37.1309, Confs: History of Terminology – Diachronic Terminology. The Emergence of a Terminological Conscienceness (France)

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LINGUIST List: Vol-37-1309. Wed Apr 01 2026. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 37.1309, Confs: History of Terminology – Diachronic Terminology. The Emergence of a Terminological Conscienceness (France)

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Date: 31-Mar-2026
From: Chloé Laplantine [shesl at shesl.org]
Subject: History of Terminology – Diachronic Terminology. The Emergence of a Terminological Conscienceness


History of Terminology – Diachronic Terminology. The Emergence of a
Terminological Conscienceness
Short Title: SHESL 2027

Date: 28-Jan-2027 - 29-Jan-2027
Location: Paris, France
Contact: Danielle Candel, Pascaline Dury & John Humbley
Contact Email: shesl2027 at listes.u-paris.fr
Meeting URL: https://shesl.org/en/conference2027

Linguistic Field(s): History of Linguistics

Submission Deadline: 30-Jun-2026

History of terminology – Diachronic terminology
The emergence of a terminological conscienceness
organized by Danielle Candel (SHESL / HTL), Pascaline Dury (CeRLA) &
John Humbley (ALTAE)
28 – 29 January 2027
Maison de la recherche, 4 rue des Irlandais, Paris 5e
This conference, which follows the second francophone conference on
diachronic terminology (held in Lyon in 2023), is intended to take
stock of research in terminology carried out in a historic or
evolutionary perspective. Two collective works have been published as
an outcome of this second conference (Dury and Picton eds., 2024, and
Humbley and Dury eds., in press). The former focuses on short-term
diachrony in a contemporary context using large corpora with a view to
tracking terminology as it changes over time in various areas
(scientific and technological but also in the field of research or in
the corporate sector).  The latter publication is more historic in
scope. It covers states of terminology from the more distant past and
how they may evolve. In addition to these two orientations, a further
perspective illustrates terminology as it has emerged as a discipline
(as reflected in the recent publication Warburton and Humbley eds.
2025).
Conference Description:
This conference continues the series inaugurated in 1988 in Brussels
by Caroline de Schaetzen under the patronage of the Conseil
international de la langue française (CILF). The second conference on
diachronic terminology took place in Lyon in 2023 on the initiative of
Pascaline Dury (CeRLA, Université Lumière Lyon 2). The topics
announced for 2023 are still relevant today: State of the art, Goals
in diachronic terminology research, Methods, Diachronicity and
temporality, Interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity,
Applications… In practice, there turns out to be some overlapping. For
example Methods constitute a transversal orientation common to many
fields of study…. In addition, related fields have proved of relevance
to diachronic terminology, in particular lexicography and history.
Another dimension of particularly relevance and which could well be
further investigated is the challenge of interdisciplinarity.
Diachronic terminology has been attracting more attention of late, as
witness several recent publications, generally joint efforts. For
example, the Cahiers de lexicologie have devoted two recent issues to
this theme: Science in words or how scientific terminology was formed
in the Middle Ages (n° 126, Ducos et Vigneron eds., 2025), and
Diachronic terminology: methodology and case studies (n° 118, Zanola
ed., 2021). Mention should also be made of Diachronic Terminology in
Terminology Science & Research, (vol. 28, Velicu ed., 2025) as well as
a series of studies on the theories of terminology, often taken from a
diachronic angle (Faber and L’Homme eds, 2022).
This new interest in diachronic terminology shows no signs of abating.
And yet as a discipline and object of study, terminology was generally
viewed from an almost exclusively synchronic angle, following the
precepts of Eugen Wüster. Was this an ad hoc restriction justified by
practical considerations in the field of industrial standardization
where immediate communication clarity was at stake, or was it rather a
theoretical stance? To answer this question, it may well be profitable
to revisit the writings of the Vienna School (see Candel, Samain and
Savatovsky, eds. 2022).
In their fields of practice, scientists are observed to be using
terminology that changes over time. These changes may be evidence of a
terminological awareness, of their thoughts on the terms they use and
the interest which this inspires in them. This is the case of terms in
short diachrony. In the case of long diachrony it is the corpus and/or
the historian which establish the link. In the one case, it is a
