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Calque

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Not to be confused with literal translation or claque.

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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 lexeme in
the target language.

"Calque" itself is a loanword from the French noun calque ("tracing; imitation; close copy").[1] 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.

Calquing is distinct from phono-semantic matching.[2] While calquing includes semantic translation, it
does not consist of phonetic matching (i.e., retaining the approximate sound of the borrowed word
through matching it with a similar-sounding pre-existing word or morpheme in the target language).
Types Edit

One system classifies calques into five groups:[3]

the phraseological calque, with idiomatic phrases being translated word-for-word. For example, "it goes
without saying" calques the French ça va sans dire.[4]

the syntactic calque, with syntactic functions or constructions of the source language being imitated in
the target language, in violation of their meaning. For example, in Spanish the legal term for “to find
guilty” is properly declarar culpable (“to declare guilty”). Informal usage, however, is shifting to
encontrar culpable: a syntactic mapping of "to find" without a semantic correspondence in Spanish of
“find” to mean “determine as true”.[5]

the loan-translation, with words being translated morpheme-by-morpheme or component-by-

component into another language. The two morphemes of the Swedish word tonåring calque each part
of the English "teenager": femton "fifteen" and åring "year-old" (as in the phrase tolv-åring "twelve-
year-old").

the semantic calque, with additional meanings of the source word being transferred to the word with
the same primary meaning in the target language. This is also called a "semantic loan". 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.

the morphological calque, with the inflection of a word being transferred.

This terminology is not universal. Some authors call a morphological calque a "morpheme-by-morpheme
translation".[6]

Other linguists refer to the phonological calque, where the pronunciation of a word is imitated in the
other language.[7] For example, the English word "radar" becomes the similar-sounding Chinese word
雷达 (pinyin "léi dá").

Loan blend Edit

Loan blends or partial calques translate some parts of a compound, but not others.[8] 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 are: "liverwurst" (< German Leberwurst), "apple strudel" (< German Apfelstrudel).
Examples Edit

For a more comprehensive list, see List of calques.

Loan translation: "flea market" Edit

The common English phrase "flea market" is a loan translation of the French marché aux puces ("market
with fleas").[9] Other national variations include:

Cebuano: taboán sa tuma

Chinese: 跳蚤市场

Czech: bleší trh

Danish loppemarked

Dutch: vlooienmarkt

Estonian: kirbuturg

Finnish: kirpputori

German: Flohmarkt

Hebrew: ‫שוק פשפשים‬

Hungarian: bolhapiac

Italian: mercato delle pulci

Japanese: 蚤の市

Korean: 벼룩시장

Macedonian: болвин пазар (bolvin pazar)

Norwegian: loppemarked

Polish: pchli targ

Russian: блошиный рынок (blošinyj rynok)

Serbian: buvlja pijaca

Spanish: mercado de pulgas

Swedish: loppmarknad

Turkish: bit pazarı ("louse market")

Ukrainian: блошиний ринок (blošynyj rynok)

Loan translation: "skyscraper" Edit

Another example of a common morpheme-by-morpheme loan-translation, in a multitude of languages,

is that of the English word skyscraper:

Albanian: qiellgërvishtës ("sky-scraper")

Afrikaans: wolkekrabber ("clouds-scraper")

Arabic: ‫( ناطحة سحاب‬nāṭiḥat saḥāb, "cloud-butter")

Armenian: երկնաքեր (yerk-n-a-ker, "sky-scratcher")

Azerbaijani: göydələn ("sky-piercer")

Belarusian: хмарачос (khmaračos, "cloud-scraper")

Bengali: আকাশঝাড়ু (akash-jharu, "sky-sweeper") or গগনচু ম্বী (gagan-chumbi, "sky-kisser")

Bulgarian: небостъргач (nebostargach, "sky-scraper")

Catalan: gratacel ("scrapes-sky")

Cebuano: kiskislangit ("sky scraper or sky rubber")

Chinese: 摩天楼 (mótiānlóu, "touch-the-sky building")

Czech: mrakodrap ("cloud-scraper")

Danish: skyskraber ("cloud-scraper")

Dutch: wolkenkrabber ("clouds-scratcher")

Estonian: pilvelõhkuja ("cloud-breaker")

Finnish: pilvenpiirtäjä ("cloud-sketcher")

French: gratte-ciel ("scrapes-sky")

Georgian: ცათამბჯენი ("sky-upleaning", "sky-uppropping"), ცათამწვდომი ("sky-reaching")

German: Wolkenkratzer ("cloud-scraper")

Greek: ουρανοξύστης (uranoxístis, "sky-scraper")

Hebrew: ‫( גורד שחקים‬goréd šħaqím, "scraper of skies")

Hungarian: felhőkarcoló ("cloud-scraper")

Icelandic: skýjakljúfur ("cloud-splitter")

Indonesian: pencakar langit ("sky-clawer")

Irish: scríobaire spéire ("sky-scraper")

Italian: grattacielo ("scrapes-sky")

Japanese: 摩天楼 (matenrō, "sky-scraping tower")

Korean: 마천루 (macheollu, "sky-scraping tower")

Latvian: debesskrāpis ("sky-scraper")

Lithuanian: dangoraižis ("sky-scraper")

Macedonian: облакодер (oblakoder, "cloud-scraper")

Malay: pencakar langit ("sky-clawer")

