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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. 424–442

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Chapter 19
Terminology in the Arab world

Dynamics and developments

 | Lebanese American University
 | Lebanese University
Published online: 23 May 2025
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/tlrp.24.19aff
Abstract
This chapter traces the history of modern Arabic terminology. It begins with the 19th century, when translation contributed to the creation of terminology in different fields. Two countries emerged as the main catalysts: Egypt and Syria. Moving on to the 20th century and onwards, the chapter focuses on activities related to terminology within several organisations and academies. These activities were the fruit of promising projects of Arabisation and contributed to the creation and dissemination of terms. Nevertheless, each academy and institution had its own terminology, which resulted in a proliferation of synonyms. This factor, coupled with others highlighted in this chapter, is likely to have negatively affected the status of modern Arabic terminology.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Terminological activities from the 19th and 20th centuries onward
  • 3.The role of Arabisation in the dissemination of terms
    • 3.1The producers
      • 3.1.1The academies
      • 3.1.2Institutes, universities and research centres
    • 3.2The disseminators
      • 3.2.1Compilers
      • 3.2.2Publishers
      • 3.2.3Government-led projects
      • 3.2.4Terminology banks
      • 3.2.5Multinational corporations
    • 3.3The users
    • 3.4The standardisers
  • 4.Terminological instability and proliferation of terms
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
References (24)
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