{"id":5580,"date":"2022-11-01T15:21:12","date_gmt":"2022-11-01T14:21:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.terminologia.it\/?page_id=5580"},"modified":"2022-11-01T15:56:39","modified_gmt":"2022-11-01T14:56:39","slug":"termemore-scientist","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.terminologia.it\/index.php\/termemore-scientist\/","title":{"rendered":"TerMeMore – Scientist"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Progetto TerMe More\n<\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Storia del termine Scientist\n<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Racconto della selezione di un termine tra alternative internazionali<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Il nostro viaggio attraverso l\u2019origine dei termini ci porta oggi nel Regno Unito e, nello specifico a Cambridge, dove William Whewell, Master del Trinity College, conia nel 1834 il termine scientist<\/strong>, preferendolo ad alternative quali Natural Philosopher<\/strong>, Cultivator of science<\/strong>, o Man of Science<\/strong> (Ross 1962; Miller 2017).<\/p>

Al tempo Whewell, professore di mineralogia e appassionato di linguaggio scientifico, era coinvolto, come altri esperti, quali Michael Faraday o Charles Darwin, nella discussione internazionale sulla formazione di termini scientifici e, in particolare, di un termine che definisse colui che si occupa di scienza (Ross 1962). Non sono rari i tentativi di denominazione di questo concetto risalenti a quell\u2019epoca: ne \u00e8 un esempio \u00e8 la proposta di Jane Austen, in Orgoglio e Pregiudizio<\/em>. Siamo nel 1813, e il termine scientist<\/strong> non esiste ancora:<\/p>

‘Every savage can dance, ‘ [said Mr Darcy.] Sir William only smiled…’ I doubt not that you are an adept in the<\/strong> science<\/strong> yourself, Mr Darcy. ‘ (Austen 1813: Chapter 6, page 4, in Ross 1962:68)<\/p>

Come riporta Ross (1962), il termine scientist<\/strong> ha origine, infatti, nel 1834 in una recensione pubblicata dall\u2019inglese Quarterly Review, <\/em>e dedicata al volume di Mary Sommerville On the connextion of the Physical Sciences<\/em>. La recensione, scritta da Whewell in forma anonima, contiene la prima proposta, allora ignorata, del termine:<\/p>

[\u2026] A curious illustration of the result may be observed in the want of any name by which we can designate the students of the knowledge of the material world collectively<\/strong>. [\u2026] this difficulty was felt very oppressively by the members of the British Association for the Advancement of Science<\/strong> [\u2026]. There was no general term<\/strong> by which these gentlemen could describe themselves with reference to their pursuits<\/strong>. Philosophers<\/strong> was felt to be too wide and too lofty a term, [\u2026]; savans<\/strong> was rather assuming, besides being French instead of English; some ingenious gentleman [Whewell himself] proposed that, by analogy with artist<\/strong>, they might form scientist<\/strong>, and added that there could be no scruple in making free with this termination<\/strong> when we have such words as sciolist<\/strong>, economist<\/strong>, and atheist<\/strong> [\u2026] (Whewell 1834:51, in Ross 1962:71)<\/p>

Particolarmente interessante dal nostro punto di vista \u00e8 come, nella ricerca del termine<\/strong>, vengano presi in considerazione equivalenti<\/strong> stranieri. Questo \u00e8 il caso del tedesco Naturforscher<\/strong>:<\/p>

[\u2026] others attempted to translate<\/strong> the term by which the members of similar associations in Germany have described themselves, but it was not found easy to discover an English equivalent for natur-forscher<\/strong>. The process of examination which it implies might suggest such undignified compounds as nature-poker,<\/strong> * or nature-peeper<\/strong>, for these naturae curiosi;<\/strong> but these were indignantly rejected. (ibid.)<\/p>

Anche il francese savant<\/strong> viene analizzato. Molto in uso nel Regno Unito a quel tempo, tanto da essere quasi naturalizzato (Ross 1962), e non pi\u00f9 riportato nelle riviste in corsivo, come si usava per i termini stranieri. \u00a0Nessuno dei due termini ottiene per\u00f2 l\u2019approvazione degli esperti. Alcuni anni pi\u00f9 tardi, nel 1840, nella sua Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences, <\/em>Whewell ripropone quindi il termine scientist<\/strong>:<\/p>

