Word in the Dictionary and Discourse (a Case Study of German Language Vocabulary)

Iafarov Rinat PhD in Philology Senior lecturer of the Department of German Language and Culture at the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Area Studies of Lomonosov Moscow State University 119991, Russia, Moscow, Leninskie Gory str., 1, p. 13 rinatyafarov@gmail.com

In the modern era of online translators, the role of a single- and bilingual dictionary at the initial stages of translation is as great as ever. Despite the fact that lexicographic sources cannot always suggest ready-made solutions to the translator, they should and can provide an understanding of a foreign text ^{[7, p. 148]}. Nevertheless, even the most modern electronic and online dictionaries do not contain the entire lexical volume of the national language. When translating culturally marked vocabulary and media text, it is necessary to take into account the ratio of linguistic and extralinguistic factors of various levels and nature ^[3]. As will be shown in the work below, the most common common words mean much more when viewed closely and should be translated in a certain way, and the translation of some lexemes, in particular neologisms, requires a whole linguistic study.This article is devoted to the study of the translation possibilities of familiar words and neologisms functioning in various types of German-language discourse.

The object of the study was the lexemes selected by the author in the course of his lexicographic and teaching activities: Ski and its derivatives, postheroisch and onkelig.

The word Ski (another spelling is Schi) has a Scandinavian (Norwegian) origin and was borrowed into German in the meaning of "log, board" ^[19]. The equivalent of this lexeme in Russian is a ski or skis ^[28], which has ancient Russian roots and meant in the XII century a bar in a sledge or a keel of a barge ^[14]. It is also noted that "the word is formed from the Indo-European basis in the meaning of "slide"" ^[10]. Turning to the sensible German-language and Russian-language dictionaries, it can be found that both lexical units in the above-mentioned languages have similar semantic content, cf.:(1) schmales, langes, vorn in eine nach oben gebogene Spitze auslaufendes Brett aus Holz, Kunststoff oder Metall, an dem der Skistiefel mit der Bindung befestigt wird, sodass sich jemand damit [gleitend]

? ber den Schnee fortbewegen kann ^[19] (literally, a narrow, long, curved front board made of wood, plastic or metal, on which ski boots are fixed by fastening, which ensures movement through the snow by sliding (hereafter our translation. – R.H.);

(2) brettf ? rmige Gleitfl ? chen, die mit einer (Ski-) Bindung an den (Ski-)Schuhen (Langlauf) beziehungsweise (Ski-)Stiefeln (alpine Disziplinen, Skispringen) befestigt werden ^[16] (literally sliding surfaces in the form of boards that are attached with fasteners to shoes for cross-country skis or ski boots);

(3) Flat wooden (or plastic) runners for movement (walking, running) in the snow, attached to shoes ^{[6, 13]}.

In other words, despite the etymological differences, in the common language the words Ski and skiing mean the same thing and serve as equivalents of each other.However, these tokens and the objects they name are used not only in everyday life, but also in a special sphere of human life – sports.

Articles in sports dictionaries indicate the presence of Ski and ski industry and highly specialized meanings, cf.:(4) Ski – Sportger ? t f ? r den wintersportlichen Freizeit- und Wettkampfsport des Skilaufens ^[26] (lit.

skiing – sports equipment for snow skiing as a leisure activity or as part of a competitive activity);

(5) SKIING. [...] According to their purpose, they are divided into stepping and sliding. Stepping skis are widely used by hunters, reindeer herders. Sliding skis have received various applications: sports, tourist, household. Sports skis, according to their purpose and design, are divided into racing, mountain and jumping. ^[4]

Thus, there are different types of skis, referred to in Russian, as a rule, by phrases (alpine skiing, racing skiing, water skiing, etc.), and in German – by complex words (Alpinski, Langlaufski, Wasserski, etc.).

However, upon closer examination of the German-language sports discourse and texts on the subject of winter sports, it was found that the Alpinski token is often shortened to Ski. Moreover, the word Ski is used in the meaning of "downhill skiing" at all, which becomes clear when studying and trying to translate the relevant context. There is a separate composite for the term racing / cross-country skiing in German: Langlaufski ^{[5, 11, 12, 19]}.

