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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. 389–408

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Chapter 17
The evolution of terminology standardisation

 | Infoterm
Published online: 23 May 2025
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https://doi.org/10.1075/tlrp.24.17gal
Abstract
The need for terminology unification and harmonisation grew significantly after the European Renaissance, and even more so during the industrial revolutions. Formal standardisation of terminologies began around 1900, efforts to standardise the methods of terminology standardisation in the mid-1930s. Today, there are standards for many aspects of terminology science and its manifold applications encompassing terminology theory and methodology, terminological activities and infrastructures, terminology management software and tools, terminological data, etc. After World War II, developments in the area of terminology standardisation accelerated with new facets and in a growing number of domains and subjects. Infoterm played a significant role in these developments with the result that standardisation has probably become the largest field of cooperation in terminology at international, regional, and national levels.
Article outline
  • 1.Outline and basic concepts
  • 2.Standardisation from earliest roots till around 1900
    • 2.1Evolution of terminology and roots of terminology standardisation
    • 2.2Terminology unification, standardisation, and harmonisation till 1945
  • 3.Technical standardisation and terminology standardisation after 1945
  • 4.Harmonisation of principles and methods for terminology standardisation
    • 4.1Pioneers of standardised terminological principles and methods before 1945
    • 4.2The emergence of international standards on terminology methodology
      • 4.2.1Foundation phases of ISO/TC 37 (after 1951) and infoterm (after 1971)
      • 4.2.2Consolidation phase of ISO/TC 37 and infoterm in the 1980s
      • 4.2.3ISO/TC 37 and Infoterm in the 1990s: A new atmosphere of change
      • 4.2.4Further progress after 2000
  • 5.Conclusions and outlook
  • Notes
  • References
References (37)
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