Term formation as a collaborative practice: between translation and cooperation among experts

This study describes a 19th-century debate among scholars on the periodisation of English medieval architecture. Through this example, in this article, I explore the creation of architectural vocabulary as a collaborative act, whereby the cooperation among experts shaped concepts and terms. At the same time, a translational perspective is offered through the comparison of English and French nomenclatures, which contributed to the creation of a European code of medieval architecture. To illustrate such collaborative practices of terminologists, original quotes from the debate are presented and discussed. The analysis reveals that while “proper” term translation was not considered as possible, given the exclusively national character of architecture, experts drew inspirations from foreign scholars in the formation of terms, thus fostering international communication and exchange of ideas. Moreover, term formation, as theorised by Sager (1990), is described as a collaborative, and sometimes non-collaborative practice, where multiple actors and factors, including the co- existence of an official and several conversational nomenclatures, contributed to making scientific language evolve.