orismology
Nov. 15th, 2013 07:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
prettygoodwordorismology (awr-iz-MOL-uh-jee) - n., the science of defining technical terms.
Or the study thereof. This was coined in 1816 by entomologists William Kirby and William Spence as an alternative to terminology, which they objected to because it mixes Latin and Greek roots -- so they took a Greek equivalent of Latin terminus, a marking of boundaries, horismós (related to horizon), and viola! The initial h- was dropped for reasons (namely, that was standard for one common system for romanizing Greek at the time).
---L.
Or the study thereof. This was coined in 1816 by entomologists William Kirby and William Spence as an alternative to terminology, which they objected to because it mixes Latin and Greek roots -- so they took a Greek equivalent of Latin terminus, a marking of boundaries, horismós (related to horizon), and viola! The initial h- was dropped for reasons (namely, that was standard for one common system for romanizing Greek at the time).
---L.
