The Compact Dictionary of Exact Science and Technology [Compact Wörterbuch der exakten Naturwissenschaften und der Technik] (review)

168Reviews The Compact Dictionary of Exact Science and Technology [Compact Wörterbuch der exakten Naturwissenschaften und der Technik]. 1989. Ed. A[ntonin] Kucera. Vol. I, English—German. 2d ed., completely revised and enlarged. Wiesbaden: Oskar Brandstetter Verlag, xxii + 1460 + ? pp. $100 U.S. The Compact Dictionary of Exact Science and Technology [Compact Wörterbuch der exakten Naturwissenschaften und der Technik; Dictionnaire compact des sciences et de la technique]. 1991. Ed. A[ntonín] Kucera, A. Cías, and J. Baudot. Vol. II, Allemand—Fran- çais. Wiesbaden: Oskar Brandstetter Verlag, xviii + 812 + xx pp. $100 U.S. This is one of the most interesting enterprises in the field of the bilingual lexicography of scientific and technical terminology and nomenclature . It started in 1980 with the publication of the first edition of the EnglishGerman dictionary. Its German-English counterpart followed in 1982. The dictionary was then converted into aJapanese version (1985—obtainable also on CD-ROM). This second edition is vasdy enlarged: while the first edition of the English-German version had some 550 pages of text, the present one has 1460 pages, containing some 1 17,000 entries. Technical terminology as such is not one ofthe main areas ofresearch for a good part ofthe readership ofDictionaries; but what is the interest ofthis dictionary and of its specifics for the theory of lexicography? A dictionary of this type operates almost exclusively with denotative lexical units whose meanings are as precise as possible. Sometimes the terms are defined in binding normative lists published by governmental and other official authorities. At the same time, however, the terms can be polysemous, having different, if separately defined, meanings in different technical areas. The lexical units treated in a dictionary such as this are very closely tied to the extralinguistic world. Indeed, their very purpose is to make reference to segments of the extralinguistic world and their manipulation possible; hence, there is necessarily an encyclopedic component built into any project of this type. And since idiomatic or even metaphorical applications and other semantic effects are mostly excluded in the texts that are part of these registers, the lexical units that belong here can be more easily handled by a computer program than can those of general language. How does this dictionary cope with these specificities? First, for each term or nomenclature designation and its equivalent, the topical label indicating its areas of application is given, irrespective of the number of the necessary equivalents. For instance, English noselite has only one German equivalent Nosean; still, the subject label (Minferalogy]) is added. English Reviews169 notch requires several different equivalents, parceled out in seven areas; each of them is indicated one after the other: (Cinema); then three different labels for engineering: (Elec[trical] Engineering]), (Engineering]), (Engineering]) (two different equivalents); (Hyd[raulic] Engineering]); (Join[ery]). This is an important principle, because it implies that when, e.g., the verb to notch is given without a topical label, the user knows that it belongs to the general language by default. In this way, the meaning of the German equivalents is discriminated so that the user knows that he has to translate notch as Randkerbe when facing a text dealing with the cinema, as Stellung if electrical engineering is the topic, as Kerbe, Schlitz, or Kerb in another area ofengineering, as Mefyblende in the context of hydraulic engineering, and finally as Ausnehmung when the topic is joinery. However, there are two different subareas of engineering indicated, without a specific discrimination. How does the user know which equivalent to choose? By explanatory glosses that are given in parentheses, usually in German (which shows that the German user is the putative main customer of the dictionary). For instance, in the case above, the gloss appended to the equivalent Rast says ("z.B. der Rastenscheibe"), which sufficiently informs the user that this equivalent is applicable in machine engineering. The encyclopedic information is rendered more copious by two devices . An asterisk following the English expression tells the user that more information can be found in Chambers Dictionary of Science and Technology, (Collocott and Dobson, Edinburgh: W. and R. Chambers, 1974). On the German side, if a term has been defined by the Deutsches Institut für Normung...