Some Tendencies in the Development of the Terminology of Hermeneutics in the English Language

Abstract

Although terminology is a branch of linguistics with a long history, a number of terminological systems have not been thoroughly analyzed. One of the areas that falls into this category is the terminology of humanitarian subjects because the way their terminology is formed differs from the term formation of STEM disciplines. Sublanguages of humanitarian disciplines quite often borrow general language words, which can be explained by the fact that the area of their studies is related to general rules of society functioning. In the course of transfer from the general language to domain-specific language, the semantic and/or morphological structure of words might undergo modifications. This article analyses the methods of formation of the English terminology of hermeneutics. Hermeneutics is a theory and methodology of text interpretation. One of the distinguishing features of its sublanguage is the fact that it is formed with the use of a considerable number of general language words that are used by text interpreters in a specialized meaning. This paper presents the analysis of the semantic transformations of some of these words after they became part of the sublanguage of hermeneutics.