The terminations ize (rather than ise), ism, and ist, are applied to words of all origins: thus we have to pulverize, to colonize, Witticism, Heathenism, Journalist, Tobacconist. Hence we may make such words when they are wanted.<\/strong> As we cannot use physician<\/strong> for a cultivator of physics<\/strong>, I have called him a Physicist<\/strong>. We need very much a name to describe a cultivator of science in general. I should incline to call him a Scientist. Thus we might say, that as an Artist is a Musician, Painter, or Poet, a Scientist is a Mathematician, Physicist, or Naturalist<\/strong>. (Whewell 1840: vol 1: CXIII, in Ross 1962:72)<\/p>

Proprio il paragone con il gi\u00e0 esistente artist<\/strong> sembra convincere la comunit\u00e0 scientifica dell\u2019appropriatezza del termine scientist<\/strong> per indicare colui che si occupa di scienza<\/strong> (Ross 1962). La diffusione del termine \u00e8 poi testimoniata nel suo uso in articoli dell\u2019epoca come riporta, ad esempio, il Blackwood\u2019s Edinburgh Magazine<\/em>:<\/p>

They said Leonardo da Vinci<\/strong> was mentally a seeker after truth<\/strong>. He was a scientist<\/strong>. Well, Correggio<\/strong>, who as you may recall like to play with lightness and (technical difficulties) so the size of body parts, was an asserter of truth<\/strong>. He was an artist<\/strong>. (Unknown 1840:273)<\/p>

La scelta del termine scientist si riflette nella formazione di altri termini simili. Se prima era in uso la terminazione in -er,<\/strong> come in natural philosopher<\/strong>; con la creazione del termine scientist<\/strong>, molte altre figure della scienza sono state ribattezzate con termini quali physicist, biologist o mineralogist.<\/strong><\/p>

In conclusione, ci auguriamo, come sempre, che questo breve frammento della storia del termine scientist<\/strong> vi stimoli a riflettere sul processo di selezione<\/strong> tra diverse alternative che i termini hanno affrontato prima di assumere la loro forma attuale<\/strong>.<\/p>

Al prossimo termine!<\/p>

Bibliografia<\/strong><\/p>

Austen, Jane (1813) Pride and Prejudice London: T. Egerton.<\/p>

Conan, Neal (2010) How the word scientist came to be. Talk tot he Nation, NPR. Intervista allo storico Howard Markel, disponibile online: https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2010\/05\/21\/127037417\/how-the-word-scientist-came-to-be?t=1659516420231<\/a> (visitato in data 04.10.2022)<\/p>

Ross, Sydney B.Sc. Ph.D. (1962) \u2018Scientist: The story of a word\u2019 Annals of Science 18 (2): 65\u201385.<\/p>

Miller, David Philip (2017) The story of \u2018Scientist: The Story of a Word\u2019 Annals of Science 74 (4): 255\u2013261.<\/p>

Unknown (1840) \u2018On Leonardo da Vinci and Correggio\u2019 The Blackwood\u2019s Edinburgh Magazine 48: 270\u2013280.<\/p>

Whewell, William (1834) The Quarterly Review 51: 58\u201361.<\/p>

Whewell, William (1840) The Philosophy of Inductive Sciences. Volume 1. London: John W. Parker.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Scientist Progetto TerMe More Scientist Storia del termine Scientist Racconto della selezione di un termine tra alternative internazionali Progetto TerMe More – Storie di termini Il nostro viaggio attraverso l\u2019origine dei termini ci porta oggi nel Regno Unito e, nello specifico a Cambridge, dove William Whewell, Master del Trinity College, conia nel 1834 il termine […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":5586,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"no-sidebar","site-content-layout":"page-builder","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"disabled","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"disabled","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-5580","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.terminologia.it\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5580","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.terminologia.it\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.terminologia.it\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.terminologia.it\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.terminologia.it\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5580"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.terminologia.it\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5580\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5600,"href":"https:\/\/www.terminologia.it\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5580\/revisions\/5600"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.terminologia.it\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.terminologia.it\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}