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In:Terminology throughout History: A discipline in the making
Edited by Kara Warburton and John Humbley
[Terminology and Lexicography Research and Practice 24] 2025
► pp. 48–65

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Chapter 2
Terminology at the end of the Middle Ages in France

 | Sorbonne Université, EPHE, PSL
 | KU Leuven
 | KU Leuven
 | Université Grenoble Alpes
Published online: 23 May 2025
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https://doi.org/10.1075/tlrp.24.02duc
Abstract
The Middle Ages were characterised by the emergence of European vernacular languages, which took their place beside Latin, hitherto the language of science practised by learned clerics and academics. Latin terminology was at the same time constituted by the integration of Greco-Latin and Arabic learning. This type of situation, where knowledge was often conveyed by translated and commented texts, paved the way for the creation of neologisms and linguistic innovations, in Latin as well as in the vernacular. This chapter examines the way terminologies and specialised lexical usages originated and developed, the social circles and the domains which promoted this expansion and the different coining and lexicalisation processes involved, focusing especially on French-speaking countries. After a general presentation of the medieval situation, two scientific domains will be analysed by way of example. The first is medicine, which gave rise to numerous Latin and French texts, and the second is botany, situated at the crossroads of common language and specialised uses. The medieval period is thus revealed as a veritable terminological laboratory, a time of linguistic experimentation serving the dissemination of science.
Article outline
  • 1.Terminologies in the Middle Ages: Creation, translation and tradition
    • 1.1A period of reflection on concepts and words
    • 1.2Lexical specificity
    • 1.3Medieval directories, glossaries and terminologies
    • 1.4Scholars, academics and professionals
    • 1.5Latin and vernaculars
  • 2.French medical vocabulary in the medieval period
    • 2.1Medicine from Antiquity to the Middle Ages
    • 2.2Towards a French medical vocabulary
    • 2.3Translation techniques and the coining of a new vocabulary
  • 3.French botanical terminology during the Middle Ages
  • 4.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
References (46)
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