see also https://hisham.hm/2021/02/25/compiler-versus-transpiler-what-is-a-compiler-anyway
they even mentioned Nim
> I don’t mind the term “transpiler” myself if it helps non-academics understand it’s a source-to-source compiler, but then, you don’t see people calling the Nim compiler, which generates C code then compiles it into machine code, a “transpiler”, even though it is a source-to-source compiler.
I don't see the need as per the linked article. "Interpreter": translate source code to action/computation piece-by-piece. "Compiler" (or "translator", equivalent in every way) - just translate source code to other source code.
In ancient times (the 50s?) people would often just call them "translators" or "programming language processors". The action of what we call a "linker" now is more like the English word "to compile" in other contexts - to combine from separate pieces/origins into one like a compilation of your favorite author/music, but natural language evolution is what it is.
Adding a portmanteau neologism like "transpiler" reliant upon vague "high/low" level notions to complete its meaning/purpose just puts mud in already clear enough water. If the move afoot were to start calling "compilers" "translators" again then I could maybe support it, but that is not the move afoot. If people want to learn something new, they can just learn what "compiler" has come to mean in English technical terminology (before they were likely even born).
There are other aspects of programming language processing that can be confusing/blurry, but "transpiler" does nothing to help those. (Thinking multi-stage stuff like compiler: source->bytecode; bytecode interpreter: bytecode->computation, JIT 'interpreter-compilers' that only translate hot loop in byte codes to machine code, etc., or distinctions between a prog.lang and its impl.)
If all it does is create new trouble like "What is high/low level enough to use the term?" then it seems a clear net negative, terminology-wise.
Also, the very first sentence of current Wikipedia on "Compiler":
In computing, a compiler is a computer program that translates computer code written in one programming language (the source language) into another language (the target language).
So, I really don't see a problem sticking with that term (or any incorrect usage). Changing seems like it would cause more confusion than clarity.
Also, people have been referring to C as "portable assembly" and targeting compilers to C since at least the 1980s.