question of the history of terminology, in the other the emergence of
a terminological awareness which implies recourse to diachronic
terminology.
Papers are invited in one of three orientations, all of which
encompassing the emergence of a terminological consciousness in an
interdisciplinary framework.
1. The history of terminology and diachronic terminology: their
communalities
Among the research goals of diachronic terminology mention can be made
of the search for those language markers which point to the evolution
of a discipline, a science or a practice. This research orientation
may well shed a linguistic light on historical facts. On the other
hand, the goals of the history of terminology include the study of how
it evolved into a discipline. It would seem that the relation between
these two orientations, the history of terminology and diachronic
terminology, should be obvious, simply a matter of common sense, but
in fact they do not seem to have received the attention they deserved.
Does the practice of terminology necessarily lead to questioning of
the principles it is founded on?  Can it be claimed, for example, that
Diderot’s thoughts on the “langue des arts” or those of Lavoisier or
Guyton de Morveau on the nomenclature of chemical substances may be
instances of diachronic terminology, but also the forerunners of
terminological consciousness?
In addition to this research in long diachrony, examples can be found
of studies based on much shorter periods of time.
These short term diachronic studies are usually based on very large
corpora, whereas long term diachrony, which generally focuses on the
distant past, has to rely on much more limited corpus facilities, the
more limited more we move back in time.
This question of corpora regarding the diachronic dimension also
concerns very large digital corpora, large databanks and large
language models. The methodological consequences of these innovations
will be a major focus.
Indeed, it is imperative to take into account what is distinctive
about the corpora analysed and the subsequent use made of them.
Diachronic terminology, as has been noted above, has two different
configurations. The first aims at exploring texts divided up into
chronological periods with the view to collecting a set of indices
revealing changes in the terminology used, for example by examining
samples at intervals of five, ten years. This set of indices sheds
light on the scientific, technological or administrative changes made
over the period in question. The second form of diachronic terminology
is historical in orientation and aims at contributing to the study of
the evolution of science and technology in the past. The nature and
especially the size of historical corpora available is an important
methodological difference between the two approaches and which would
warrant further thought.
The conference also aims at exploring the links between “lexicography”
and the couple “diachronic terminology/history of terminology”.
Historical lexicography, as exemplified in French-language studies by
the dictionaries of Middle French and the dictionary of medieval
scientific French, is an important means of access to analysing the
terminology of the past, and, in the form of the history of terms is a
prerequisite to the history of terminology. Research on historical
dictionaries (cf. Cetro 2022 for Félibien) highlight lexical choices,
including in specialised contexts and hereby herald the awakening of a
terminological consciousness.
2. Diachronic terminology and the challenge of interdisciplinarity
Interdisciplinarity is an integral part of diachronic terminology. The
diachronist needs to have a command of the discipline or technology
whose terminology is under study and the capacity to enter into a
dialogue with the specialists of the field concerned. The role of
subject field specialists who are not themselves linguists in their
approach to the corresponding terminology is important as well.
Interdisciplinarity characterizes the work of the terminologist who
focuses on the overlap of terminologies in a descriptive or
prescriptive perspective. Diachronic terminology may be called upon to
play a role in various historical studies focusing on language as a
vehicle for the transmission and creation of specialized knowledge by
analysing discourse produced in specialised historic contexts. But
taking part in parallel studies is not without confronting
epistemological questions. This is indeed the case for any historical
research carried out on the linguistic aspects of the expression of
specialized knowledge. To what extent can one carry out research in
the history of a language without appropriate training in history and
historiography? How can collaboration between linguists and field
specialists or historians of the history of science, or quite simply
between linguists and historians?
