Prefixation as One of the Means of Word Formation in Georgian Mathematical Terminology

Abstract

A term is a word or phrase, used to describe a thing or to express a concept, especially in a particular kind of language or branch of study. In most cases, terms are translated into Georgian from other languages. The system of translation with respect to word combinations (syntagma) must conform to the principles of Georgian as well as of the foreign language it has been translated from. Standardization of terms is im-possible. There always remains some diversity in the language. Thus we must always try to find the reasons for this diversity among Georgian mathematical terms.

While transferring foreign terms into Georgian, great attention should be paid to foreign prefixes (prefixation). Prefixes in foreign languages (say, in English) have been translated from Latin or Greek, as the case may be.

In the present paper, the most frequently employed foreign pre-fixes have been given and categorized. On the basis of these examples, we can say that complete standardization of these prefixes is impossible but as a result of joint efforts of linguists and mathematicians, it will be possible to increase the number of those terms where foreign prefixes have been replaced by Georgian equivalents.