Eugen Wüster (10 October 1898 – 29 March 1977) was an
industrialist
A business magnate, also known as a tycoon, is a person who has achieved immense wealth through the ownership of multiple lines of enterprise. The term characteristically refers to a powerful entrepreneur or investor who controls, through perso ...
and
terminologist.
Career
Wüster became enthusiastic about
Esperanto
Esperanto ( or ) is the world's most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Created by the Warsaw-based ophthalmologist L. L. Zamenhof in 1887, it was intended to be a universal second language for international communi ...
when he was 15, soon coming to the fore as an Esperanto translator
and as the author of various monographs and numerous articles, particularly on questions of Esperanto
terminology
and
lexicography. He trained in
electrical engineering
Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...
and later took over his father's factory.
From mid-1918 to 1920, as a 20- to 22-year-old student, he compiled the core of the legendary encyclopedic Esperanto-German dictionary, which is still unmatched to this day for its detailed and faithful presentation of the early vocabulary of Esperanto and the usage of its founder,
L.L. Zamenhof
L. L. Zamenhof (15 December 185914 April 1917) was an ophthalmologist who lived for most of his life in Warsaw. He is best known as the creator of Esperanto, the most widely used constructed international auxiliary language.
Zamenhof first ...
. The experience Wüster acquired in compiling this
dictionary
A dictionary is a listing of lexemes from the lexicon of one or more specific languages, often arranged alphabetically (or by radical and stroke for ideographic languages), which may include information on definitions, usage, etymologies ...
formed the basis for his
Stuttgart
Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...
thesis, which is regarded as a seminal work on
Terminology Science (2nd edition, Bonn 1966).
Due to his research on international technical communication, the Technical Committee for Terminology Standardization of the
International Organization for Standardization (
ISO/TC 37
ISO/TC 37 is a technical committee within the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) that prepares standards and other documents concerning methodology and principles for terminology and language resources.
Title: Terminology an ...
) was established in 1936.
Wüster forged the international principles of terminology standardization and contributed significantly to the foundations of the modern
information society. The influence of Wüster's terminology ideas has been enormous especially in the medical field, where it has also given rise to a critical reaction.
He taught at the
University of Vienna. The Eugen-Wüster Archives at the University of Vienna as well as at the
Esperanto Museum and Department of Planned Languages of the Austrian National Library are based on material that he bequeathed.
The Eugene Wüster Prize for outstanding achievements in the field of terminological research has been established under the sponsorship of the Vienna University and the City of Vienna.
Terminology
Wüster collaborated in the compilation and publishing of the first edition of the ''International Electrotechnical Vocabulary'', London 1938. The latest version of this vocabulary is available online.
He also worked on problems of
bibliography
Bibliography (from and ), as a discipline, is traditionally the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology (from ). English author and bibliographer John Carter describes ''bibliography ...
, on reform of
German orthography, on the
Universal Decimal Classification system, on problems in informatics. He was an expert concerning saws, edited a model standard dictionary using the example of Machine tools, the latest version of which is available online.
In 1971 Wüster initiated the founding of
Infoterm,
Infoterm
/ref> which he pro-actively supported until his death.
He left many unpublished manuscripts on various subjects.
Publications (selection)
* ''Internationale Sprachnormung in der Technik, besonders in der Elektrotechnik'' (International Language standardization in technology, particularly in electrical engineering.'). (Die nationale Sprachnormung und ihre Verallgemeinerung) (The national language standardization and generalization). Berlin: VDJ 1931. 2nd edition. Bonn: Bouvier 1966
* ''Die Herstellung der Sägeblätter für Holz. Eine Betriebsführung für Sägewerker und andere Sägenfachleute'' (The production of saw blades for wood. An operational guide for saw mills and other cutting specialists). Springer, Wien 1952
* ''Bibliography of monolingual scientific and technical glossaries'', 2nd edition, Unesco, Paris 1955, 1959
* ''Einführung in die allgemeine Terminologielehre und terminologische Lexikographie'' (the general introduction to terminology and terminological lexicography lesson). 3rd Edition, Romanistischer Verlag, Bonn 1991,
* ''International bibliography of standardized vocabularies. Bibliographie internationale de vocabulaires normalisés''. (International Bibliography of the standard dictionaries.) Initiated by Eugene Wüster. Prepared by Helmut Felber t al. 2nd ed / Wüster, Eugen / Saur, München 1979
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Translations
* ''Introduction to the General Theory of Terminology and Terminological Lexicography''. Springer, Wien 1979
* ''Introduction à la théorie générale de la terminologie et à la lexicographie terminologique''. Girsterm, Université Laval, Quebec 1979
* ''Introducción a la teoría general de la terminología y a la lexicografía terminológica.'' Institut Universitari de Lingüística Aplicada (IULA), Universität Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona 1998, (2nd edition 2003)
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wuster, E.
1898 births
1977 deaths
Austrian scientists
Linguists from Austria
Austrian Esperantists
Terminologists
20th-century linguists
20th-century lexicographers