Why is it that there seems to be so little teamwork between linguists
and subject field specialists? There are of course concrete examples
of linguists who also have training in another field, such as history
or botany.
Are epistemological issues easier to synthesize in an individual
rather than in a collective context?
Whatever the difficulties associated with interdisciplinarity,
however, it would seem, after this brief overview, that diachronic
terminology is per se an interdisciplinary field.
3. How ideas evolve in science and technology and how the changes are
formulated
An important focus of this conference is on the development of science
and the contribution of specialized lexicography and conceptually
orientated terminology. Specialised designations change over time and
terminologies are enriched. These may be cases of natural evolution
but for some countries an official body may make recommendations,
field by field. This is the case of prescriptive terminology.
Research into historical terminology is closely linked to the history
of ideas and to the emergence of new subject fields, their history,
their evolution, their development.
Please send your abstracts by 30 June 2026, at the latest, to the
shesl2027 at listes.u-paris.fr
Abstracts of approximately 250 words must include a bibliography.
Information https://shesl.org/en/conference2027 and
shesl2027 at listes.u-paris.fr
Selected Recent Bibliography:
Candel, Danielle, 2025, “Terminology in France, Evolution of its
official framework”, in Kara Warburton and John Humbley, Terminology
throughout History: A discipline in the making, John Benjamins
Publishing Company, p. 460-475.
Candel, Danielle, 2022, “General principles of Wüster’s General Theory
of Terminology”, Theoretical Perspectives on Terminology – Explaining
terms, concepts and specialized knowledge, in Pamela Faber &
Marie-Claude L’Homme eds, John Benjamins Publishing Company, p. 37-59.
Candel, Danielle, Didier Samain et Dan Savatovsky eds, 2022, Eugen
Wüster et la terminologie de l’école de Vienne, SHESL, HEL Livres, 2.
Cetro, Rosa, 2022, La démarche terminologique d’André Félibien. La
systématisation du lexique artistique en français, L’Harmattan Italia.
Ducos, Joëlle et Fleur Vigneron, 2025, Terminology Science & Research,
Vol. 28, La terminologie diachronique (section thématique).
Ducos, Joëlle et Fleur Vigneron, 2025, La science par les mots ou
comment former une terminologie scientifique au Moyen Âge, Cahiers de
lexicologie, 126.
Dury, Pascaline et John Humbley (à paraître), Approches historiques en
terminologie, Presses universitaires de Lyon.
Dury, Pascaline et John Humbley, 2025, « La terminologie diachronique
comme interface disciplinaire », Velicu, Terminology Science &
Research, 28 (https://journal-eaft-aet.net/index.php/tsr), p. 8-31.
Dury, Pascaline et Aurélie Picton eds, 2024, La dimension diachronique
dans les langues de spécialité, Lexique n°35.
https://edition-scientifique.univ-lille.fr/actualites/detail-actualite/parution-lexique-n35-decembre-2024.
Dury, Pascaline et Aurélie Picton, 2009, « Terminologie et diachronie
: vers une réconciliation théorique et méthodologique ? », Revue
française de linguistique appliquée, (2), p. 31-41.
Faber, Pamela et Marie-Claude L’Homme eds., 2022, Theoretical
Perspectives on Terminology – Explaining terms, concepts and
specialized knowledge, John Benjamins Publishing Company, 598 p.
Humbley, John, 2025, « La terminologie avant la lettre », Les Cahiers
de lexicologie 126, p. 49-79.
Humbley, John, 2022, “The reception of Wüster’s General Theory of
Terminology”, Theoretical Perspectives on Terminology – Explaining
terms, concepts and specialized knowledge, Pamela Faber & Marie-Claude
L’Homme eds., John Benjamins Publishing Company, p. 15-35.
Martin, Robert, 1998, « Le Dictionnaire du moyen français (DMF) »,
Comptes rendus des séances de l’Académie des Inscriptions et
Belles-Lettres, 142(4), p. 961-982.
Picton, Aurélie, 2009, Diachronie en langue de spécialité, définition
d’une méthode linguistique outillée pour repérer l’évolution des
connaissances en corpus : un exemple appliqué au domaine spatial.
Thèse de l’Université de Toulouse II.
Samain, Didier (à paraître), dans Dury, Pascaline et John Humbley,
Approches historiques en terminologie, Presses Universitaires de Lyon.
Samain, Didier, 2024, “Savez-vous quand on peut parler de terminologie
? », Le saviez-vous 18, HTL,
htl.cnrs.fr/le-saviez-vous-18/#d5d0eeb0-0897-4220-bc61-036be90c4e2a,
10 avril 2024.
Selosse, Philippe ed., 2024, « La terminologie à la Renaissance », Le
Français préclassique, 26, Paris, Champion.
Velicu, Anca-Marina, ed., 2025, La terminologie diachronique,
Terminology Science and Research vol. 28.
Warburton, Kara & John Humbley eds., 2025, Terminology throughout
History – A discipline in the making, John Benjamins Publishing
Company, 678 p.



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