Rašybos variantiškumo astrologijos terminijoje priežastys

Reasons for spelling variability in astrological terminology94 Ramunė Vaskelaitė doi.org/10.35321/term29-06 Reasons for spelling variability in astrological terminology RAMUNĖ VASKELAITĖ Institute of Lithuanian Language ORCID id: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6063-9699 ANNOTATION Although synonymy and variantity of terms are usually distinguished in Lithuanian terminology works, when the latter is associated with differences in the expression of terms, the causes of these two phenomena are often identified or their differences are not highlighted. More on the reasons for synonymy. This article focuses on the reasons for spelling variation in astrological terminology. The thesis is based on texts published on websites. KEY WORDS: variantity, spelling variants, codified norms, astrology. ABSTRACT Terms synonymy and terms variation are usually distinguished in the works on Lithuanian terminology, but the causes determining these the two phenomena are often considered as common or the differences between them are not emphasised. Stronger emphasis is placed on the reasons for synonymy. This article focuses on the causes of orthographic variation in astrological terminology. The work is based on texts published in astrology websites. KEYWORDS: variation, orthographic variation, codification, astrology. INTRODUCTION. ASPECTS OF THE UNDERSTANDING Different branches of linguistics have their own terminology for naming the phenomena being studied, but there are also terms that are relevant to most branches of linguistics, even if they denote different concepts with these terms. One of them is variability. This term is used in sociolinguistics, geolinguistics (e.g.: Kuprienė et al. 2007; Aliūkaitė et al. 2020), word formation (e.g.: Vaskelienė, Kučinskienė 2012; Vaskelienė 2013), stylistics (e.g., Župerka 2012), and is particularly developed in general language. 95Terminology | 2022 | 29 Studies of usage or norms (e.g. Miliūnaitė 1995, 2003), where, based on sociolinguistic concepts, the meaning of the term has recently been expanded to include not only variants of common language (Miliūnaitė 2009). The monograph of Rita Miliūnaitė (2009) and the article on lexical variants by Žaneta Čėsnienė (2015) emphasize that the study of variantity was activated and expanded by sociolinguistics: in the second half of the 20th century, when sociolinguistics began to develop as a separate branch of linguistics in America, variant language phenomena became a full-fledged object of scientific research. The object of structural linguistics is the internal connections and interactions of the language system, and this significantly limited the scope of the linguistic phenomena under study, while the sociolinguistic perspective allowed to cover the social, geographical analysis of the spread of variants, studies of language and style norms, including aspects of the functioning of variants in usage, the relationship with codified norms (Miliūnaitė 2009: 117–120; Čėsnienė 2015: 163–165). In sociolinguistics, the study of variantity has formed a separate direction – the sociolinguistics of variants (Miliūnaitė 2009: 118), but the concept of variantity developed here seems to have significantly affected other branches of linguistics. For example, the subject of Ž. Čėsnienė’s study – variants in translations of European Union documents – is referred to as lexical variants, although this work is essentially focused on the relationship between borrowed words and their Lithuanian equivalents, which in lexicology is usually referred to as the relation of synonymy rather than variantity (e.g.: Palionis 1999: 188–192; Jakaitienė 2010: 127–130). Such a broad concept of variantity is attempted to include in terminology (e.g. : (2017, 2018). However, in Lithuanian terminology works a narrower concept of variantity has existed for quite some time. The term variants, for example, is used in the 1994 article "Evaluation of the synonymy of terms in physics and technology" (Kaulakienė 1994b). Discussing the variation that is particularly characteristic of the initial stage of terminology, the author mentions synonyms of Lithuanian words (e.g., gniūžumas and spūdumas), synonyms of borrowed and Lithuanian words (e.g., atomas and pirmokas), and at the same time cases of synonymy arising due to the powers of word formation, such as sutapimas, sutaptis and santapa, steam carriage, steam carriage, steam carriage, steam locomotive and steam locomotive, and emphasizes that these are not synonyms but variants, explaining in the footnote that some Russian linguists call them absolute synonyms, others – duplicates, still others – variants, and that the article chooses to use the term variants used by V. Danilenka (Kaulakienė 1994b: 52). This would reveal that the allocation of synonyms and variants 96 Ramunė Vaskelaitė In Lithuanian terminology, at least in the emergence of the term, the influence of Russian linguistics, with which at that time there were close connections, may have been felt. However, another article published in the same publication – “Terminology of the articles on popularization of physics in “Aušra”” (Kaulakienė 1994a) – would reveal not only the works of Russian linguists as an influential factor, but also the combinations and intersections of the branches of linguistics. The cases discussed in it are also divided into synonyms and variants, and the division is explained as follows: some names of concepts are related morphologically, such as railroad and railroad, railroad, length and longitude, and others, such as klystugnė and žaltvykslė, – semantically (Kaulakienė 1994a: 137). The former are said to be morphological variants, and the latter are "likely synonyms". In this way, the aim would be to use terms synonyms and variants to distinguish the phenomena of the linguistic domains, and perhaps to use the terms of the branches of science that study these domains. In later articles synonyms and variants are also listed separately (e.g.: Kaulakienė 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007), among the latter mentioning not only suffixes, but also terms differing in prefix or ending (e.g.: demagnetization and demagnetization; thunder and thunder; abscisa and abscisė), as well as those with spelling differences (e.g.: Džioulio įstatymas, Joulio įstatymas and Joulio įstatymas), differences in the use of the noun form (e.g.: atšokusi banga and atšokusioji banga) or other differences (Kaulakienė 2003: 113). By linking the two articles, it would be clear that the aim of distinguishing morphological and semantic similarities was not the only basis for distinguishing synonyms and variants. Only one article suggests taking this into account, and