Lexicological correctness and lexicographic relevance? The inclusion of semantic, encyclopedic, syntactic information in a bilingual dictionary of law

Abstract

The transposition of legal terminology is perhaps one of the most difficult areas of translation, since there will rarely be complete or direct equivalence between concepts in two languages. I shall in this paper look at some of the lexicographic and lexicological problems involved, and by using examples from my Norsk-Engelsk juridisk ordbok (English-Norwegian Dictionary of Law) (Oslo, 2001), as well as the updated – not yet published edition − indicate ways in which to try to solve these problems. The paper will also look at ways in which a dictionary may assist the users in navigating through the maze of legal concepts to find the information they seek, in terms of semantic information, conceptual discrimination, collocations, definitions, factual (enclyclopedic) information, syntactical information, equivalence, register, etc. The paper will also look at the problems involving terminology that does not have any acceptable equivalents in the target language and discuss the principles involved in the “construction” of terms.