In general and special translation dictionaries for the Ski lemma, the translation ski is always given ^{[5, 8, 11, 12, 28]}. Also in dictionaries you can find examples of verbal phrases with the word Ski: Ski laufen and Ski fahren, which in most cases are translated as skiing and skiing ^{[5, 8, 9]}, which in material reality corresponds to the use of radically different types of skis. In other words, the following semantic, conceptual and interlanguage correspondences arise that German language learners and translators should know: a) Ski = Alpinski / Langlaufski; Alpinski = Ski ? Langlaufski; b) Ski – skiing / skiing; downhill or cross–country skiing; c) alpine skiing - Alpinski, Ski (not Bergski – ski turned to the mountainside, top ski); d) cross–country / racing skis - Langlaufski.

From a linguoculturological point of view, a remarkable fact indirectly confirms the above: the search for images on the Internet (in the Google search engine) for Ski, Skisport, Skilauf, Skilehrer, etc. gives results, most of which demonstrate skiing and related objects and phenomena. A similar search based on the Russian words skiing, skiing, skier offers pictures, half of which depict biathlon, cross-country skiing and athletes engaged in racing skiing. The next fact that deserves attention is the illustrations in the Ski and Skisport dictionary articles depicting alpine skiers and skiing in the mountains ^{[18, 19, 21]}. Finally, in the German-speaking sports and tourism discourse, there is often an opposition between skiing and ordinary skiing, expressed in different categories, for example:

(6) Skifahren und Langlaufen – beliebte Sportarten in ?sterreich ^[24].

Apparently, the reasons for the features of the Ski and ski lexemes described by us lie mainly in the extralinguistic field. For a long time, the skis on which people walked and rode on flat and mountainous terrain were almost no different, i.e. Ski and skis served and serve as a general designation for any types of "flat runners for moving on snow". Active differentiation of ski sports and technological improvement of alpine skiing began only in the XX century ^{[27, 29]}. A special role, in our opinion, was also played by the geographical and climatic differences between Russia and German-speaking countries (for example, the proximity of the Alps and developed ski tourism in Austria and Switzerland) and the success of athletes and national teams in various types of skiing.

 Thus, lexemes in two languages can be equivalent at the dictionary level, but differ in conceptual and linguoculturological content. However, a logical question arises: what is the practical application of this knowledge? Firstly, the distinction between skiing (Ski fahren) and cross-country skiing (Ski laufen), skiing ((Alpin-)Skisport) and cross-country skiing (Langlaufski) is valuable in teaching German. Secondly, semantic-pragmatic and extralinguistic aspects should be taken into account by a translator dealing with German-language sports and tourist discourses, in which vocabulary with a Ski-/-ski component is often used. So, this root in the lexemes Skianzug, Skistiefel, Skischuh, Skistock, Skibekleidung, Skihose, Skiausr ? stung, Skilehrer, Skihandschuhe can be translated as ski, and ski, depending on what kind of activity we are talking about. For example, ski and ski boots are completely different items, which in the German language of sports are designated by one word – Skischuh. The Skiurlaub and Skihelm tokens should be translated only as a vacation at a ski resort and a ski helmet, since in both cases reality and the subject are indicated, for which there is no alternative in cross-country skiing. Nevertheless, it should be noted that in order to avoid repetitions and due to the economy of language resources, combinations of ski helmet or ski stick are often used in Russian-language texts (as a contextual synonym for a ski stick).

Otherwise, anglicisms and pseudo–anglicisms that have recently appeared in German and Russian will be translated, for example, Ski bob - ski bob, Para ski – para ski.

When translating composites, where ski is a definable component, the mountain element, even if it is semantically motivated, is mostly omitted, for example: Carvingski - carving (mountain) ski, piste ski; Kurzski – (any) short ski.

It is also necessary to take into account the usage and traditions of the nomination in the sports field. So, the equivalent of the word Skiwachs in the language of Russian athletes and specialists is ski ointment, or paraffin, used in many areas of skiing.