another article, which states that Russian linguists call such cases as coincidence and overlap, liquid body and liquid absolute synonyms or duplicates, shows that the similarity or difference of meaning is assessed – this is known from lexicology as the opposition of absolute and partial synonyms (e.g.: Palionis 1999: 189; Jakaitienė 2010: 127; VLEe). Harmonising such criteria is difficult, because the terms of coincident meaning can be not only different, but also terms having form similarities (e.g., molecule and molecule), and vice versa – terms having form similarities may be characterized by differences in meaning or its shades (e.g.: inspection report and inspection report, especially witness testimony and witness testimony). Thus, in one 2004 article, the strict boundary between synonyms and variants is not even attempted to be drawn (Umbrasas 2004). And the contradictions that arise at the same time encourage the purification of the criteria for the allocation of synonyms and variants, and this determines the current 97Terminology | 2022 | 29 concept. Alvydas Umbrasas argues that the criterion of meaning, which provides for a limit of absolute and partial synonyms, is not relevant to terminology, because “both the synonym and the variant of a term denote the same concept”, and comes to the conclusion that in order to distinguish variants from synonyms in terminology, it is sufficient to take into account differences in expression, such as spelling, phonetics, morphology, morphology, translation, internationalization, etc. (Umbrasas 2004: 101). This concept of variantity, which shows an orientation towards expression and, at the same time, towards the linguistic sub-domains, is becoming more common in Lithuanian terminology: synonyms are considered to be different names or terms that identify one concept, such as memoirs and memories, a file and a file, a flat arch and a flat vault (e.g.: Stunžinas 2005: 8; Mitkevičienė 2015b: 2; Auksoriūtė 2018: 248), while variants are considered to be terms with various differences in expression, which are classified according to the linguistic sub-domains (phonetic or spelling, morphological, syntactic), or different forms of the term, e.g.: humor and humor, Bible and Bible, gear and gear (Mitkevičienė 2004; Zemlevičiūtė 2012: 106). However, cases related to word formation are difficult – unlike terms with spelling or phonetic differences, they cannot all be evaluated equally, because, as the difference between verb synonyms and verb variants in word formation shows, some of them may have meaning, others – differences in expression. (see Vaskelienė 2013). Therefore, variants are defined in terminology as terms with slight differences in expression, and terms distinguished by word formation forms, taking into account the often existing differences in meaning, are proposed to be considered as synonyms, i.e. as common root synonyms (Umbrasas 2004). Later, they are actually considered common synonyms, including such terms as elegism and elegance, idealization and idealization, mockery, ridicule and ridicule, etc. (Mitkevičienė 2015b). However, there are also cases where the differences related to the means of production do not change the meaning of the term at all, for example, classical comedy and class comedy, and they tend to be referred to as variants (Mitkevičienė 2004; see also Stunžinas 2008: 126–128). However, the concept of variantity thus found in Lithuanian terminology is no longer the only one. With the spread of the concept promoted by sociolinguistic research, some terminology works, as already mentioned, also begin to apply a broadly encompassing concept of variantity of terms, although in the Lithuanian tradition, as can be deduced from the works of the stylistic direction, synonyms, rather than the concept of variantity, claimed a wider coverage (e.g.: Župerka 2010, 2012). But, based on various works of foreign linguistics, more and more Reasons of variantity of spelling in astrological terminology 98 Ramunė Vaskelaitė has expressed the idea that the boundary between synonyms and variants in terminology is difficult to draw and it is not necessary to draw it, that as a general term of variantity encompassing synonyms and variants, it is applied (e.g.: Stankevičienė 2016; Didjurgienė, Grigonienė 2019). The broad concept of variantity, not envisioning a strict boundary between synonyms and variants, in terminology would allow to solve the question of cases related to word formation, but it does not allow to distinguish the peculiarities of variation of the expression plan. The works on foreign terminology in which it is used show that it is not sufficient – variantity is divided in various ways, drawing different boundaries than the usual ones in Lithuanian terminology, e.g., spelling, dialectal, diachronic, cognitive variants, abbreviations, etc. are distinguished (León-Araúz et al. 2020). And for the time being, the concept of variantity, as is pointed out in Ž. Čėsnienė’s article, appears to depend on the aim of the research – researchers “define variantity in the way that is most convenient for a specific research” (Čėsnienė 2015: 133). From Lithuanian terminology works it could be concluded that variantity is perhaps the most commonly used measure for assessing the establishment or non-establishment of terminology – both from the synonyms of terms and from their variants it is determined whether the terminology of the research field is still in the process of being established or already established (e.g.: Kaulakienė 1997, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007; Zemlevičiūtė 2003; Stankevičienė 2012). If both variantity and synonymy are the same measures, it is not relevant to distinguish between them. But the reasons for variantity and synonymy are hardly common. The Lithuanian terminology works would not give a clear answer to the question about the common cause. The reasons for variability are hardly examined. It would seem that their examination is not the subject of terminology science. Nevertheless, an article published in the previous issue of Terminologija (Vaskelaitė 2021b: 195–201) highlighted that at least a whole set of reasons for the synonymy of terms forms: the development of science or the language of science, providing more abundant terms and, respectively, synonyms; language contacts or influence of English; terminology management or standardization, which not only reduces the number of synonyms, but also leads to the emergence of new terms; factors relating to the creation or use of terms, such as the creation of new terms due to ignorance, mistrust or unreliability; the addressee factor. And one of the latest articles highlights the influence of functional style (Mitkevičienė 2021). These