In Hungarian, the word "diagram" first appeared in its original meaning: a schematic representation of relationships, processes, ideas, or engineering drawing, or geometric proof. The "graphic method" was used for a long time to any sort of data graphics, including pictorial, then "graph" took over this general role, graph was the line chart, the bar chart, the Isotype or the Sankey. Later the meaning of diagram was extended to the field of specific statistical charts: what is pie chart in English is a torta (pie) diagram in Hungarian. Chart and plot have not become widespread in Hungarian, and are only used when there is no good translation of the original in English, for instance slope chart, or beeswarm plot. Meanwhile scatterplot is translated as korrelációs pont diagram (correlational point diagram). We do not use the word map or carta for cartographic representations, we use the word térkép (meaning "spatial image"). I really do like the old Hungarian word földabrosz, meaning Earth-tablecloth for maps. Data visualization is again not widely used, only by designers, scientists and journalists. In everyday usage, infographic, diagram, graph mean much the same thing for the public.
"I really do like the old Hungarian word földabrosz, meaning Earth-tablecloth for maps."—Yeah! As you probably know, map is from Latin mappa which originally meant table napkin.
I would like to add that when I teach I use data graphic for the commonly used chart types, and I use data visualization for more complex, moving, animated, sometimes interactive presentations.
Love this reflection. I've been trying out "data interfaces" for the kind of work I do, which encompasses dashboards and charts but also feels like it allows for new representations to emerge
In Hungarian, the word "diagram" first appeared in its original meaning: a schematic representation of relationships, processes, ideas, or engineering drawing, or geometric proof. The "graphic method" was used for a long time to any sort of data graphics, including pictorial, then "graph" took over this general role, graph was the line chart, the bar chart, the Isotype or the Sankey. Later the meaning of diagram was extended to the field of specific statistical charts: what is pie chart in English is a torta (pie) diagram in Hungarian. Chart and plot have not become widespread in Hungarian, and are only used when there is no good translation of the original in English, for instance slope chart, or beeswarm plot. Meanwhile scatterplot is translated as korrelációs pont diagram (correlational point diagram). We do not use the word map or carta for cartographic representations, we use the word térkép (meaning "spatial image"). I really do like the old Hungarian word földabrosz, meaning Earth-tablecloth for maps. Data visualization is again not widely used, only by designers, scientists and journalists. In everyday usage, infographic, diagram, graph mean much the same thing for the public.
"I really do like the old Hungarian word földabrosz, meaning Earth-tablecloth for maps."—Yeah! As you probably know, map is from Latin mappa which originally meant table napkin.
I would like to add that when I teach I use data graphic for the commonly used chart types, and I use data visualization for more complex, moving, animated, sometimes interactive presentations.
Love this reflection. I've been trying out "data interfaces" for the kind of work I do, which encompasses dashboards and charts but also feels like it allows for new representations to emerge