In linguistics, a calque (/kælk/) or loan translation is a word or phrase borrowed from another language by literal word-for-word or root-for-root translation. When used as a verb, “to calque” means to borrow a word or phrase from another language while translating its components, so as to create a new word or phrase (lexeme) in the target language. For instance, the English word skyscraper has been calqued in dozens of other languages, combining words for "sky" and "scrape" in each language, as for example Wolkenkratzer in German, arranha-céu in Portuguese, rascacielo in Spanish, grattacielo in Italian, gökdelen in Turkish, and matenrou (摩天楼) in Japanese.
Calquing is distinct from phono-semantic matching: while calquing includes semantic translation, it does not consist of phonetic matching—i.e., of retaining the approximate sound of the borrowed word by matching it with a similar-sounding pre-existing word or morpheme in the target language.
Proving that a word is a calque sometimes requires more documentation than does an untranslated loanword because, in some cases, a similar phrase might have arisen in both languages independently. This is less likely to be the case when the grammar of the proposed calque is quite different from that of the borrowing language, or when the calque contains less obvious imagery.
Types
One system classifies calques into five groups. This terminology is not universal:
- Phraseological calques: idiomatic phrases are translated word for word. For example, "it goes without saying" calques the French ça va sans dire.
- Syntactic calques: syntactic functions or constructions of the source language are imitated in the target language, in violation of their meaning. For example, the use of "by" instead of "with" in the phrase "fine by me" is thought to have come from Yiddish bei, namely from the 1930s Yiddish Broadway musical song title בַיי מיר ביסטו שיין / Bei Mir Bistu Shein / lit. 'To Me You're Beautiful'.
- Loan-translations: words are translated morpheme by morpheme, or component by component, into another language.
- Semantic calques (also known as semantic loans): additional meanings of the source word are transferred to the word with the same primary meaning in the target language. As described below, the "computer mouse" was named in English for its resemblance to the animal; many other languages have extended their own native word for "mouse" to include the computer mouse.
- Morphological calques: the inflection of a word is transferred. Some authors call this a morpheme-by-morpheme translation.
Some linguists refer to a phonological calque, in which the pronunciation of a word is imitated in the other language. For example, the English word "radar" becomes the similar-sounding Chinese word 雷达 (pinyin: léidá), which literally means "to arrive (as fast) as thunder".
Partial
Partial calques, or loan blends, translate some parts of a compound but not others. For example, the name of the Irish digital television service Saorview is a partial calque of that of the UK service "Freeview", translating the first half of the word from English to Irish but leaving the second half unchanged. Other examples include "liverwurst" (< German Leberwurst) and "apple strudel" (< German Apfelstrudel).
Semantic
The "computer mouse" was named in English for its resemblance to the animal. Many other languages use their word for "mouse" for the "computer mouse", sometimes using a diminutive or, in Chinese, adding the word "cursor" (标), making shǔbiāo "mouse cursor" (simplified Chinese: 鼠标; traditional Chinese: 鼠標; pinyin: shǔbiāo).[citation needed] Another example is the Spanish word ratón that means both the animal and the computer mouse.
Examples
The common English phrase "flea market" is a loan translation of the French marché aux puces ("market with fleas"). At least 22 other languages calque the French expression directly or indirectly through another language.
The word loanword is a calque of the German noun Lehnwort. In contrast, the term calque is a loanword, from the French noun calque ("tracing, imitation, close copy").
Another example of a common morpheme-by-morpheme loan-translation is of the English word "skyscraper", a kenning-like term which may be calqued using the word for "sky" or "cloud" and the word, variously, for "scrape", "scratch", "pierce", "sweep", "kiss", etc. At least 54 languages have their own versions of the English word.
Some Germanic and Slavic languages derived their words for "translation" from words meaning "carrying across" or "bringing across", calquing from the Latin translātiō or trādūcō.