reasons are often mentioned covering both synonyms and variants and are indicated even before they are examined (e.g., Stankevičienė 99Terminology | 2022 | 29 2016), so it is not always possible to say whether they are considered only as synonyms or also as reasons for variantity. Nevertheless, at least one article would point out that such factors as the desire to name a concept more rationally, the creation of a new term despite the existing names, the proposal of different terminology directions or schools of their own terms, as well as the factor of linguistic interference, are considered as the reasons for both synonymy and variantity (Kaulakienė 1994b: 53). The reasons can be listed not only before undertaking the study of variants and synonyms, but also after it has been carried out, but the conclusions about synonyms and variants are also summarized, for example, stating that the analyzed synonyms and variants reflect the development of linguistic terminology (Andriuškaitė 2000: 74), therefore it is not always easy to decide which reasons are considered to be the reasons for variantity and which are the reasons for synonymy. The general mention of the reasons for variantity and synonymy would indicate that no distinction is made between them. The commonality of the causes seems to be confirmed by works focused solely on the study of variantity – they identify the same causes as the synonymy. For example, after examining the terminology of past periods, the abundant morphological variants are also explained by the influence of foreign languages – German and Polish (Zemlevičiūtė 2012: 122), which is also indicated when discussing the current spelling variants of maritime terms, only here Russian and English are already mentioned (Drukteinis 2015). The reason mentioned by Asta Mitkevičienė would confirm that variantity, like synonymy, can arise from the ordering and standardization of terms: variants indicate an attempt to seek a more regular expression of terms, a more orderly Lithuanianization of borrowings (Mitkevičienė 2004: 140). Since both variants and synonyms often indicate the terminology's non-establishment, it would follow that the reason for the terminology's non-establishment is also the reason for the terminology's non-establishment. The commonality of the causes seems to be another factor supporting the broad concept of variantity. However, in some works, one more separate reason for variability is mentioned. For example, the spelling variants found in Varpe, published at the end of the 19th century (Zemlevičiūtė 2009), as well as in Keleivio spelling variants, published at the beginning of the 20th century (Zemlevičiūtė 2011), are explained by spelling non-establishment, which is something else than terminology non-establishment, which is considered to be the reason for synonymy. Another work on the topic of historical medical terminology mentions the lack of attention to expression: “The synonymy and variantity of terms testifies to the instability of medical terminology in those years, moreover, manding, and the fact that the main aim of the writers was to popularize and 100 Ramunė Vaskelaitė, „Astrological terminology has been designed to communicate information about diseases, their symptoms and treatment in a comprehensible way, and less attention has been paid to the expression“ (Zemlevičiūtė 2018: 194). In addition, it states that some of the variants may contain editorial and editorial errors. Edit gaps or even non-editing of the text are also mentioned in the analysis of variants found in early 20th century literature textbooks (Mitkevičienė 2004: 140), while proofreading errors are recorded in works from various periods (e.g.: Zemlevičiūtė 2012; Stunžinas 2017, 2018), although they are not considered spelling variants. Such specificity of causes would already show that a broad, non-subtype-predictable concept of variantity, including synonyms, would not be a sufficient tool for revealing the specificity of causes. In Lithuanian terminology, the terminology of earlier periods has been examined mainly in terms of variantity, and therefore the reasons are identified mainly based on it. This thesis aims to examine the reasons for the variability of the existing terminology, choosing one type of variability – spelling variants. The source of the study – 12 astrology websites published on the Internet (ananta.lt; antropoteosofineastrologija.lt; astrodaiva.com; astrologer. weebly.com; astrologijosmokykla.lt; dharma.lt; sadhanacentras.lt; uranija.lt; vidineastrologija.lt; wolmer.lt; zachh.lt; zodiakas.com), including the glossaries of astrological terms contained in two of them: Astrology Terms Dictionary (ATŽ) and Astrology Concepts (AS). This field and this source are chosen because spelling variability is a very prominent feature of astrological terminology used on astrology websites. In addition, astrological terminology, based on this source, has already been studied from the point of view of synonymy (Vaskelaitė 2021b), which will allow us to assess the extent to which variantity and synonymy are characterized by causal commonality. For comparison, the same period is taken, i.e. texts published on astrology websites until June 20, 2021. The aim of the thesis is to investigate the reasons for the variability of spelling of terminology used on astrology websites. The purpose of the analysis of the causes is not to sum up all the lines of variants found in the investigated sources, this article discusses only the most typical cases of spelling variants. 1. BIG AND SMALL VARIETIES OF USE OF THE LETTER Writing variants are an extremely prominent feature of spoken terminology, and it is particularly characterized by variability related to the use of capital letters. Attention to this peculiar feature of astrological terminology has already been drawn when examining capitalized names (Vaskelaitė 2021a, 2022), in one of those works 101Terminologija | 2022 | 29 (Vaskelaitė 2022) was based on astrology websites. Thus, discussing this subtype of variant spelling, it remains to evaluate the cases examined from the terminological point of view and to recall the reasons for the variant capitalization that have begun to emerge from those works. In addition, the previous study used only seven websites (Vaskelaitė 2021a), whereas this study uses twelve, so it is necessary to check whether the increasingly prominent tendencies and reasons for capitalization are also characteristic of the additional five sources. The relationship of the actual names with terms from Lithuanian terminology scientific works is not entirely clear. More precisely, it seems that only names with a personal and place-name element are considered as terms. Kazimieras Gaivenis mentioned such terms, the