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terminology

 
Dictionary: ter·mi·nol·o·gy   (tûr'mə-nŏl'ə-jē) pronunciation
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.

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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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Thesaurus: terminology
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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.

Veterinary Dictionary: terminology
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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.
Wikipedia: Terminology
Top

Terminology is the study of terms and their use. Terms are words and compound words that are used in specific contexts. Not to be confused with "terms" in colloquial usages, the shortened form of technical terms (or terms of art) which are defined within a discipline or speciality field. The discipline Terminology studies among other things how such terms of art come to be and their interrelationships within a culture.

Terminology therefore denotes a more formal discipline which systematically studies the labelling or designating of concepts particular to one or more subject fields or domains of human activity, through research and analysis of terms in context, for the purpose of documenting and promoting correct usage. This study can be limited to one language or can cover more than one language at the same time (multilingual terminology, bilingual terminology, and so forth) or may focus on studies of terms across fields.

Terminology is not connected to information retrieval in any way but focused on the meaning and conveyance of concepts. "Terms" (i.e. index terms) used in an information retrieval context are not the same as "terms" used in the context of terminology, as they are not always technical terms of art.

Contents

Overview

The discipline of terminology is based on its own theoretical principles and consists primarily of the following aspects:

  • analysing the concepts and concept structures used in a field or domain of activity
  • identifying the terms assigned to the concepts
  • in the case of bilingual or multilingual terminology, establishing correspondences between terms in the various languages
  • compiling the terminology, on paper or in databases
  • managing terminology databases
  • creating new terms, as required

Types of terminology

A distinction is made between two types of terminology:

  • Ad hoc terminology, which deals with a single term or a limited number of terms
  • Systematic terminology, which deals with all the terms in a specific subject field or domain of activity

Ad hoc terminology is prevalent in the translation profession, where a translation for a specific term (or group of terms) is required quickly to solve a particular translation problem.

Terminology as a discipline

As a discipline, terminology is related to translation, alongside which it is often taught in universities and translation schools. Large translation departments and translation bureaus will often have a terminology section, or will require translators to do terminology research.

Typology

Terminology is also defined by context, the study of terms primarily concerned with organizing them by the context in which they are used. These contexts may include:

See also

External links


Translations: Terminology
Top

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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Thesaurus. Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary Copyright © 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Veterinary Dictionary. Saunders Comprehensive Veterinary Dictionary 3rd Edition. Copyright © 2007 by D.C. Blood, V.P. Studdert and C.C. Gay, Elsevier. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Terminology" Read more
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