Editing Jargon (section)

==Etymology==
The French word is believed to have been derived from the Latin word {{lang|la|gaggire}}, meaning "to chatter", which was used to describe [[speech]] that the listener did not understand.<ref name="etymonline">{{cite web|url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/jargon|title=Jargon|work=Online Etymology Dictionary|access-date=April 28, 2018}}</ref> The word may also come from [[Old French]] {{lang|fro|jargon}} meaning "chatter of birds".<ref name="etymonline" /> Middle English also has the verb {{lang|enm|jargounen}} meaning "to chatter", or "twittering", deriving from Old French.<ref name="The History of Jargon">{{cite web |last1=Martinuzzi |first1=Bruna |title=The History of Jargon |url=https://www.americanexpress.com/en-us/business/trends-and-insights/articles/the-history-of-jargon/ |website=American Express |publisher=American Express Company |access-date=22 February 2019}}</ref>

[[File:The Canterbury tales of Geoffrey Chaucer - The three Rogues search in the woods for Death.jpg|left|thumb|''The Canterbury Tales'' by Geoffrey Chaucer is the first known use of the term "jargon" in English literature.]]
The first known use of the word in English is found within ''[[The Canterbury Tales]]'', written by [[Geoffrey Chaucer]] between 1387 and 1400. Chaucer related "jargon" to the vocalizations of birds.<ref name="The History of Jargon"/>

In colonial history, jargon was seen as a device of communication to bridge the gap between two speakers who did not speak the same tongue. Jargon was synonymous with [[pidgin]] in naming specific language usages. Jargon then began to have a negative connotation with lacking coherent grammar, or gibberish as it was seen as a "broken" language of many different languages with no full community to call their own. In the 1980s, linguists began restricting this usage of jargon to keep the word to more commonly define a technical or specialized language use.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Mufwene |first1=Salikoko Sangol |title=Jargon {{!}} linguistics |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/jargon-linguistics |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |publisher=Encyclopaedia Britannica |access-date=22 February 2019 |language=en}}</ref>

===Fields using the term===
In linguistics, it is used to mean "specialist language",<ref>{{cite book|last=Allan|first=Keith|title=The English Language and Linguistics Companion|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tppMDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA18|year=2017|isbn=978-1-349-92395-3|page=18|publisher=Macmillan Education UK }}</ref> with the term also seen as closely related to [[slang]], [[argot]] and [[cant (language)|cant]].<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4Xdv4FTyXfkC&pg=PP7 | title=Slang: The People's Poetry| isbn=9780199986538| last1=Adams| first1=Michael| date=2012-09-01| publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref> Various kinds of language peculiar to ingroups can be named across a [[semantic field]]. [[Slang]] can be either culture-wide or known only within a certain group or subculture. [[Argot]] is slang or jargon [[obfuscation|purposely used to obscure meaning]] to outsiders. Conversely, a [[lingua franca]] is used for the opposite effect, helping communicators to overcome unintelligibility, as are [[pidgin]]s and [[creole language]]s. For example, the [[Chinook Jargon]] was a pidgin.<ref>{{Cite news | url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/jargon-linguistics | title=Jargon &#124; linguistics| newspaper=Encyclopedia Britannica}}</ref> Although technical jargon's primary purpose is to aid [[technical communication]], not to exclude outsiders by serving as an argot, it can have both effects at once and can provide a technical ingroup with [[shibboleth]]s. For example, medieval [[guild]]s could use this as one means of informal [[protectionism]]. On the other hand, jargon that once was obscure outside a small ingroup can become generally known over time. For example, the terms ''[[bit]], [[byte]],'' and ''[[hexadecimal]]'' (which are [[glossary of computer terms|terms from computing jargon]]<ref name="CB">{{cite web|url=http://www.criminalbrief.com/?p=10866| title=Buzzwords– bang * splat !| last=Lundin|first=Leigh| date=2009-12-31| publisher=Criminal Brief|work=Don Martin School of Software}}</ref>) are now recognized by many people{{who|date=May 2025}} outside [[computer science]].{{fact|date=May 2025}}

===Referenced===
The philosopher [[Étienne Bonnot de Condillac]] observed in 1782 that "every science requires a special language because every science has its own ideas". As a rationalist member of the [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]], he continued: "It seems that one ought to begin by composing this language, but people begin by speaking and writing, and the language remains to be composed."<ref>Quoted by [[Fernand Braudel]], in discussing the origins of ''[[Capital (economics)|capital]]'', ''[[capitalism]]'', in ''The Wheels of Commerce'', vol. II of ''Civilization and Capitalism, 15th–18th Century'', 1979:234. Originally found in Condillac's work [http://www.efm.bris.ac.uk/het/Condillac/Commerce.html ''Le Commerce et le gouvernement considérés relativement l'un à l'autre'' (1776)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923234156/http://www.efm.bris.ac.uk/het/Condillac/Commerce.html |date=2015-09-23 }}.</ref>