secondary element of which indicates the name of the inventor, discussing the grammatical configurations of two-word compound terms and the functions of their secondary elements, e.g. : Foucault's pendulum, Morse code, Leiden vessel (Gaivenis 2014 [1975]: 79). However, when discussing the problems caused by the international nomenclature in the 1994 article, the author was inclined to assess with caution such terms as Doppler velocity, Cartesian coordinates, Addison’s disease, Ebstein’s syndrome, which can be found in all fields of science – they are not sufficiently motivated (Gaivenis 2014 [1994]: 217). The International Code of Nomenclature for Anatomical Nomenclature prohibits the use of personal names, the International Code of Nomenclature for Zoological Nomenclature restricts the use of personal names to certain taxa, and the International Code of Nomenclature for Technical Nomenclature allows the use of personal names without any restrictions. Laimutė Kitkauskienė (2011), discussing eponymous terms, mentioned not only names derived from personal names, but also names derived from place names. Jurgita Mikelionienė (2017) presented the concept of eponymous term in a broader sense, i.e., she stated that it is the names of concepts made from the actual word, but examined only the actual names that have become generic words, or more precisely – the process of their transformation into terms, i.e., appellation. Therefore, real names of non-personal or non-pronoun origin as terms are not willing to be analyzed. Discussing the actual names of astronomical constellations, K. Gaivenis only used the term name, he did not name them as terms, but also discussed constellation names used essentially only in Lithuania, such as Šienpjoviai, Sietynas, Parplys Kirminėlis, which are not all used (Gaivenis 1990). However, although the status of capitalized real names of non-personal and non-pronoun origin is unclear in Lithuanian terminology works, their term status is recognized in terminology. For example, in astronomy 102 Ramunė Vaskelaitė's dictionaries of terms include such names as the constellation of Virgo, the constellation of Sagittarius, Jupiter, Saturn, Vega, Ceres, the Great Wheels of the Ring, etc. (e.g., Straižys 2003), and real names of non-personal and non-pronoun origin are included in other dictionaries, e.g., in the Dictionary of Christian Iconography you can find the Revelation, the Crucified One, the Last Supper, the Last Judgment, etc. (KIŽ 1997). In astrology, such names are common. These are the names of the seven constituents of the Zodiac: Aries, Taurus, Cancer, Leo, Scorpio, Capricorn, and Pisces. They are of zoomorphic origin. These one-word names only coincide in appearance with the names of astronomical celestial bodies, because, as already revealed (Vaskelaitė 2021a, b), they are distinguished from the astronomical names of the Zodiac constellations by the meaning, and the two-word terms – also by the main point: the astrological term is not the Zodiac constellation, but the Zodiac sign, the names used accordingly are the sign of Aries, the sign of Taurus, etc. However, all the names of the zodiac signs – both of zoomorphic origin and of other origin (Gemini, Virgo, Libra, Sagittarius, Aquarius) – are written only in capital letters, so in terms of capital letter usage they are non-capitalistic. The variability of the use of capital letters is not characteristic of the names of the horoscope points Black Moon and White Moon, which in the texts function as synonyms of single-word Lilith and Selena, as well as other names naming two horoscope points Rachu and Ketu, which have even several pairs of correspondences. The exact circumstances of the name’s origin are, of course, assessed not by terminology but by etymology, so it is only worth noting that in astrological texts Rachu and Ketu are associated with Indian mythology and interpreted as parts of a demon: Ketu is the demon’s body, and Rachu is its head (Stonkutė 2020: 168). Another article states that Ketu, translated from Sanskrit, means “late” (Cheremisin 2015). Such interpretations would show that these names are not of personal noun origin, but in Lithuanian astrological texts they are written only in capital letters, so the variantity related to the use of capital letters is not characteristic of them, although other variantity exists: in four sites Rahu Astr, Dh, Vi, W, in one – Lilith Za. However, the term Zodiac is characterized by variability – some websites are more inclined to write in lowercase, others – in capital letters, and some even write Zodiac and zodiac in the same text. Although astrological texts also mention the astronomical Zodiac, in astrology it consists of twelve parts 109Terminology | 2022 | 29 e.g. : Solar conjunction with Uranus Ur, Venus conjunction with Sun Am, Moon opposition with Mercury Dh, Neptune conjunction with Sun Ur. But they can also be cases of textual usage (for more on textual usage see Mitkevičienė 2015a). 3. SPELL RULES PROVIDED FOR CASE OF VARIANCY There are no standardized spelling rules for variants of writing a dash or a dash, but some cases of variantity are provided in the spelling standards. These are different ways of writing a number: a number can be written by word and digit, a digit can be both Roman and Arabic, and endings can be added to an Arabic digit (LKRS 1992: 80). Numerical terms are not the most typical type of terms, so they are not common in astrological texts. Here one group of them emerges – the names of the twelve parts of the astrological drawing. They are called dwellings or houses, and this term, as already pointed out, has not settled: both horoscope dwellings and horoscope houses are used, as well as astrological houses or astrological dwellings, and the short form dwellings or houses are used (Vaskelaitė 2020: 155). Thus, these are synonymous terms that refer to specific parts of the dwelling, but they also have the characteristic of variability of digit writing, as well as other signs of variability. Variant rows consist of the following members: first dwelling – first dwelling – I dwelling – 1 dwelling – 1st dwelling, respectively second dwelling, etc. And on one site there is also the writing of the Roman numerals with the ending, which is not foreseen by the codified spelling norms: I-asis būstas or I-asis būstas Zo and so on (more about the relationship of spelling variants with spelling errors is written in chapter 4 of this work). The spelling norms provide not only for the writing of a number by digits, but also for the abbreviation of words or names. In the works of foreign authors, where the broad concept of variantity is applied, abbreviations are mentioned as a separate subtype of variantity (e.g., León-Araúz et al. 2020). In Lithuanian