Challenges in Translation Lexicography

Abstract

Georgian material was thematically presented for the first time in Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani’s (1658-1725) dictionary. This dictionary, "Sitkvis Kona," becomes the center of attention again in the digital age as the principles of its construction are significant and valuable regarding the development of modern digital dictionaries and scientific terminology.

As correctly noted in the special literature, the material in this dictionary is organised in "nests" (clusters) of concepts. Sulkhan-Saba employs (where possible) a word denoting a genus (generic idea) and arranges words denoting the concepts related to it, with their definitions, in clusters. Semantically close meanings are grouped in about a hundred "nests" (clusters). The headwords of these clusters are, for example, net, crazy, indignation, zodiac signs, hedge, hair, man, coldness, heat, cart, wine, vessel, bridge, etc.

The thematic groups of concepts identified by Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani, supplemented and processed in a new, modern way in the 20th century, have acquired new significance for the exploration of the lexical fund of literary Georgian. In the 1930s, Ivane Javakhishvili created a program "The method of collecting materials for the history of domestic industry and small handicrafts". This program included an overview of the following fields: Construction work, Defence structures, Furniture, Musical instruments, Dishes, Weaving and needlework, Clothing, Headgear, Footwear and shoemaking, Bread-making, Housekeeping, Cooking, Cattle-breeding, Silk-making, Manufacture of agricultural tools, Gardening and horticulture, Viticulture and winemaking, Irrigation and milling, Fishing, Hunting, Tiling, Brick and water-pipe making, Blacksmithing, Goldsmithing, Rafting, Glassmaking, Coal mining.

The exploration of individual thematic groups continued after Ivane Javakhishvili. Kinship, Zoological and body parts terms were studied at the Arn. Chikobava Institute of Linguistics. In addition, the vocabulary of some fields of knowledge (Grains, Winemaking and viticulture) was described and analysed.

Bidzina Pochkhua's significant work "Ideographic Dictionary of the Modern Georgian Language" was prepared and published in 1987 in the Institute of Linguistics. The ideographic dictionary is essentially different from all other types of dictionaries. In this dictionary, the words are not arranged alphabetically but thematically based on the meaning of a headword.

Bidzina Pochkhua's systems of concepts are also interesting and arranged uniquely; for example, people are presented according to the following thematic groups and subgroups:

Man – a physical being: 1. Gender, 2. Race, 3. Appearance, 4. Body parts, 5. Functions of body parts, 6. Movement, 7. Activities.

Human life – 1. Birth, 2. Age, 3. Sex life, 4. Body parts, 5. Functions of body parts, 6. Movement, 7. Activity towards others.

The spiritual life of a person – 1. Intelligence, talent, 2. Perception and imagination, 3. Thinking, 4. Feelings and emotions; 5. Will, 6. Morality, 7. Faith, 8. Art.

Form and activity – 1. Household, 2. Farming, 3. Cattle breeding, Art, 5. Craft, 6. Trade, 7. Transport, 8. Communication systems.

Society – 1. Family, 2. Tribe, language, 3. Relationships, 4. State, Administration, 6. Organization of education and healthcare; 7. Court, Foreign Affairs, 9. Military Affairs.

Although the dictionary fund of the Georgian language is well-studied in Georgia, the material of the modern literary language needs to be added to it, and therefore, work should be continued in this regard. It is on this unique material that an extensive Georgian-English thematic dictionary should be based. In translation lexicography, determining the English equivalents of this priceless material is of the utmost importance to fully represent the Georgian culture reflected in the lexical fund of the Georgian language, to establish the place of the Georgian language in the modern digital world.

The project, which started at Tbilisi State University in 2020, was symbolically called Sabaseuli, which implies that the dictionary created by Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani and published in the 17th century was the first attempt to process the Georgian language into concepts. The creation of an extensive Georgian-English thematic dictionary is underway at Tbilisi State University with the cooperation of researchers from the Department of Translation Dictionaries and Scientific Terminology of the Arn. Chikobava Institute of Linguistics, together with staff and students of the Departments of English Philology and Computer Sciences of Tbilisi State University. A special program is being developed to involve students, professors and researchers in the project, which will allow us to use the dictionary material in the academic process, and the compiled and edited material will enable us to create an electronic version of an extensive Georgian-English dictionary, which will be published gradually.