The Latin weekday names came to be associated by ancient Germanic speakers with their own gods following a practice known as interpretatio germanica: the Latin "Day of Mercury", Mercurii dies (later mercredi in modern French), was borrowed into Late Proto-Germanic as the "Day of Wōđanaz" (Wodanesdag), which became Wōdnesdæg in Old English, then "Wednesday" in Modern English.
History
Since at least 1894, according to the Trésor de la langue française informatisé, the French term calque has been used in its linguistic sense, namely in a publication by Louis Duvau:
Un autre phénomène d'hybridation est la création dans une langue d'un mot nouveau, dérivé ou composé à l'aide d'éléments existant déja dans cette langue, et ne se distinguant en rien par l'aspect extérieur des mots plus anciens, mais qui, en fait, n'est que le calque d'un mot existant dans la langue maternelle de celui qui s'essaye à un parler nouveau. [...] nous voulons rappeler seulement deux ou trois exemples de ces calques d'expressions, parmi les plus certains et les plus frappants. | Another phenomenon of hybridization is the creation in a language of a new word, derived or composed with the help of elements already existing in that language, and which is not distinguished in any way by the external aspect of the older words, but which, in fact, is only the copy (calque) of a word existing in the mother tongue of the one who tries out a new language. [...] we want to recall only two or three examples of these copies (calques) of expressions, among the most certain and the most striking. |
Since at least 1926, the term calque has been attested in English through a publication by the linguist :
- [...] such imitative forms are called calques (or décalques) by French philologists, and this is a frequent method in coining abstract terminology, whether nouns or verbs.
See also
- Anglicism
- Chinese Pidgin English
- Cognate
- Gallicism
- Germanism
- Inkhorn term
- Loanword
- Metatypy
- Wasei-eigo
- Engrish
References
Notes
- Gachelin, Jean-Marc (1986). Lexique-grammaire, domaine anglais. Université de Saint-Etienne. p. 97. ISBN 978-2-901559-14-6.
- Zuckermann, Ghil'ad (2003). Language Contact and Lexical Enrichment in Israeli Hebrew. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 1-4039-1723-X.
- Smith, May. The Influence of French on Eighteenth-century Literary Russian. pp. 29–30.
- Fowler, H. W. [1908] 1999. "Vocabulary § Foreign Words." chap. 1 in The King's English (2nd ed.). New York: Bartelby.com.
- Shapiro, Michael (25 January 2013). ""It's OK by Me" as a Syntactic Calque". Language Lore. Archived from the original on Sep 28, 2022.
- Gilliot, Claude. "The Authorship of the Qur'ān." In The Qur'an in its Historical Context, edited by G. S. Reynolds. p. 97.
- Yihua, Zhang, and Guo Qiping. 2010. "An Ideal Specialised Lexicography for Learners in China based on English-Chinese Specialised Dictionaries." Pp. 171–92 in Specialised Dictionaries for Learners, edited by P. A. F. Olivera. Berlin: de Gruyter. p. 187. ISBN 9783110231328
- Durkin, Philip. The Oxford Guide to Etymology. § 5.1.4
- "liverwurst". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
- "apple strudel". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
- "ratón". Diccionario panhispánico de dudas (DPD), 2.ª edición (versión provisional) (in Spanish). Real Academia Española y Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española. Retrieved 30 May 2024.
- "flea market". Bartleby. Archived from the original on March 11, 2007.
- Knapp, Robbin D. 27 January 2011. "Robb: German English Words." Robb: Human Languages.
- Christopher Kasparek, "The Translator's Endless Toil", The Polish Review, vol. XXVIII, no. 2, 1983, p. 83.
- Simek, Rudolf (1993). Dictionary of northern mythology. D.S. Brewer. p. 371. ISBN 0-85991-369-4.
- Duvau, Louis (1894). "Expressions hybrides". Mémoires de la Société de linguistique de Paris. 8. Paris: 191.
- Vočadlo, Otakar (1926). "Slav Linguistic Purity and the Use of Foreign Words". The Slavonic Review. 5 (14): 353. JSTOR 4202081.
Bibliography
- Kasparek, Christopher. 1983. "The Translator's Endless Toil." The Polish Review 28(2):83–87.
