calque
Definition
- Noun:
- A loan translation: A word or phrase borrowed from another language by translating its components literally. It is a type of linguistic borrowing where the meaning is translated, but the structure is imitated.
Usage
- A calque is formed through the process of literal, word-for-word translation of a term from a source language into the target language.
- It is used in linguistics to describe a specific kind of borrowed lexical item. The term itself is a calque from the French word "calque" meaning "copy" or "tracing."
Examples
- Noun:
- The English term "superman" is a calque of the German "Übermensch."
- "Brainwashing" is considered a calque from the Chinese "xǐ nǎo."
- The phrase "that goes without saying" is a calque of the French "cela va sans dire."
Advanced Usage
- Structural Calque: This involves borrowing syntactic structures or grammatical patterns from another language, not just individual words.
- The influence of English can be seen in the structural calques found in many European languages' technical jargon.
- Semantic Calque (or Loan Meaning): This occurs when an existing word in a language acquires a new meaning under the influence of a foreign word.
- This is a more subtle type of calque, where the form is native but the new sense is borrowed.
Variants and Related Words
- Loan translation: This is a direct synonym for calque.
- Calquing (verb, gerund): The process of forming a calque.
- The calquing of terms is common in the development of scientific vocabulary.
Synonyms
- Loan translation
- Translation loan
Related Phrases and Concepts
- While not a phrasal verb or idiom, the concept is often discussed alongside:
- Loanword: A word adopted directly from another language with little or no translation (e.g., "sushi" from Japanese).
- The key difference is that a calque is a translation, while a loanword is a direct adoption of the foreign form.
Noun
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an expression introduced into one language by translating it from another language
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`superman' is a calque for the German `Ubermensch'
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