Post History

There's a [discussion](https://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2021/06/regarding-in-terms-of.html) of how "in terms of" came to mean "regarding" on the Grammarphobia Blog. The article suggests: "Perhaps it strikes people as more scholarly or scientific than the alternatives." It goes on:

 > The nontechnical meaning of “in terms of” emerged in the early 19th century. It’s defined in the OED as “by means of or in reference to (a particular concept); in the mode of expression or thought belonging to (a subject or category); (loosely) on the basis of; in relation to; as regards.”

 > The dictionary’s earliest example of the phrase used in this sense is from a work by the philosopher and jurist Jeremy Bentham: “Contradictoriness … manifested, in terms of a certain degree of strength, towards some proposition or propositions, that have been advanced by some one else” (_The Elements of the Art of Packing, as Applied to Special Juries_, 1821).

Further on:

 > The phrase as we know it today, the dictionary says, is sometimes influenced by a use of the plural “terms” in a sense that dates from the late 14th century: “words or expressions collectively (usually of a specified kind); manner of expression, way of speaking; language. Chiefly preceded by in.”

 > Familiar expressions using this sense of “terms” include “in general terms,” “in layman’s terms,” “in the strongest terms,” and “in no uncertain terms.”

The bridging concept between literal references to terminology and the sense of "regarding" seems to be the idea of "terms" as a way of thinking or an approach to a subject.