- Robb: German English Words
- Zuckermann, Ghil'ad. 2003. Language Contact and Lexical Enrichment in Israeli Hebrew. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 1-4039-1723-X
- 2009. "Hybridity versus Revivability: Multiple Causation, Forms and Patterns." Journal of Language Contact (2):40–67.
External links
- EtymOnline
- Merriam Webster Online
In linguistics a calque k ae l k or loan translation is a word or phrase borrowed from another language by literal word for word or root for root translation When used as a verb to calque means to borrow a word or phrase from another language while translating its components so as to create a new word or phrase lexeme in the target language For instance the English word skyscraper has been calqued in dozens of other languages combining words for sky and scrape in each language as for example Wolkenkratzer in German arranha ceu in Portuguese rascacielo in Spanish grattacielo in Italian gokdelen in Turkish and matenrou 摩天楼 in Japanese Calquing is distinct from phono semantic matching while calquing includes semantic translation it does not consist of phonetic matching i e of retaining the approximate sound of the borrowed word by matching it with a similar sounding pre existing word or morpheme in the target language Proving that a word is a calque sometimes requires more documentation than does an untranslated loanword because in some cases a similar phrase might have arisen in both languages independently This is less likely to be the case when the grammar of the proposed calque is quite different from that of the borrowing language or when the calque contains less obvious imagery TypesOne system classifies calques into five groups This terminology is not universal Phraseological calques idiomatic phrases are translated word for word For example it goes without saying calques the French ca va sans dire Syntactic calques syntactic functions or constructions of the source language are imitated in the target language in violation of their meaning For example the use of by instead of with in the phrase fine by me is thought to have come from Yiddish bei namely from the 1930s Yiddish Broadway musical song title ב יי מיר ביסטו שיין Bei Mir Bistu Shein lit To Me You re Beautiful Loan translations words are translated morpheme by morpheme or component by component into another language Semantic calques also known as semantic loans additional meanings of the source word are transferred to the word with the same primary meaning in the target language As described below the computer mouse was named in English for its resemblance to the animal many other languages have extended their own native word for mouse to include the computer mouse Morphological calques the inflection of a word is transferred Some authors call this a morpheme by morpheme translation Some linguists refer to a phonological calque in which the pronunciation of a word is imitated in the other language For example the English word radar becomes the similar sounding Chinese word 雷达 pinyin leida which literally means to arrive as fast as thunder Partial Partial calques or loan blends translate some parts of a compound but not others For example the name of the Irish digital television service Saorview is a partial calque of that of the UK service Freeview translating the first half of the word from English to Irish but leaving the second half unchanged Other examples include liverwurst lt German Leberwurst and apple strudel lt German Apfelstrudel Semantic The computer mouse was named in English for its resemblance to the animal Many other languages use their word for mouse for the computer mouse sometimes using a diminutive or in Chinese adding the word cursor 标 making shǔbiao mouse cursor simplified Chinese 鼠标 traditional Chinese 鼠標 pinyin shǔbiao citation needed Another example is the Spanish word raton that means both the animal and the computer mouse ExamplesThe common English phrase flea market is a loan translation of the French marche aux puces market with fleas At least 22 other languages calque the French expression directly or indirectly through another language The word loanword is a calque of the German noun Lehnwort In contrast the term calque is a loanword from the French noun calque tracing imitation close copy Another example of a common morpheme by morpheme loan translation is of the English word skyscraper a kenning like term which may be calqued using the word for sky or cloud and the word variously for scrape scratch pierce sweep kiss etc At least 54 languages have their own versions of the English