terminology works, this case of variantity is not highlighted, so it would be difficult to decide whether variants or synonyms should be considered cases when an English abbreviation is presented next to a Lithuanian term or name, e.g. : Single Euro Payments Area and SEPA (from Single Euro Payments Area); a transferable account and a NOW (negotiable order of withdrawal) account. However, astrology uses several abbreviations that are of the same language 110 Ramunė Vaskelaitė as an abbreviated name, and they could be considered as spelling variants. Such abbreviations in the texts of this field are probably due to the influence of astrological drawings – horoscopes. In the astrological drawing, the most important points are marked with special symbols, and some with symbolic abbreviations. The ascendant and descendant points connecting the horizontal axis of the circle are marked respectively as Asc and Dsc, and the vertical points, whose names function as Latinisms Medium Coeli and Imum Coeli in Lithuanian astrological terminology, are marked respectively as MC and IC. However, the abbreviations of these four names are also used in texts, the latter two – even more often as the main variant, e.g.: “IC corresponds to midnight, MC – noon”; ‘This is dwelling I – Asc, dwelling IV – IC, dwelling VII – Dsc and dwelling X – MC’ Zo; "The midpoint of Venus and Jupiter connects with the MC" Aw. Thus, the term and abbreviation form spelling variants: ascendant (Ascendant) and Asc, descendant (Descendant) and Dsc; Medium Coeli and MC, Imum Coeli and IC Am, An, Antr, Astr, Za, Zo, AS, ATŽ. These abbreviations are also mentioned in publications providing spelling rules. The classification of abbreviations envisaged in the latest of them would allow the first to be identified as symbolic abbreviations (Asc, Dsc), and the second – as alphabetic abbreviations (Vladarskienė, Zemlevičiūtė 2022: 208–229). Thus, the use of abbreviations on astrology websites, as in most of them are used methods of notation of the term numerical point, would show compliance with language norms, the desire to observe them. However, on some websites the abbreviations Asc and Dsc are written ASC and DSC, for example: "If Chiron connects with ASC, a person may have a scar on his face"; “Also in the horoscope of a successful person these stars are connected with his natal horoscope ASC and MC” Aw. But it is hardly possible to consider this as a spelling error or carelessness – such writing can be an argumented attempt to unify the four abbreviations denoting the important points of the horoscope, i.e. ASC, DSC, MC and IC, cf.: „Be sure to pay attention to which horoscopic house the eclipse occurs, whether it touches important horoscopic points (ASC, DSC, MC, IC) <...>“ Aw. 4. THE IMPACTS OF THE LANGUAGE ENVIRONMENT In addition to the spelling variations discussed, there are obvious spelling or proofing errors on the websites. The relationship between spelling and proofreading errors and variants in Lithuanian terminology is not sufficiently clear. The latter variants seem to be unwilling to consider, although at the same time it is noted that they are distinguished from the variants 111Terminology | 2022 | 29 is not simple (e.g., Mitkevičienė 2004: 125). Elsewhere, after examining the variants, it is indicated that some of them may be editorial and editorial errors (Zemlevičiūtė 2018: 194). However, it is even more difficult to draw a line between spelling errors and spelling variants, and the writing of terms or names, used in periods when spelling norms were still forming and were not established, would not allow them to be drawn. Therefore, when studying the terminology of past periods, it is customary to mention as variants, for example, not only the variants of the writing of the surname, such as the law of Joule and the law of Joule, the Clark element and the Clark element, the law of Ohm and the law of Ohm (Kaulakienė 2003: 113), but also such cases as the calamity and the calamity, the naturalistic drama and the naturalistic drama, the perfection of form and the perfection of form, the satirist and the satirist (Mitkevičienė 2004: 127). However, at the present stage of the development of the Lithuanian common language, when the norms of longness and shortness notation are codified and transmitted in every general education school, to explain the latter cases with the absence or establishment of a spelling norm would not be as, so even if in terminology such cases can be discussed as spelling variants, their reasons are other than the formation of spelling, its absence of norms. There is no explanation for the different notation of vowel lengths due to the reasons that have become apparent in this work – the ambiguities of the codification or its foreseen variants. As a general reason for the non-compliance with the codified orthographic standards, which are established and do not provide for spelling variants, one could mention the non-observance of the codified norms of common language, and a more specific reason will be clarified from the discussion of the context of the use of terms. The medium in which astrological terms are used in this case are websites. Both proofreading errors and non-compliance with the codified norms of spelling, punctuation, and other language conjunctions occur on all websites, as well as in two of their dictionaries of terms – AS and ATZ, e.g.: “Because Pluto is always oriented to mental (= mass), social phenomena, in this case it can highlight the diseases of collective exclusion – the loss of contact with Earth (nature), which we end up destroying” Vi; „Not everything is so simple with the horoscopic houses and besides that (= and, besides that, because) there are quite a lot of astrological houses systems (at least over 30)“; „<...> in the past, this planet was taken into account when determining professional (= professional) orientation“ Zo; “The press and Hollywood are still attacking Trump, but they have all long understood that he is a personality to be dealt with.” "In addition, Jupiter (= In addition, Jupiter) in the second house often indicates great financial success" Ur; 112 Ramunė Vaskelaitė „These are such (= These are such) relationships, which are simply determined, requiring the repayment of certain debts perhaps (= perhaps) from past lives <...>“; „Be careful when buying or selling something – you may (= sold – you may) get important purchases, but later you may (= later, probably, them) be disappointed“; “Parents, bosses (= Parents, bosses) may demand too much of you” Aw; "Virgins are perfectionists <...> (= Virgins are perfectionists)"; „IX dwelling– distant (= IX dwelling – distant) countries, travels (= travels), contacts with foreigners <...