We believe that when translating from German into Russian and vice versa, it is also necessary not to forget about the pragmatics of the lexeme and the entire text. If the purpose of the translation is to differentiate concepts, and the context does not guarantee an unambiguous understanding, then, for example, the phrase ski goggles is transformed into Skibrille (= ski goggles) or Langlaufbrille.

Next, we will proceed to the analysis of two lexemes (postheroisch and onkelig) used by a German journalist in the gloss of the electronic publication "Der Spiegel" ^[23], and aroused the author of the article's interest in terms of their meaning and translation. The lexeme postheroisch is a derivative word from heroisch, formed by affixing – adding the prefix post-. However, despite its clear motivation due to the international character of morphemes (post- – post-, heroisch – heroic, heroic), the meaning of the whole word is hardly clear to the ordinary reader. The ironic context only hints at the meaning of this lexeme:

(7) […] Aus postheroischer Perspektive wirkt der Tisch im Kreml deshalb beinahe komisch. Relikt aus einer Zeit, in der auf Tischplatten noch Aufmarschpl?ne ausgebreitet wurden. Und das ist gerade der Witz an diesem heldenhaften Tisch. Postheroisch kann nur sein, wer bereits alle Schlachten geschlagen hat. [..] ^[23] (In a post-heroic perspective, this table in the Kremlin makes an almost comical impression. A relic of the era when cards with attack plans were unfolded on the tables. This is the anecdote of this table. The post-heroic appears only when all the battles have died down.)

Being a historical, political and sociological term, first appeared in scientific ^[25], and then in mass media discourse back in the 1980s. ^[20] the lexeme postheroisch (Russian postheroic) it has not been reflected in the common monolingual and German-Russian translation dictionaries. Also, we could not find special term-fixing texts where the definition of this lexical unit would be given. As the analysis of definitions in term-using texts and contexts of the use of this linguistic sign has shown, this term is most often found in combinations with the words Gesellschaft, Generation, Zeit, Zeitalter, Epoch, ? ra, Welt, Manager, Management and means a characteristic of the modern era, for which, according to some historians and sociologists, the rejection of (senseless) heroism, self-sacrifice, global wars, violence, social risks, etc. ^{[22, p. 37]}. Note, however, that since the term is popular in different humanities, the content of its concept will vary. Thus, the term combination postheroisches Management in sociology and economics denotes a modern approach to leadership, in which delegation of responsibilities, modesty and restraint of the head are important ^{[1, p. 220]}. Thus, the international lexeme postheroisch does not cause difficulties in translation, but has a special conceptual content that is completely inaccessible to either the ordinary reader or the translator. Indeed, in Russian-language sources there are all the same phrases with post-heroic, which are, in fact, tracing paper from expressions that originated in English-language scientific and economic discourse. Probably, when meeting with this word, a translator is forced to give a translation comment, which will depend on the context and, more broadly, the type of discourse (for example, sociological, political, historical, managerial).

The following example demonstrates the widespread use of neologisms and expressive vocabulary in the media discourse ^[2], especially characteristic of the genre of glosses. The onkelig lexeme is a rather rare word, which, nevertheless, has been increasingly found in German–language newspapers since 1986 ^[20]. Despite this, it is still impossible to find it in single- and bilingual dictionaries, which pushes the translator to show not only ingenuity, but also linguistic analysis skills. Two stages of such linguistic research seem logical: the study of the context of the use of this lexeme and its derivatives and the semantic analysis of similar adjectives formed from nouns-kinship terms.Horizontal contexts hint at the fact that the onkelig token is often stylistically labeled and has shades of dislike, neglect and/or ridicule in its pragmatics:

(8) Immer wenn man gesprochene Sprache […] linguistisch deuten und durch Verschriftlichung z?hmen will, wird es irgendwie onkelig. (9) L?ngst klingt der Begriff „S?nde“ so abgeschmackt und onkelig, dass er weder Angst vor dem Fegefeuer sch?rt noch Reize aus?bt.

(10) Dieses salomonische Urteil wird jedoch seit dem antisexistischen Twitteraufstand v?llig zu recht als «onkelig» und «machohaft» verworfen.