word Some Germanic and Slavic languages derived their words for translation from words meaning carrying across or bringing across calquing from the Latin translatiō or traducō The Latin weekday names came to be associated by ancient Germanic speakers with their own gods following a practice known as interpretatio germanica the Latin Day of Mercury Mercurii dies later mercredi in modern French was borrowed into Late Proto Germanic as the Day of Wōđanaz Wodanesdag which became Wōdnesdaeg in Old English then Wednesday in Modern English HistorySince at least 1894 according to the Tresor de la langue francaise informatise the French term calque has been used in its linguistic sense namely in a publication by Louis Duvau Un autre phenomene d hybridation est la creation dans une langue d un mot nouveau derive ou compose a l aide d elements existant deja dans cette langue et ne se distinguant en rien par l aspect exterieur des mots plus anciens mais qui en fait n est que le calque d un mot existant dans la langue maternelle de celui qui s essaye a un parler nouveau nous voulons rappeler seulement deux ou trois exemples de ces calques d expressions parmi les plus certains et les plus frappants Another phenomenon of hybridization is the creation in a language of a new word derived or composed with the help of elements already existing in that language and which is not distinguished in any way by the external aspect of the older words but which in fact is only the copy calque of a word existing in the mother tongue of the one who tries out a new language we want to recall only two or three examples of these copies calques of expressions among the most certain and the most striking Since at least 1926 the term calque has been attested in English through a publication by the linguist cs such imitative forms are called calques or decalques by French philologists and this is a frequent method in coining abstract terminology whether nouns or verbs See alsoAnglicism Chinese Pidgin English Cognate Gallicism Germanism Inkhorn term Loanword Metatypy Wasei eigo EngrishReferencesNotes Gachelin Jean Marc 1986 Lexique grammaire domaine anglais Universite de Saint Etienne p 97 ISBN 978 2 901559 14 6 Zuckermann Ghil ad 2003 Language Contact and Lexical Enrichment in Israeli Hebrew Palgrave Macmillan ISBN 1 4039 1723 X Smith May The Influence of French on Eighteenth century Literary Russian pp 29 30 Fowler H W 1908 1999 Vocabulary Foreign Words chap 1 in The King s English 2nd ed New York Bartelby com Shapiro Michael 25 January 2013 It s OK by Me as a Syntactic Calque Language Lore Archived from the original on Sep 28 2022 Gilliot Claude The Authorship of the Qur an In The Qur an in its Historical Context edited by G S Reynolds p 97 Yihua Zhang and Guo Qiping 2010 An Ideal Specialised Lexicography for Learners in China based on English Chinese Specialised Dictionaries Pp 171 92 in Specialised Dictionaries for Learners edited by P A F Olivera Berlin de Gruyter p 187 ISBN 9783110231328 Durkin Philip The Oxford Guide to Etymology 5 1 4 liverwurst Oxford English Dictionary Online ed Oxford University Press Subscription or participating institution membership required apple strudel Oxford English Dictionary Online ed Oxford University Press Subscription or participating institution membership required raton Diccionario panhispanico de dudas DPD 2 ª edicion version provisional in Spanish Real Academia Espanola y Asociacion de Academias de la Lengua Espanola Retrieved 30 May 2024 flea market Bartleby Archived from the original on March 11 2007 Knapp Robbin D 27 January 2011 Robb German English Words Robb Human Languages Christopher Kasparek The Translator s Endless Toil The Polish Review vol XXVIII no 2 1983 p 83 Simek Rudolf 1993 Dictionary of northern mythology D S Brewer p 371 ISBN 0 85991 369 4 Duvau Louis 1894 Expressions hybrides Memoires de la Societe de linguistique de Paris 8 Paris 191 Vocadlo Otakar 1926 Slav Linguistic Purity and the Use of Foreign Words The Slavonic Review 5 14 353 JSTOR 4202081 Bibliography Kasparek Christopher 1983 The Translator s Endless Toil The Polish Review 28 2 83 87 Robb German English Words Zuckermann Ghil ad 2003 Language Contact and Lexical Enrichment in Israeli Hebrew Palgrave Macmillan ISBN 1 4039 1723 X 2009 Hybridity versus Revivability Multiple Causation Forms and Patterns Journal of Language Contact 2 40 67 External linksLook up calque in Wiktionary the free dictionary For a list of words relating to Calque see the English calques category of words in Wiktionary the free dictionary EtymOnline Merriam Webster Online
