Historical terminography of Russian language: timeline and prospectsfor development

Historical terminography solves theoretical andpractical problems of lexicographical fixation of the special vocabulary of past eras. Thisbranch of linguistics is actively engaged with a wide range of scientific disciplines. Thevery existence of historical terminography is impossible without the support of theconceptual apparatus of the diverse areas of human knowledge and practice. Historicaldictionaries of specialized vocabulary reflect the formation of term systems. They containinformation about the features of scientific, economic, social, political and cultural life ofour ancestors, as well as the stages of accumulation of scientific knowledge about thematerial and mental world. That is why not only the scientists who study the history ofRussian language and culture have the need in such dictionaries, but the inquisitive peopleof all ages and professions, too.Traditions of lexicographical description of the "Russian Antiquities" were laid byV.I. Tatishchev in the late 18th century. The first historical and terminological dictionarieswere poorly differentiated from the encyclopedic reference books, the descriptive methodof interpretation of words dominated and a variety of background information wasreported.In the mid-twentieth century historical terminography was part of the AppliedLinguistics. The main objectives of this branch of Russian studies were: 1) reflection of thespecial vocabulary in the early stages of the term systems formation; 2) demonstration ofthe dynamics of nominative processes within the forming terminology; 3) a reflection ofdeep connection of the language with the spiritual and material culture of the society.There is a great variety of types of historical dictionaries of the special vocabulary of theRussian language. According to the subject areas there are interdisciplinary, specializedand industry specific dictionaries. According to the purpose there are encyclopaedic,definition dictionaries, definition dictionaries with elements of encyclopaedic description.In terms of volume there are big, medium, small and mini-dictionaries. Depending on theorder of the entries there are alphabetic, ideographic historical and terminologicaldictionaries.The vital problem of historical terminography at the present stage is to create adictionary of the active type, oriented not only on the fixation of semantic content, but alsoon the reflection of the dynamics of the specific word. It is important to enhance the socioculturalcomponent of the dictionaries. It is necessary to develop a theoretical frameworkof lexicographical description of the various categories of special vocabulary of theRussian language of the 11th-17th and 18th - the beginning of the 20th centuries (terms,preterms, terminoids, industry words). In addition, of great importance is the involvementof new sources, preparation of electronic files and implementation of computer methods ofanalysis and lexicographical fixation of the vocabulary of the past eras. It is relevant tocreate dictionaries, which reflect the linguistic and functional diversity of the specializedvocabulary in its historical development.

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