(11) Erreicht er mit diesem onkeligen Vokabular ?berhaupt noch die jungen Spieler?

This is evidenced by complex adjectives with the component onkelig-: most often, the second component in such words is a root with a negative meaning or evaluation: onkelig-aggressiv (aggressiv – aggressive), onkelig-antiquiert (antiquiert – old-fashioned), onkelig–distanziert (distanziert - detached), onkelig-d?nkelhaft (d?nkelhaft – arrogant), onkelig-flapsig (flapsig –uncouth, brusque), onkelig-angstvoll (angstvoll – scared), onkelig-beh?big (beh?big –clumsy), onkelig-h?lzern (h?lzern –clumsy).

         The adjective onkelig, according to corpus data, is combined with many nouns, and is also often an adverb:

(12) G?nter Amendt klingt sonor und onkelig;

(13) Der Ton wirkt manchmal onkelig;

(14) Der Reporter lacht ein wenig onkelig und fragt nach dem Grund ^[17].

The most frequent phrases include those that characterize a person directly, usually male (onkeliger Mann / Freund / Nachbar), the manner of speech of the subject (onkeliger Ton / Humor / Ausdruck / Dialekt, onkelige Stimme / Anekdoten / Anglizismen / Scherze / Witze), appearance (onkeliges H?tchen, onkelige Brille / Strickweste, onkeliges Grinsen). In German, there are "paired" adjectives derived from kinship terms:

v?terlich – m?tterlich; schwesterlich – br?derlich; gro?v?terlich – gro?m?tterlich. They all have two meanings: direct and figurative (for example, v ? terlich – paternal and paternal). Another group is formed by a pair of tantenhaft (1. caring, helpful; 2. calm, unhurried; 3. limited, primitive) and onkelhaft (benevolent; patronizing-condescending). These adjectives have not only an exclusively figurative meaning, but also a stylistic mark abwertend – disparaging, pejorative. It is noteworthy that the dictionaries record the synonym tantenhaft: tantig, but there is no similar word onkelig.

Apparently, uzus seeks to compensate for this situation. The involvement of additional contexts (through a search in the "DWDS" ^[20] and "IDS Mannheim" ^[17] corpora suggests that the content of the onkelig value is much larger than that of onkelhaft.

Depending on the meaning of the sentence, it can be translated as neutral – old; senior; instructive, instructive, patronizing; authoritative – and evaluative – ancient, crusty, mossy; paternalistic, overly caring, etc. In one or another context, one of the key semes is activated or prevails: "big/older" (15), (16) and "high status" (17) and/or "patronizing attitude" (18), (19):(15) Ein Gest?ndnis.

Wenn ich mir einen Bruder w?nschen d?rfte – nein, das macht mich jetzt doch zu alt, also lieber einen Onkel oder einen onkeligen Freund.(16) Ballnus, ausgebildeter Sozialarbeiter und P?dagoge, ber?t seit fast 14 Jahren, ein Mann mit onkeliger Brille und einem freundlichen L?cheln.

(17) Die Faszination des Genres ist schnell erkl?rt: Keine onkeligen Ratschl?ge selbsternannter Experten, daf?r das bunte Leben im Ausland gelandeter M?tter, die im Abgleich mit eigenen Erziehungsstandards zu neuen Erkenntnissen kommen, die man annehmen kann.

(18) Die CDU empfiehlt im Wahlprogramm anderen europ?ischen L?ndern in onkeligem Ton die Rente mit 67.

(19) F?r st?rkere Anstrengungen und greres Tempo beim Klimaschutz.

Und die Politiker, die vor wenigen Monaten den Kindern und Jugendlichen, die sich bei der weltweiten Bewegung engagieren, noch onkelig empfohlen hatten, lieber wieder spielen zu gehen und das mit dem Klima doch mal lieber den Politikern zu ?berlassen? Die senden inzwischen solidarische Gre und geben kleinlaut vor, sie h?tten verstanden.The single-root word Onkeligkeit is also found in mass media texts.

