Under the patronage of the President of the Northern Technical University, Professor Dr. Alia Abbas Ali Al-Attar, and the supervision of the Dean of the Nineveh Technical Management Institute, Assistant Professor Dr. Ali Ghanem Ayoub, and in cooperation with the University’s Quality Assurance and University Performance Department, and as part of the Sustainable Development activities for the academic year 2025-2026, the Quality Assurance and University Performance Division at the Institute, in cooperation with the Materials Management Technology Department, held a seminar entitled:
“Sustainable Development: A Reading of the Term”
The linguistic meaning of any term forms the conceptual basis from which definitions emerge and expand the semantic scope of the word. The composite term “Sustainable Development” is rooted linguistically in the verbs “nama” and “dam”, both carrying meanings related to growth, increase, continuity, and durability. This seminar was dedicated to exploring these linguistic foundations and examining how they contribute to shaping the modern conceptual understanding of sustainable development.
The seminar aimed to highlight the importance of recognizing the linguistic roots of terms, understanding their established meanings in classical dictionaries, and clarifying the connection between linguistic and contemporary terminological definitions. It also addressed key lexical and semantic dimensions relevant to the modern use of “sustainable development.”
The presentation provided a linguistic analysis of the two core roots (nama) and (dam), illustrating how their meanings—growth, expansion, continuity, and stability—form the basis of the term’s conceptual framework. The seminar also discussed the modern definition of sustainable development as cited in Webster’s Dictionary, which describes it as “development that uses natural resources without allowing them to be depleted or destroyed,” in alignment with the definition presented