>“ Zo; “These are the most important dwellings in horoscope (= horoscope) and prognosis” DT. Since proofreading errors and non-compliance with spelling norms occur on all websites, this particularity can be linked to the medium of usage of terms – the Internet, namely websites. This assumption is confirmed by texts from printed publications – books, magazines, calendars (Antr, Dh, Sa, W) presented on some websites. They are both proofreading, spelling errors and avoided at all. The publications are edited by language editors and read by proofreaders before printing, which helps to avoid proofreading or spelling errors. The fact that the language used in the online (electronic) medium is different in this respect is also revealed by its studies (e.g. Miliūnaitė 2008, 2010, 2018), even though these mediums have been in existence for a long time in the works of Lithuanian authors and are reluctant to be chosen as one of the first objects of language research. However, astrology websites are very different in terms of proofreading errors and spelling, punctuation not in accordance with the norms of codified language: some errors are few, others occur more in some texts, and some in accordance with the norms of common language could be considered as approaching the border of common language. It is not decided here how much of the codified norms of common language are ignored deliberately, or out of ignorance, because this would require the use of other research methods (e.g., the questionnaire method), but one reason is obvious – it is not paying attention to expression. For example, instead of a dash, a dash is used, e.g.: "Fire signs - Aries, Leo and Sagittarius"; "Fifth House - Hobbies and Talents" Aw; "Uranus-the planet of change, eccentricity, innovations, revolutions, upheavals"; “Opposition is also a disharmony aspect <...>” Zo. Elsewhere on the same websites, a dash is used, which shows that the use of a dash is not a feature of non-Lithuanian computer keyboards, e.g.: „Sixth home – health, routine, diet or daily work“ Aw. Such differences are evident even in adjacent sentences, e.g.: 113Terminology | 2022 | 29 The peak of the dwelling (house) is called the ascendant, the peak of the IV house – IC (Imum coeli), the peak of the VII dwelling – descendent, the peak of the X dwelling – MC (Medium coeli)“ Zo. Space is not used before or after punctuation, or, on the contrary, space is left where it is not needed, e.g.: "Lunar nodes -The points of intersection of the lunar orbit with the ecliptic. The Moon moves northward and southward along the ecliptic. The point when the Moon passes from the southern side of the sky to the north is called the rising moon node (or the northern one, or the head of the dragon), and vice versa from the north to the south - the setting one (or the southern one, or the tail of the dragon). It is understood that such peculiarities of language usage also affect the use of terms or names. For example, the names of the astrological houses are written with proofreading or spelling errors and have already been discussed, e.g.: "And the second ruler of the 4th house is Jupiter, who is in the 2nd (= 2nd) house of finances" Ur. The use of a dash and a hyphen in writing the discussed names of planet positions (aspects) and horoscopic axes, such as Sun-Moon opposition, can be linked to codification ambiguities, but no Lithuanian spelling rule provides that when using a dash or a hyphen the space should be made only on one side, so such cases occurring on isolated websites as the Sun-Uranus conjunction or the Sun-Pluto conjunction can only be explained as negligence or non-paying attention to the pronunciation. In the case of spelling errors, rather than spelling variants, the narrower or wider context usually highlights the case. For example, on one website the main focus of the term Lunar Nodes is written in capital letters, but both here and in other texts on that site, and in general on websites, this term is written only in the first capital letter, e.g., "Lunar Nodes are interpreted differently. In Western astrology, the axis of the lunar nodes symbolizes the connection of the individual's evolution with the evolution of the surrounding world. A person participates in evolution, relying on inner experience, the lunar nodes indicate the tasks of a person as a member of society. Moon nodes are associated with karmic aspects. Astrologers believe that the lunar nodes symbolize our path of development” Zo, so it is understandable that this isolated case of capitalization (Nodes) has arisen because of negligence in the expression of imperfection. The only other instance of the term Black Moon being written with a lowercase letter is: "He was talking about the Black Moon Lilith, which on that day left all the Scorpions, who were deeply grieved, alone and moved into the constellation of Sagittarius. By the way, the most painful (= By the way, the most painful) Lilit bites leaving the sign, so very possible 114 Ramunė Vaskelaitė The fact is that the few days before the Day of Love could have been extremely difficult for many Scorpions, or those (= those) whose Black Moon was in that sign at their (= sign of their) birth” Zo. A medium of language use characterized by such peculiarities can, of course, raise the question of how much it can be used as a research source in the study of spelling variants. Of course, if the same lack of attention to spelling were characteristic of all astrology websites, it would be unnecessary to examine the terminology used here in terms of spelling variability, but only a couple of websites and some texts presented on other websites are distinguished by it. The tendency of writing astrological names described here is determined on the basis of the wrong websites and the wrong texts. On the other hand, most of the tendencies highlighted here, namely the tendency to write the numerical element of the term in one way or another foreseeable by the spelling norms, the tendency to write the whole term as an abbreviation, the tendency to write certain astrological terms in capital letters, due to the use of capital letters in a fluctuating manner, are confirmed by a couple of websites distinguished by exceptional carelessness. This would indicate that the reason for the variability of spelling of the terms used in astrological texts is not only the medium of functioning of the terms, but also the factor that emerged from the first two chapters of this work – the ambiguities related to codification. By the way, the tendency to write astrological terms in capital letters is confirmed by the material of astrological publications published in printed form, which was examined by the author of this article. CONCLUSIONS In Lithuanian terminology works, the reasons for variantity are not examined