Data for filing, standardized, normative or „authorized” data

Abstract

With the appearance of MARC, it was necessary in English-language terminology to find a new term instead of „heading”, that had been used earlier, because it expressed the location of data elements within the description. In Hungarian terminology, however, we did not need to carry out such a change, because the term we are using (”besorolási adat”, roughly translated as: data for filing) expresses purpose, not location. It has been raised recently that a new term, „authorized data” should be used instead. The study considers the arguments for and against this new terminology in detail, and points to the misunderstanding related to the term „besorolási adat”, as well as to the mischieving and faulty nature of the proposed new term. It is absolutely unnecessary in Hungarian to replace the terms „besorolási adat” and „besorolási rekord” with new ones. As a maximum, they can be renamed as „standardized name form” or „standardized name record”, similar to German practice. If these – otherwise correct – expressions were introduced, all the professional expressions containing the adjective „besorolási” in earlier literature would become incomprehensible for coming professional generations. The use of the adjective „besorolási” has been a perfect choice from the linguistic point, being compact and pertinent.