Aproximación terminológica a una parcela de la física renacentista

Abstract

The aim of physics is the description of natural phenomena and the study of the properties of matter and energy. This study is based on a terminological selection of scientific mathematical Renaissance texts integrated in the corpus of Diccionario de la Ciencia y de la Técnica del Renacimiento (DICTER), which designates the composition and the way in which an instrument for measurements, such as scales, operates. This terminology also covers the empirical implementation of these lexemes in artillery and engineering. This study focuses on words whose referents are constitutive parts or meronyms: cabeza, brazos, balanzas, fiel o fil, dirección. It specifies the characteristics and properties of their usage: equilibra, equilibrio, equilibrar, equilibridad, igual, igualdad, and their antonyms: desigual, desigualdad. We highlight the presence of certain verbal units with a classifying nominal function: peso de cruz, balança de un peso, balança de equilibra; fil del aire; fil de equilibra; línea de dirección, línea de igualdad, punto de igualdad, sitio de igualdad, etc., and some idioms such as: estar en fiel; en balanza, en equilibra, etc. This study also considers the etymology and origin of these words and their variants, dwells on details of dating, chronology, and neological aspects. Based on different synchronic or diachronic lexicographical repertoires, this paper also studies the different meanings of these terms, which are illustrated with corresponding examples. This research sheds new light on this specific scientific domain of the Renaissance period.