The Term and Terminology in Critical Discourse: An Inquiry into the Emergence of the Concept in Tradition and Modernity

Abstract

This study seeks to investigate the emergence of the concept of terminology in the works of both early and modern scholars. In parallel, it attempts to reveal the manner in which the science of terminology took shape in the 1930s through a number of schools, thanks to which both term and terminology came to occupy a distinctive position in the Western and Arab cultural landscapes alike. This is because what distinguishes a term from a general linguistic expression is its specificity. The coinage of a term by specialists is governed by a precise and well-defined theoretical framework that assigns a single linguistic sign to each concept, agreed upon by convention, thereby rendering it a specific linguistic marker tied to a particular field of knowledge.Moreover, specialists have confronted the terminological problem with considerable awareness,viewing it as one of the most controversial critical issues in transmission, translation, and usage. Consequently, recourse to the science of terminology (terminology studies) has become an inevitable necessity for addressing this problem, with due consideration of the term's specificity in its formulation and establishment. Arab scholarly efforts, in turn, have kept pace with terminological issues and have contributed proposals aimed at laying the foundations for an Arabic terminology grounded in scientific theories, drawing its epistemological resources from both heritage and modernity, and relying on approaches such as revival and innovation, as well as rooting and systematisation.