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 Printable version |
Word routes: The prefix “Eco” and ecology |
Environnement, Risques & Santé. Volume 11, Number 3, 230-9, Mai-Juin 2012, Note technique
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 Résumé
Texte intégral
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Author(s) : Luc Foulquier |
Summary : Ecology existed well before the French word was created for it in 1866 (the English word dates from 1873, according to the Oxford English Dictionary). This science and its vocabulary have developed greatly since then. The prefix “éco” (oïkos: habitat) has increasingly been used in French to meet the need to link humans to their environment. The French Committee for Terminology and Neologisms related to the Environment has seized upon this new aspect to undertake to define a series of words starting with “éco” that are now found in numerous texts. In view of the profusion of this vocabulary, it has been proposed that these words be classified according to the domain in which they are used: scientific, technical, economic, industrial, political, societal, advertising-related, etc. This method has the advantage of specifying the meaning given to a word and of placing it in a context to clarify the debate. It is nonetheless true that the explosion of the use of the prefix “éco” and of ecology in French is now a historical fact. |
Keywords : ecology, environment, terminology |
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