The desire to understand the meaning of this lexeme through the contexts of its use confirms the hypothesis stated above: Onkeligkeit can correspond in Russian to the expressions patronizing and condescending attitude (20); old age, great age (21); (senile) experience, (senile) authority (22):(20) Am deutlichsten sind vielleicht die allgegenw?rtigen, immer gleichen f?nf Standardscherze ?ber Corona.

Humor und auch die in sozialen Medien h?ufigere, humor?hnliche Onkeligkeit haben eine gut erkennbare Entlastungsfunktion.(21) Joe Bidens Heldenerz?hlung besteht vor allem daraus, dass ihm von den demokratischen W?hlern offensichtlich die besten Chancen gegen Trump einger?umt werden.

Und das nicht wegen, sondern eher trotz seiner politischen Leistungen und seiner Patzer. Wie zur Best?tigung seiner legend?ren Onkeligkeit verwechselte er zu Beginn seiner Siegesrede seine Schwester mit seiner Frau, live vor Millionenpublikum.(22) Wer Joachim Gauck und seine einnehmende Rhetorik kennt, mochte in seinem Gru?wort einen Hauch von Routiniertheit und Onkeligkeit wahrgenommen haben.

The words onkelig and Onkeligkeit are most often used in texts that refer to elderly, but still authoritative or significant figures, for example, politicians (21), (22) or actors (23):(23) Die Verfilmung von Dave Eggers Internet-Roman «The Circle» Von Gerrit Bartels.

Am meisten Spa? in diesem Film macht Tom Hanks als gro?er Internet-Zampano. Er entfaltet seine ganz eigene Wirkung durch ein Zusammenspiel von Onkeligkeit, List und Verschmitztheit, so wie er da jedes Mal mit einem relativ vollen und graumelierten Bart auf einer riesigen B?hne vor seinem begeisterten, jugendlichen Auditorium steht, als Mischung aus Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos und Larry Page, und Weisheiten verk?ndet wie: «Wissen ist gut, alles zu wissen ist besser.» The use of the onkelig and Onkeligkeit lexemes in media texts telling about American President Joe Biden, who is known for his high age and related behavioral features, looks natural in recent years.

Therefore, the signature Legend ? re Onkeligkeit: Joe Biden under the photo posted in the newspaper "Der Spiegel" ^[15] can be translated not as Legendary old age, but rather the Legendary elder: Joe Biden. And the adjective onkelig, used by the author of the gloss ^[23] to jokingly describe the Oval Office (24), correlates at the associative level and from the point of view of the vertical context with the theme of Biden's presidency and the attitude of journalists towards it.:

(24) In westlichen Zusammenh?ngen hat sich der Tisch l?ngst ins Metaphorische verabschiedet. Der US-Pr?sident l?sst sich im onkeligen Oval Office des Wei?en Hauses mit seinen G?sten fotografieren, die Sessel zum Pulk der Fotografen hin ge?ffnet. Gearbeitet wird jetzt nicht, nur beisammen gesessen. Without pretending to be unambiguous interpretation, we assume that in the present context, such translations are possible as: in the old-fashioned / good old / grandfathered Oval Office of the White House. 

Thus, the translation of the word onkelig is complicated not only by the lack of authoritative lexicographic information, but also by the ambiguity of the lexeme itself. The meanings and translation variants of this word listed above could possibly be included in the translation dictionary. However, in each specific situation, the translator will be forced to apply different strategies, including non-verbal translation, pursuing one main goal: adequate transmission of equivalent meaning in another language.The article considered three examples of non-obvious lexical difficulties that a translator or a reader who speaks German as a foreign language may encounter.

In the first case (Ski), the translation process should take into account the realities of a special field of knowledge or a separate field of activity, the linguistic and cultural component of individual words and the whole discourse, the compatibility and use of lexemes in the original language and the translation language. The second case (postheroisch) is related to the peculiarities of the translation of international terms, which, unlike ordinary words, are often calculated, but in the text of the translation require explanation or translation commentary. Finally, the third example (onkelig) confirms, in our opinion, a long-standing truth: the translation should not be literal and literal, and the translator cannot ignore the type of text and context. In conclusion, we emphasize that the study once again raises the question of the need for different types of dictionaries and the importance of updating (revising, supplementing) existing ones.