separately, and the existing studies of variantity expression are mainly oriented to historical terminology. The reason for this is mostly attributed to the absence of spelling. And indeed, Lithuanian spelling norms were formed gradually, at certain historical periods they were not yet present. However, it is difficult to talk about the absence of spelling in the beginning of the 21st century, when spelling rules are established, they are taught in secondary school and spelling norms, like other general language norms, are codified in normative works covering the field of spelling. Thus, the analysis of the writing of terms on astrology websites reveals other factors of variability than the non-consistency of the spelling. As it turns out, some of the inconsistencies in writing are caused by the medium of language use and the lack of attention to expression. Printed publications are usually edited and proofread by language editors, and this 115Terminology | 2022 | 29 spelling or proofreading errors help to avoid. Online media, and specifically websites, are a field of language use where the publishing or editorial stage of text publication does not necessarily apply, and the level of written language use is uneven, and this is also reflected in the writing of terms. One case of variant spelling, namely the variation in the expression of the synonymous terms Rachu (Rahu) and Ketu, encourages the variantity to be linked to the synonymity of these two terms, and thus to the reasons highlighted by the previous synonymy study, which showed that these astrological terms reflect the intersection of several different Eastern traditions. This work does not rule out the already discussed reasons for variantity (related to the use of capital letters) such as the influence of Latin or other languages currently used, but how much they really determine the capitalization of astrological names and its fluctuations would be determined by other types of research, for example, the comparative study of texts in several languages. And from the analysis of writing tendencies on Lithuanian astrology websites, the connections between these tendencies and the codified norms of common language become clear: the use of capital letters varies in the most studied area, but even when anticipating the use of capital letters, namely capitalization of real names, the group of astrological names is not distinguished and such names are not mentioned; there is a considerable variation in the writing of dashes and hyphens, but the codification of dashes and hyphens is also unclear; the spelling of the numerals varies in terms, but spelling variants are provided by the number writing codification; abbreviations are written in several ways on astrology websites, but several ways are also recorded in publications providing spelling standards. Such a correspondance would indicate that the websites seek to comply with the codified spelling rules, and that the possible reason for the variations is the ambiguity associated with the codification. In determining the spelling norms, astrological terms or names are not discussed, so the reason for the spelling variability may be not only those ambiguities, but also the lack of codification of the spelling norm of astrological names. A factor reducing the variability could be the publications dedicated to the standardization of the lexicon of the special field – dictionaries of terms, but astrology dictionaries of terms are not compiled, and international dictionaries of words contain only astronomical terms. This can be influenced by the attitude to astrology. There is only one type of terminology variantity – spelling variantity. However, it already shows that the terminology of astrology is quite variable in terms of writing. Previously performed in the same sources 116 Ramunė Vaskelaitė’s study of the terms used did not highlight the high degree of synonymy of these terms, except for some of them, which would prompt to raise the question whether synonymy and variantity really allow us to judge about the establishment or non-establishment of terminology in the same way. However, other types of variability should also be studied. The fact that both synonymy and variantity were investigated on the basis of the same websites, but no significant synonymy was revealed, and spelling variantity is quite high, would show that the medium of use of terms has a greater influence on the latter phenomenon. That the reasons for spelling variantity and synonymy are different would be shown even more by another reason revealed by this study – codification ambiguities related to the spelling of terms and names. ŠALTINIAI INTERNETO SVETAINĖS Am – www.astrologijosmokykla.lt An – www.ananta.lt Antr – www.antropoteosofineastrologija.lt Astr – www.astrodaiva.lt Aw – https://astrologe.weebly.com Dh – www.dharma.lt Sa – www.sadhanacentras.lt Ur – www.uranija.lt Vi – www.vidineastrologija.lt W – www.wolmer.lt Za – www.zachh.lt Zo – www.zodiakas.com INTERNETO SVETAINĖSE TEIKIAMI ŽODYNĖLIAI AS – Astrologijos sąvokos: www.zodiakas.com ATŽ – Astrologijos terminų žodynėlis: www.ananta.lt LITTERACY Aliūkaitė Daiva, Mikulėnienė Danguolė, Čepaitienė Agnė, Brazaitienė Laura 2020: Lithuanian language variants: perspectives of the researcher and the ordinary language community member, Vilnius: Lithuanian Language Institute. Andriuškaitė Ramunė 2000: Structure and specificity of J. Balčikonio linguistic terms. – Terminologija 59–75. 7, Auksoriūtė Albina 2018: Development and synonymy of terminology in computer science. – Research on Lithuanian Informatics and Computing Terminology, aut. A. Auksoriūtė, J. Gaivenytė-Butler, S. Labanauskienė, A. Mitkevičienė, R. Stunžinas, A. Umbrasas, P. Zemlevičiūtė, Vilnius: Lithuanian Language Institute, Azanovas 247–307. Sergejus 2005: The Secrets of the Moon, UAB "Medicina visiems". 2015: Planets in Vedic Astrology. Here. - Echo of Chicago. Online access: https:// aidas.us/planetos-vedu-astrologijoje-us. Čėsnienė Žaneta 2015: Lexical Variability and Competition in the Translation of European Union Documents. – Logos 86, January–March. 117Terminology | 2022 | 29 Didjurgienė Aušra, Grigonienė Giedrutė 2019: Competition of professional vocabulary variants in student speech. – Factors of Education in Modern Society 4, 265–376. Drukteinis Albinas 2015: Ortographic variants of maritime terms: capital letters, hyphen, quotes. – Problems of language practice 14, 6–14. 