DEFENSE OF CONVENTIONAL SOVIET TERMINOLOGY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000600350225-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 19, 2011
• Sequence Number: 225
• Publication Date: October 6, 1950
• Content Type: REPORT

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Elektrichestvo, No 2, 1950, p 92.
CONFIQENI'IA1 ~:;
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
INFORMATION FROM
FOREIGN DOCUMENTS OR RADIO BROADCASTS
REPOR
CD N0.
COUNTRY
ussR
DATE OF
INFORMATION
1950
SUBJECT
HOW
Scientific -Terminology
DATE DIST.
~ Oct 1950
PUBLISHED
Monthly periodical
WHERE
PUBLISHED Moscow
DATE
PUBLISHED Feb 1950
LANGUAGE Russian
TNIS DOCU Y[NT CONTAINS IMPOR YATIOM AiFECTINO TN[ NATIONAL D[FtM![
Oi TN[ UMITLO 6TATF5 WITNIM TNt YLA NINO OF l1 PIO NAO[ ACT t0
V. 6. C.. ]1 AND ]L. AS AYENOE D. ITS TRANS YISSIDN OR TN[ R[V[LATIOX
OF ITS CONTLN TS IN ANY YAMM[R TO AN UNAU TNO RI ILD P[PSON IS PRO?
NILITEO ST LAW. P[PRODUCTION OF TNIS TORY I! PRO NISlTt O.
DEFENSE OF CONVENTIONAL SOVIET TERMINOLOGY
Engr G.M...Knorring
"Sevzapelektromontazh" Leningrad
..r~
In connection with theTwork is progress on Soviet technical terminology +,
and the problem of purifying it from foreign terms, it i.s necessary to draw ~
attention to the selection of one of the two main ways of dealing with the
matter. These are to introduce either (1) conventional terms or ;(2) des-
criptive terms. In Elektrichestvo,, No 9, 1949, ,0. I.' Zolotarev selects
the second method i _ I deem it necessary to defend the
first.
Persons working on terminology know how difficult it is to construct a
definition of this or that term, partly because every definition must satisfy
the requirements of monosignificance. All the concepts embraced by the term
should be covered by the definition, and all extraneous concepts should be ex-
cluded. I shall not speak here of the many other requirements which a defini-
tion must satisfy.
From this viewp~.nt, objection must'be made to descriptive terms. For
example, are ell rot.trols "amplifiers with combined excitation?" Yes, all
o,F them. But can it no?b'be.conceded that at some future date an amplifier .
kith combined excitation will appear and not be a rototrol in the present
sense of the ~croxdli!: It undoubtedly can. And so it is with any term. By
'introducing conventional terms, we not only obtain shorter expressions, but
also stipulate exactly what wg undarsi$nd by any particular term, thus obviat-
ing possible subsequent misunderstandings. Of course, the conventional terms
will win~rrut only if they are combinations of portions of words, and not chance
sets of letters.
For example, the two expressions "distribution of luminous.lntenaity" oP
sources and "light distribution" of sources are st?:11 competing. Apart from
the fact that the latter, the conventional term, is shorter, it is valuable.
becau6ai insintroducing it we clearly agree to understand it to mean the dis-
tribution of luminous intensity in various directions of space. As for
-1- CONFI~ENTIAt :,..,
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/14 :CIA-RDP80-00809A000600350225-3
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/14 :CIA-RDP80-00809A000600350225-3
-1
coxFm~riar.
"distribution of luminous intensity," this descriptive term maybe taken to
*~ean something else, e.g., the distribution of luminosity between separate
elements or of the installetion as a whole.
I suggest that, likewise, there is ao difficulty in proposing precise
and convenient Russiea terms for aew types of electric machines.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/14 :CIA-RDP80-00809A000600350225-3