of names, changing of menus, changing of parameters, etc., is what makes this field incomprehensible and discourages a lot of good people from entering it.

  IS-IS                   OSPF
  Subdomain             - Area
  Level-1 area          - Non-backbone area
  Level-2 subdomain     - Backbone area
  L1L2 router           - Area Border Router
  Any Intermediate      - Autonomous System
    System                  Boundary Router
  End system            - Host
  Intermediate system   - Router
  Link                  - Circuit
  Protocol data unit    - Packet
  Designated            - Designated Router
    Intermediate System
   (no equivalent)      - Backup Designated Router
  Link-State PDU        - Link-State Advertisement
  IIH PDU               - Hello packet
  Complete Sequence     - Database description
    Number PDU

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noun

Specialized expressions indigenous to a particular field, subject, trade, or subculture: argot, cant², dialect, idiom, jargon, language, lexicon, lingo, patois, vernacular, vocabulary. See words.

1. the vocabulary of an art or science.
2. the science that deals with the investigation, arrangement and construction of terms.

• accurate t. — essential for proper data storage and retrieval and requires an internationally recognized nomenclature of diseases, pathology, clinical indicants, treatments and surgical operations.

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - terminologi

Nederlands (Dutch)
terminologie (vaktermen)

Français (French)
n. - terminologie

Deutsch (German)
n. - Terminologie, Systematik eines Fachwortschatzes

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - ονοματολογία, (τεχνική) ορολογία

Italiano (Italian)
terminologia

Português (Portuguese)
n. - terminologia (f)

Русский (Russian)
терминология

Español (Spanish)
n. - terminología

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - terminologi

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
用辞, 术语学

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 用辭, 術語學

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 술어학, 용어법, 술어

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 術語学, 用語法, 術語, 専門用語

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) المصطلحات الفنيه ( في علم ما)‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮מינוח, טרמינולוגיה‬

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