1990: The Names of the Stars. – Language Culture 59, 50–54. Gaivenis Kazimieras 2014 [1975]: Compound terms with two words in contemporary Lithuanian language. – Kazimieras Gaivenis. Vilnius: Lithuanian Language Institute, 1997. Gaivenis Kazimieras 2014 [1994]: Application of international terminology principles to our terminology. – Kazimieras Gaivenis. Vilnius: Lithuanian Language Institute, 214–219. Gudzinevičiūtė Ona Laima 2012: Some problematic cases of spelling and punctuation. – Language Culture 85, 121–135. Jakaitienė Evalda 2010: Leksikologija: studijų knyga, antras pakart. leid., Vilnius: Vilnius University Press. Kaulakienė Angelė 1994a: Terminology of the articles on popularization of physics in „Aušra“. – Issues of Lithuanian Linguistics: Issues of Language Normalization 31, 131–140. Kaulakienė Angelė 1994b: Evaluation of the synonymy of terms in physics and technology. – Issues of Lithuanian Linguistics: Issues of Language Normalization 31, 51–56. Kaulakienė Angelė 1997: Mechanical terms of the first physics textbooks. – Terminologija 4, 56–62. Kaulakienė Angelė 2000: Synonymy of computer terminology: a flaw or a necessity. – Terminology 6, 23–28. Kaulakienė Angelė 2002: Terminology of Konstantinas Šakenis's "Physics" textbook. – Terminologija 9, 66–77. Kaulakienė Angelė 2003: Electricity and Magnetism Terms in Lithuanian Physics Textbooks. – Terminologija 10, Kaulakienė Angelė 2006: Terminology of new technologies and computing. – 107–111. Santalka: Philosophy and Education 14(4), 22–25. Kaulakienė Angelė 2007: Terminology of Professor Povilas Brazdžiūnas’ General Physics Textbook (1960–1965). – Terminologija 14, 92–109. KB – Consultation Bank of the State Lithuanian Language Commission. Access online: http://www.vlkk.lt/ konsultacijos/2523-didieji-grizulo-ratai-kadziosios-raides [accessed 2021-11-20]. Keinys Stasys 2005: The Use of Dash and Hyphen. – Language Culture 78, 183–190. Kitkauskienė Laimutė 2011: Eponymous terms of architecture, art and construction in Lithuanian language. – Santalka: Philosophy and Education 19(1), 48–58. 1997. KIŽ – Dictionary of Christian Iconography, edited by D. Ramonienė, Vilnius: Vilnius Academy of Fine Arts, 1997. Kuprienė Laima, Aliūkaitė Daiva, Sideravičiūtė-Mickienė Ilona 2007: Evaluation and use of terms: a sociolinguistic perspective. – Man and Word 1, 75–82. León-Araúz Pilar, Cabezas-García Melania, Reimerink Arianne 2020: Representing multiword term variation in a terminological knowledge base: a corpus-based study. – Proceedings of the 12th Language Resources and Evaluation Conference, 2358–2367. LKRS – Spelling and punctuation of Lithuanian language, 2nd patais. photogr. leid., Vilnius: Mokslas, 1992. Mikelionienė Jurgita 2017: Aspects of International Terms Appelation. – Terminologija 24, 127–144. Miliūnaitė Rita 1995: Variant phenomena of common language usage (registration and evaluation). – Language Culture 67, 39-49. Miliūnaitė Rita 2003: Basics of Lithuanian Grammar Standardization, Vilnius: Lithuanian Language Institute. Miliūnaitė Rita 2008: A first look at the language of blogs. – Language Culture 81, 20–49. Miliūnaitė Rita 2009: Variants of the current Lithuanian usage, Vilnius: Lithuanian Language Institute publishing house. Miliūnaitė Rita 2010: Newspaper and Internet media: content commonality, language paths separation. – Native Language 7, 3–17. Miliūnaitė Rita 2018: Language norms and their self-regulation in the Internet community, Vilnius: Lithuanian Language Institute. Mitkevičienė Asta 2004: Variants of terms in V. Dubo universal literature textbook. – Terminologija 11, 119–144. Mitkevičienė Asta 2015a: Some aspects of synonymy of terms. – Terminology 22, 39–60. Mitkevičienė Asta 2015b: Synonymous terms in Lithuanian literary studies of 1918–1940. – Lithuanian language 9. Access on the Internet: http://www.lietuviukalba.lt/index.php/lietuviu-kalba/article/view/179/144. 118 Ramunė Vaskelaitė Mitkevičienė Asta 2021: Explicit synonymy of terms in non-academic discourse. – Terminologija 28, Palionis Jonas 1999: Basics of Linguistics, Vilnius: Jandrija. Stankevičienė Sigita 2012: 100–113. Variant and synonymous expression of Lithuanian and German terms of electrostatics. – Language Studies 21, 21–27. Stankevičienė Virginija 2016: Terms in the language of chemists and economists: norm, usage, trends. – Santalka: Educational Philosophy 24(1), 65–74. Stonkutė Loreta 2020: Astrology textbook, Kaunas: Mijalba. Straižys Vytautas 2003: Astronomy encyclopedic dictionary, Vilnius: Institute of Theoretical Physics and Astronomy. Stunžinas Robertas 2005: Synonymy of Construction Terminology. – Terminology 12, 7–26. Stunžinas Robertas 2008: Variantiniai statybos liaudies terminai lietuvių kalbos žodyne. – Terminologija 15, Stunžinas Robertas 111–130. 2017: European Union cybersecurity terms with emphasis on cybernetic, (-ė): meanings, origin, synonymy and variants. – Terminologija 24, 145–163. Stunžinas Robertas 2018: Terms in the field of cryptocurrencies: meanings, definitions and variants. – Terminologija 25, 128–145. The International Dictionary of Languages, Vilnius: Alma littera, 2013. Umbrasas Alvydas 2004: Common-rooted synonyms and variants of two-word legal terms in Lithuanian Codes of 1918-1940. – Terminologija 11, 100–118. Vaskelaitė Ramunė 2020: One-word terminology of astrology in terms of origin. – Terminologija 27, 128–163. Access on-line: http://journals.lki.lt/terminologija/article/view/2029/2120. Vaskelaitė Ramunė 2021a: Writing astrological names on astrology websites. – Common Language 94, 1–36. Accessed online: http://journals.lki.lt/bendrinekalba/issue/view/132. Vaskelaitė Ramunė 2021b: Reasons for synonymous expressions in astrological terminology. – Terminology 27, Vaskelaitė Ramunė 2022: Writing astrological names in printed publications. – Common Language 95, 1–32. Accessed online: 192–222. http://journals.lki.lt/bendrinekalba/issue/view/132. Vaskelienė Jolanta 2013: Similarities and differences of verb synonyms, verb variants and paronyms. – Man and Word 1, 206–214. Vaskelienė Jolanta, Kučinskienė Ramunė 2012: Adjectives in contemporary Lithuanian language. – Man and Word 1, 153–161. Vladarskienė Rasuolė, Zemlevičiūtė Palmira 2022: Lithuanian spelling: rules, comments, tips, Vilnius: Lithuanian Language Institute. VLEe – Universal Lithuanian Encyclopedia, 2001–2020. Internet access: http://www.vle.lt. Zemlevičiūtė Palmira 2003: Antanas Vileišis (1856–1919) medical science works and their terminology. – Terminologija 10, 84–106. Zemlevičiūtė Palmira 2009: Terms of medical articles on the penis. – Terminologija 16, 92–108. Zemlevičiūtė Palmira 2011: Terms of traveler's articles about health. – Terminology 18, 93–108. Zemlevičiūtė Palmira 2012: Morphological variants of anatomy terms in Lithuanian lexicography of the 17th–18th centuries. – Terminologija 19, 105–124. Zemlevičiūtė Palmira 2018: Medical terminology 100 years ago. – Terminologija 25, 147–200. Župerka Kazimieras 2010: Variants of the current Lithuanian usage. – Language Culture 83, 348–358. Župerka Kazimieras 2012: Stylistika, Šiauliai: Šiaulių University Press.