Domain, discipline, field - what is what?

[Stephen J Bensman]

Franz,
Below are definitions taken from the Oxford English Dictionary for the terms that concern you.  If I were with you, I would go with the examples from Middle English--preferably Chaucer--because these might most closely approximate Schweizerdeutsch.

Stephen J. Bensman 
LSU Libraries
Louisiana State University
Baton Rouge, LA 70803
USA 

DOMAIN
4. a. fig. A sphere of thought or action; field, province, scope of a department of knowledge, etc. 

1764 GOLDSM. Trav. 97 Carried to excess in each domain, This fav'rite good begets peculiar pain. 1799 MACKINTOSH Study Law Nat. Wks. 1846 I. 381 Contracting..the domain of brutal force and of arbitrary will. 1828 CARLYLE Misc. (1872) I, Our Poet's gift in raising it into the domain of Art. 1864 BOWEN Logic x. 343 An actual enlargement of the domain of Science. 1866 ARGYLL Reign Law ii. (ed. 4) 53.

DISCIPLINE
  2. A branch of instruction or education; a department of learning or knowledge; a science or art in its educational aspect. 

c1386 CHAUCER Can. Yeom. Prol. & T. 700 Assaye in myn absence This disciplyne and this crafty science. 1500-20 DUNBAR Poems lxv. 4 To speik of science, craft, or sapience..Off euerie study, lair, or discipline. 1549 COVERDALE, etc. Erasm. Par. Eph. II. 2 Being singularely learned in humayne disciplines, ye haue excelled other sortes of men euer vnto this day. 1597 MORLEY Introd. Mus. 184 Ye tearmeth he musick a perfect knowledge of al sciences and disciplines. 1654 Z. COKE Logick (1657) 2 Objective disciplines be..principally four. 1 Theologie. 2 Jurisprudence. 3 Medicine. 4 Philosophy. 1685 BOYLE Enq. Notion Nat. 375 Acquainted with Physico-Mathematical Disciplines, such as Opticks, Astronomy, Hydrostaticks, and Mechanicks. 1741 MIDDLETON Cicero I. vi. 454 Skill'd in all the Tuscan discipline of interpreting portentous events. 1844 EMERSON Lect. New Eng. Ref. Wks. (Bohn) I. 266 The culture of the mind in those disciplines to which we give the name of education. 1864 BURTON Scot Abr. II. i. 48 Professors of arts and disciplines at Paris. 1878 BELL Gegenbaur's Comp. Anat. 1 The department of Science which has organic nature for its investigations, breaks up into two great divisions, Botany and Zoology..The two disciplines together form the science of living nature. 1942 Spectator 27 Feb. 204/1 The distribution of academic disciplines in which they [sc. candidates for the Foreign Office] had specialised. 1958 G. J. WARNOCK Eng. Philos. since 1900 xiii. 172 It is only quite recently that the subject-matter, or rather the tasks, of philosophy have come to be clearly distinguished from those of other disciplines. 1962 Lancet 13 Jan. 113/1 Sir Leonard Parsons..had been the first to draw into the paediatrics of his time other disciplines such as biochemistry and immunology.

FIELD

III. Area of operation or observation.

    15. a. An area or sphere of action, operation, or investigation; a (wider or narrower) range of opportunities, or of objects, for labour, study, or contemplation; a department or subject of activity or speculation. 

1340 Ayenb. 240 Huanne oure lhord wolde by uonded of e dyeule: he yede in-to desert. uor e desert of religion: is ueld of uondinge. 1580 SIDNEY Arcadia I. (1622) 19 A very good Orator might have a fair field to use eloquence in, if [etc.]. 1626 BACON Sylva §228 As for the increase of Vertue generally..it is a large Field, and to be handled by it self. 1674 OWEN Holy Spirit (1693) 82 A large and plain Field doth here open it self unto us. 1711 ADDISON Spect. No. 160 4 This..Failure..opens a large Field of Raillery. 1750 BEAWES Lex Mercat. (1752) 2 The wide field for trade that now lies before us. 1807 T. THOMSON Chem. (ed. 3) II. 143 A very interesting field of investigation. a1862 BUCKLE Civiliz. (1873) III. v. 350 The philosopher and the practical man..each is in his own field, supreme.

SPECIALTY
b. A special subject of study or research. 

1861 tr. Czermak's Uses Laryngoscope ii. 10 Physicians..who do not intend to make a specialty of laryngoscopy. 1861 Sat. Rev. 7 Dec. 591 Mr. Aris Willmott's specialty (to use a very current piece of slang) is with the sacred poets. 1873 MORLEY Rousseau I. 150 There is a constant tendency on the part of energetic intellectual workers..to concentrate their energies on a minute specialty. 1883 M. PATTISON Mem. (1885) 70 He had selected as his specialty currency and finance.


-----Original Message-----
From: ASIS&T Special Interest Group on Metrics [mailto:SIGMETRICS at LISTSERV.UTK.EDU] On Behalf Of Barjak,Franz
Sent: Friday, February 13, 2009 3:47 AM
To: SIGMETRICS at LISTSERV.UTK.EDU
Subject: [SIGMETRICS] Domain, discipline, field - what is what?


Dear list,

After having been a silent observer of this list for several years I happen to have to ask something due to an ongoing discussion that I have offline:

I use the terms 

- "domain" for "humanities" or "natural sciences", 
- "discipline" for "archaeology" or "physics" and 
- "field" or "specialty" for "classical archaeology" or "nuclear physics" type of concepts. 

Now I am being told that I mix up field and discipline. I know that some use both as synonyms, but this is the worst solution in my view. Any comments or references which could help?

Thanks, Franz

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Franz Barjak
School of Business
University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland
Riggenbachstrasse 16
CH-4600 Olten
Switzerland
E-mail: franz.barjak at fhnw.ch
p. +41 62 287 7825, fax: +41 62 287 7845
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