Malayalam: അംബരചുംബി (ambaracumbi, "sky-kisser")

Marathi: गगनचुं बी (gagan-chumbi, "sky-kisser")

Mongolian: тэнгэр баганадсан барилга (tenger baganadsan barilga, "sky-pillaring building")

Norwegian: skyskraper ("cloud-scraper")

Persian: ‫( آسمان‌خراش‬âsmânkhrâsh, "sky-scraper")

Polish: drapacz chmur ("cloud-scraper")

Portuguese: arranha-céu ("scratch-sky")

Romanian: zgârie-nori ("scrapes-clouds")

Russian: небоскрёб (neboskrjob, "sky-scraper")

Serbo-Croatian: neboder ("sky-ripper"), oblakoder ("cloud-ripper")

Slovak: mrakodrap ("cloud-scraper")

Slovene: nebotičnik ("sky-rubber, -toucher")

Spanish: rascacielos ("sky-scraper", literally "scrapes-skies")

Swedish: skyskrapa ("sky-scraper")

Tagalog: pangkaskáslangit ("sky scraper") or gusaling tukudlangit ("building poking the sky")

Tamil: வானளாவி (vāṉaḷāvi, "sky-reacher")

Thai: ตึกระฟ้า (tuek ra fa, "sky-scraping building")

Turkish: gökdelen ("sky-piercer")

Ukrainian: хмарочос (hmaročos, "cloud-scratcher")

Vietnamese: nhà chọc trời ("sky-poking building")

Welsh: cwmwlgrafwr ("cloud scraper") or nendwr ("sky tower")

Loan translation: translātiō and trāductiō Edit

The Latin word translātiō "a transferring" derives from transferō "to transfer", from trans "across" + ferō
"bear". The Germanic languages and some Slavic languages calqued their words for "translation" from
the Latin word translātiō, substituting their respective Germanic or Slavic root words for the Latin roots.

The remaining Slavic languages instead calqued their words for "translation" from an alternative Latin
word trāductiō, itself derived from trādūcō ("to lead across" or "to bring across", from trans "across" +
dūcō, "to lead" or "to bring").[10]

The West Slavic languages adopted the translātiō pattern. The East Slavic languages (except for
Belarusian and Ukrainian) and the South Slavic languages adopted the trāductiō pattern.

The Romance languages, deriving directly from Latin, did not need to calque their equivalent words for
"translation". Instead, they simply adapted the second of the two alternative Latin words, trāductiō.
Thus, Aragonese: traducción; Catalan: traducció; French: traduction; Italian: traduzione; Portuguese:
tradução; Romanian: traducere; and Spanish: traducción.

The English verb "to translate" was borrowed from the Latin translātiō, rather than being calqued.[10]
Were the English verb "translate" calqued, it would be "overset", akin to the calques in other Germanic
languages. The Icelandic word for "translate", þýða (cognate with the German deuten, meaning to
interpret), was not calqued from Latin, nor was it borrowed;[11] were the Icelandic verb calqued, it
would be something like "ofursetja", analogously to the other Germanic words.

Following are the Germanic- and Slavic-language calques for "translation":[10]

Germanic languages (from translātiō)

Danish: oversættelse

Dutch: overzetting[note 1][12]

German: Übersetzung

Norwegian (Bokmål): oversettelse

Norwegian (Nynorsk): omsetjing

Swedish: översättning

West Frisian: oersetting

Slavic languages (from translātiō)

Belarusian: пераклад (peraklad)

Czech: překlad

Polish: przekład

Slovak: preklad

Ukrainian: переклад (pereklad)

Slavic languages (from trāductiō)

Bulgarian: превод (prevod)

Macedonian: превод (prevod)

Russian: перевод (perevod)

Serbo-Croatian: prevod, prijevod

Slovene: prevod

Semantic calque: mouse Edit

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 sense of the "computer mouse".

Armenian: մկնիկ (mknik, diminutive of մուկ "mouse")

Basque: sagu

Bulgarian: мишка (mishka)

Burmese: ကြွက် (krwak)

Cebuano: bagtok-bagtok (diminutive of bagtok "mouse")

Chinese: 鼠标 (shǔbiāo, "mouse cursor")

Czech: myš

Danish: mus

Dutch: muis

Estonian: hiir

European Portuguese: rato (Brazilian pt "mouse" isn't calqued)

Finnish: hiiri

French: souris

German: Maus

Greek: ποντίκι (pontíki)

Hebrew: ‫( עכבר‬akhbár)

Hungarian: egér

Icelandic: mús

Indonesian: tetikus

Latvian: pele

Lingala: mpóko

Lithuanian: pelė

Macedonian: глушец (glušec)

Malay: tetikus

Mongolian: хулгана (hulgana)

Polish: mysz

Russian: мышь (myšʹ)

Serbian: miš

Slovak: myš

Spanish: ratón

Swahili: kipanya

Swedish: mus

Turkish: fare

Vietnamese: chuột

Welsh: llygoden

See also

Notes

References

Sources

External links

Last edited 6 days ago by Nihil novi

RELATED ARTICLES

Phono-semantic matching

multi-source neologism preserving both the meaning and the approximate sound of the source-
language expression

Word formation

creation of a new word

Periphrasis

The usage of multiple separate words to carry the meaning of prefixes, suffixes or verbs

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