Starter - Sponge - Leaven - Barm ....

Reading english, american, australian and other recipes in english, I find it quite confusing what an array of words are used to describe a sourdough.

So I have googled around and found the following explanations (the last two come from this site here!):

barm: A leaven or starter, sometimes implying one made from brewing sediment. (English)

chef: A piece of a previous batch of dough kept over to inoculate a new flour/water mixture, which will then become a leaven, starter, sponge (synonyms).

leaven: That which raises bread by producing carbon dioxide. In this context, it is a batter, sponge, or dough that contains a mixed culture of yeast and bacteria that has been continuously maintained by a a series of inoculations and incubations.

levain: French for leaven.

sponge: A thick batter or thin dough with hydration somewhere above 75% and a little less than 100%.

sponge leaven: A sponge that has been inoculated with a leaven culture, then incubated until it is ripe.

starter: Something that can be used to inoculate a sourdough culture. Essentially the same thing as a leaven.

starter sponge: A ripe leaven of sponge consistency.

starter leaven: Could be used to describe a new sourdough culture, being propagated from an infusion of flour (or fruit) in water.

storage leaven: One that is used to preserve the culture from one baking session to the next. Usually kept in a refrigerator.

SPONGE: In a method where the dough is mixed over several stages, a sponge is a stage where the ingredients are mixed to a batter-like consistency and left to ferment.

STARTER: A batter of flour and water left at room temperature to encourage yeasts naturally present in the flour to grow. Also known as a 'natural leaven' or 'sour' this is the most ancient form of raising bread.

Then I have also read about "white" starters and lots of other confusing starters. My question: Is this just different types of english or have different authors invented new terms? Or how come this array of expressions seems to be never ending?

In Germany where I learned the terms we just have 3 types of starters which correspond to the 3 sourdough stages plus a yeast dough. In addition there are old idioms like biga which came from Italy.

However the english proliferation is astounding.