[Contents]

Glossary

Abbreviations and Acronyms

Abbreviations and acronyms have only been used where they have become the recognised term, e.g. BACAT. Their meaning has then been explained in the scope note.

Alphabetical List

The name given to the display of all the terms in a thesaurus (alphabetical and non-alphabetical) when displayed in a book or computer display (for example, a web-browser).

Broader Term (BT)

A term that represents a broader concept to other terms within the same class. The Broader Term (BT) is broader in scope than the terms below it in the Hierarchy. These are the Narrower Terms (NT). This relationship is also known as the "parent-child" or "generic" relationship. A Broader Term may have many narrower terms. A Narrower Term may itself be a Broader Term to other more specific terms below it in the hierarchy. For example narrow boat is the broader term of Birmingham day boat, which is the broader term of tube boat.

Candidate Term

A Candidate Term is a new term which has been proposed by users for inclusion in the thesaurus. Each term will be reviewed by the mda waterways Terminology Working Group and a decision will be made as to whether the term should be included as a Preferred or Non-Preferred Term and placed into the thesaurus accordingly.

Class (CL)

The highest term within a Hierarchy. These terms are used merely as grouping terms to aid retrieval and as such are Non-Index Terms.

Classical Terms see Foreign Term

Dialect Term see Regional Term

Facet Indicator

A term or phrase qualifying a term which is then used as a guide term, i.e. A Non-Index Term, indicating the concept by which Narrower Terms are grouped within that facet. In this thesaurus the qualifier appears in angle brackets (for example, <narrow boat by type>.

Foreign Term

Terms which are well established within the English language, or are in common usage within the archaeological or architectural community, are included within the thesaurus.

Generic Relationship

The principal link between a Class or a Broader Term and its members or Narrower Terms. This relationship follows the 'all-and-some' rule (for example, tube boat is a type of Birmingham day boat but not all Birmingham day boats are tube boats.

Grouping Term

A non-index term used to bring together other terms with a common concept, e.g. boat equipment. They are displayed in lower case, normal type.

Hierarchical List

The name given to the layout of the Hierarchy when displayed in a book or computer display (for example, a web browser).

Hierarchy

An arrangement of terms showing Broader-Narrower relationships between them.

Homographs

Homographs (or Homonyms) are terms which have the same spelling but different meanings. In this thesaurus these are distinguished by a qualifier in round brackets (for example, apron (boat component) and apron (costume). They have also been used to distinguish terms that have a more common meaning outside the Waterways Object Names Thesaurus (e.g. pencil (oar)). The use of Homographs has been restricted within the thesaurus. Where they do appear, they may have an effect on computerized retrieval. This problem and a possible solution should be noted in recording guidelines for specific system being used to ensure adequate retrieval (for example, always query using a wild card symbol following the term).

Hyphens

Hyphens are not used in the thesaurus as their inclusion inhibits retrieval. Therefore hyphenated words are treated as two words.

Index Term

A term that can be used to describe a waterways object in records on a database (for example, watercan). In this thesaurus, Index Terms appear in upper case, bold type.

Language Order

Natural Language Order is used for all Preferred and Non-Preferred Terms (for example, kedge anchor rather than anchor, kedge.

Loan Words see Foreign Term

Multi-Level

A thesaurus structure with varying levels of Broader and Narrower Terms.

Multiple-Indexing

To retrieve and record different facets of particular objects, it is possible to index with more than one Preferred Term, e.g. a royalty class boat that was made of steel could be indexed using: royalty class boat and steel boat.

Narrower Term (NT)

A term that represents a child to other terms within a Class (for example, lodging knee is a Narrower Term of knee. A Narrower Term can have more than one Broader Term (BT).

Non-Index Term

A Non-Index Term (or Guide Term) is a Preferred Term, which cannot be used as an Index Term, but is useful in the thesaurus as a grouping term for retrieval purposes only (for example, e.g. boat equipment). Non-Index Terms are distinguished in this thesaurus by appearing in lower case, non-bold type.

Non-Preferred Term

A Non-Preferred Term is a term which cannot be selected for indexing or retrieval (for example, it is synonymous with a term which is already in the thesaurus), but which is retained in the thesaurus to point the user to a Preferred Term which should be used (for example, mast flat USE Mersey sailing flat. In this thesaurus, in the alphabetical list, they appear in italics.

Plural see Singular

Polyhierarchy

A Polyhierarchy allows a Preferred Term to belong to more than one Class or to have more than one Broader Term.

Preferred Term

A term which can be selected for retrieval within the thesaurus. Preferred Terms can be Index or Non-Index Terms. Preferred Terms appear in lower case, bold type within the thesaurus.

Punctuation

Punctuation has been omitted from the hierarchical and alphabetical lists within the thesaurus as its inclusion inhibits retrieval except for apostrophes which have been used where syntactically correct in accordance with Holm (1993). Capital letters have only been used for proper names.

Punctuation has been retained within the scope notes to ensure that the definition is understandable.

Regional Terms

Standard English is used wherever possible for Preferred Terms. However, where a Regional or Dialect Term has no recognized equivalent (for example, dydle), that term will be accepted as the Preferred Term.

Related Term (RT)

A related term is a Preferred Term which can be linked to another Preferred Term conceptually but not hierarchically (for example, bulkhead and bulkhead light. The thesaurus allows for terms to be related in the same hierarchy when a particularly strong link occurs (for example, box mast and top mast).

Scope Note (SN)

A limited definition of a term and/or guidance on its use.

For example:	knee
	SN	A wooden or metal bracket which joins or reinforces the joins between two or more parts of a boat.

Singular

Object names appear in the Singular apart from instances where the Plural is the common usage (for example, running planks or where the Singular changes the meaning.

Spelling

Spelling follows The Concise Oxford Dictionary (Tenth Edition 2001), apart from rare exceptions where common practice in the field of waterways differs from this.

Synonym

A term having a different form/spelling but the same or nearly the same meaning as another term (for example, cabin hand bowl and hand bowl). The thesaurus controls the use of Synonyms and quasi-synonyms to improve indexing and retrieval, by the use of Preferred and Non-Preferred Terms. Where Non-Preferred Terms have several meanings, there can be more than one Preferred Term and guidance on their use may be given by a Scope Note.

Terminology Control Mechanism

Software tool used to control entry of data into a particular field (for example thesauri and word lists).

Upward Posting

The treatment of Narrower Terms as if they are equivalent to, rather than a species of their Broader Terms. Upward posting is used where the level of detail, suggested by a term is considered too specific for the thesaurus (for example, boat registration plate USE boat plate.)

Use

Use indicates the Preferred Term which should be used for a Non-Preferred Term (for example, longboat USE narrow boat.

Use For (UF)

Use For usually abbreviated to UF, indicates the Non-Preferred Term(s) covered by a Preferred Term.

For example:	narrow boat
	UF	longboat monkey boat narrowboat

Word-By-Word Alphabetization

The alphabetization of the terms within the alphabetical list of the thesaurus follows the word-by-word format whereby terms are listed alphabetically by word as opposed to letter-by-letter. If we look at the following list of words we find they can be listed differently according to the format of the alphabetization.

BUS SHELTER, BUS STATION, BUST, BUS TERMINAL
Word-by-word BUS SHELTER BUS STATION BUS TERMINAL BUST	Letter-by-letter BUS SHELTER BUS STATION BUST BUS TERMINAL