OSI / PIA Glossary

OSI / PIA Glossary

This is the reader-oriented entry point for project terminology. The repository keeps distinct kinds of language separate rather than treating one glossary as the authority for every audience.

Start with the right vocabulary

Canonical terminology

Use foundation/CANONICAL_TERMINOLOGY.md for authoritative definitions used by architecture, governance, contracts, and validation. It contains definitions and relationships, not project stories or informal language.

Project vocabulary and history

Use docs/history/PROJECT_VOCABULARY.md for the evolving language, cultural terms, heuristics, origins, and working shorthand that helped the project develop. These entries preserve intellectual history but do not create architectural authority.

Reading rule

When a term appears in both documents, the canonical terminology document controls the formal definition. The project vocabulary document may explain how the term was used, learned, or remembered during development.

New formal definitions belong in foundation/CANONICAL_TERMINOLOGY.md only after the normal congruence, validation, and promotion process. New cultural or historical language belongs in docs/history/PROJECT_VOCABULARY.md.