Lexical variants in translation

¨ Almost each word has several meanings which are reflected in dictionaries

¨ However, in some cases, none of these meanings can be used in translation: a translator should choose a different word or create a new phrase.

For example, in translation from Aramaic the phrase

מקדמין לשאל בשלמך [miqaḏmī́n liš’ál bišlēmā́ḵ] literally is translated as “From the beginning to ask peace for you”.

In the Aramaic dictionary you can find several meanings of the word [qǒḏā́m] – ‘beginning’, ‘front’, ‘east’; however, none of them fits the correct translation of this phrase.

“They will greet you obligingly ” or

“They will wish you peace obligingly ”.

Translation of the sentence from G. de Maupassant “La bête à Maît' Belhomme”

‘La diligence du Havre allait quitter Criquetot’

«Гаврський диліжанс вирушав із Крікто».

 

Rendering of words for specific national realities

Germ. “Fachwerkhaus”

How to translate this word into English?

‘Fachwerk house / building’, but not to translate it literally (false equivalent): ‘professionally built house’!

Into Ukrainian: «фахверкова будівля / будинок».

Germ. Giebelhaus / Giebel, French maison à pignon

Proposed translation: “peaked-roof house”, «гостроверхий дім».

 

However, the Hebrew word ‘moshav’ (מושב) in English is transliterated; or ‘farmer’s settlement’.

Moshav is a cooperative settlement in Israel, consisting of a number of small farms.

Into Ukrainian this word may be translated as «мошав» (transliteration) or «фермерське поселення».

Another Hebrew word in English – ‘ kibbutz, i.e.

a collective agricultural settlement in modern Israel, owned and administered communally by its members and on which children are reared collectively (like a commune). A variant of translation: an agriculture commune; in Ukraine: «кіббуц», «сільськогосподарська комуна».

 

How to translate these words?

¨ Transliteration or partial transcription

¨ Periphrasis: to create a new word / compound word / phrase using morphological elements of TL

¨ Similarity: to use the word which means something similar but not identical (approximate meaning)

¨ Hiponymy: a specific word of SL is translated with a more general term (generalization).

Similarity:

¨ in translation from English and French into Ukrainian the addresses ‘sir’ and ‘miss’ / ‘monsieur’ and ‘madame’ are rendered as «пане» and «пані».

¨ The Hebrew word הַמּשְׁלִים [hammōšlī́m] is rendered as «кобзарі» (!) in Ivan Ohienko’s translation of the Bible: «Тому й розповідають кобзарі…» (Числ. 21:27).

¨ Translation the Hebrew word הַתַּנִינִם [hattanīnīm] in Gen. 1:21 as «риби великі» (Ivan Ohienko’s translation); ‘great whales’ (KJV), ‘great creatures of the see’ (NIV).

 

Similarity and simplification: an approximate translation

כֶּסֶף סִיגִים מְצֻפֶּה עַל-חָרֶשׂ שְׂפָתַיִם דֹּלְקִים וְלֶב-רָע

І. Огієнко: Як срібло з жужелицею, на горшкові накладене, так полум'яні уста, а серце лихе (Пр. 26:23).

П. Куліш: Що глиняна посудина, обтягнена нечистим сріблом, те саме бутні уста й злобнеє серце.

Р. Турконяк: Що жужелиця з срібла на глинянім посуді, | те саме облесливі уста й зле серце.

Угаритське spsg – «блискучий матеріал», отже, כסף סיגים пропонується читати як כספסגם מצפה «як покритий глазур’ю», отже: Як покритий глазур’ю глиняний глечик, так уста палкі, а серце лихе.

™ Burning lips and a wicked heart are like a potsherd covered with silver dross (Pro 26:23 KJV).

™ Like a coating of glaze over earthenware are fervent lips with an evil heart. (Pro 26:23 NIV).

™ Like an earthen vessel overlaid with silver dross are burning lips and a wicked heart (Pro 26:23 NAS).

™ Smooth words may hide a wicked heart, just as a pretty glaze covers a clay pot. (Pro 26:23 NLT).

Hiponymy:

¨ Both the Ukrainian word «хата» and Turkic ‘jurta’ are translated in English ‘house’.

¨ ‘Turban’, ‘cap’, and ‘fez’ are translated as ‘hat’.

 

Translation of phrases

Phraseological units are (according to Prof. Kunin A.V.) stable word-groups with partially or fully transferred meanings ("to kick the bucket", “Greek gift”, “drink till all's blue”, “drunk as a fiddler (drunk as a lord, as a boiled owl)”, “as mad as a hatter (as a march hare)”).

According to Rosemarie Gläser, a phraseological unit is a lexicalized, reproducible bilexemic or polylexemic word group in common use, which has relative syntactic and semantic stability, may be idiomatized, may carry connotation, and may have an emphatic or intensifying function in a text.