Nonnullae annotationes de verbis inusitatis

(H. wrote) Uniesprzecznienie ---- If a phrase is allowed, I use various expressions. The real and true meaning, not a literal translation, is "to resolve apparent paradoxes". I have used "to resolve apparent contradictions" as well. A real contradiction, of course, cannot be undone, but a paradox is a seeming contradiction, and it can be resolved. Otherwise, if only one word can be used "decontradictification" follows the rules.

(H. asked) Now, a question to a translator. The Encyclopedia never uses Cyrillic letters. I often deal with articles about Russian, Bulgarian, and other philosophers using names that are based in the Cyrillic alphabet. With well-known names, I follow the common spelling (based on a Google search and the number of results). Even some of the most famous Russian names are spelled in many ways in English literature. For less common names, or title of books, I transliterate from Polish phonetics to English in a standard way (w=v, y=i, cz=ch, etc.). That is not the problem. However, I see Serbian names rendered in the Latin alphabet. As far as I know the Serbians use the Cyrillic alphabet. However, do they have a standard system for spelling their names using the Latin alphabet? If I see a name ending in "c", should I leave it, or transliterate it as "ts"?

(W. responded)
The question about Serbian translation is a perfect one for the Translator's Cafe forums. However, thinking back to the Balkans war, the names were spelled with a "c" at the end. Indeed, with a ć (as in "c"wiczenie). And that is what the transliteration table here

http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/ev.php-URL_ID=32321&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

suggests. Milošević, Милошевић. In English I've only ever seen it spelled with a "c" at the end: I suppose English speakers are very used to spelling things one way and pronouncing them another!


(H. remarked) It seems like Polish authors often use "pojecie" to mean "termin" or "wyraz". Here is a typical sentence:

"W Pradze od ok 1380 nie poslugiwano sie pojeciem "nominalista", gdyz uzywano juz przeciwstawien "moderni" i "antiqui"."

To me, the translation sounds bizarre if I use "concept" here, and I am going to say "expression" instead.

(W. responded) I agree with your interpretation of "pojęcie" below.

(H. further commented) Indeed, and sometimes it is necessary to find another word for "conceive, concept, conception" because if there is not enough context, the word can be taken in a biological sense. So sometimes, "idea". And sometimes to be clear, I add "of" to the verb, even if it goes at the end of the sentence, like this: "It was something she conceived of." (No ambiguity, it is about mental concepts, but some grammarians don't like a preposition at the end of a sentence. However, English is a Germanic language, and the grammarians who say that tried to make English conform to Latin models). "It was something she conceived" can be taken in either sense.

Some problem words: prad, ruch, kierunek. Sometimes translators take great liberties: "ideas", "school" etc.. These Polish words are used so much, and it sounds funny to translate them literally each and every time.

Another problem word is "rozwazania" -- lit. considerations, perhaps meditations. But the way it is used, sometimes better as "arguments, writings, lines of reasoning, what he thought".

Another problem word is "poznanie". In English knowledge is the most general word, and includes cognition (where the process of knowledge is emphasized). In Polish poznanie is the general word, and includes wiedza, nauka (where the finished knowledge is emphasized). So I go by instinct whether poznanie should be knowledge, cognition, or even learning. Sometimes "poznal" is best as "he learned". I think "teoria poznania" is usually better as "theory of knowledge", because that is more common in English philosophical texts, but an intelligent reader will understand "theory of cognition". I think that the word "cognition" is used mostly by empirical psychologists and medical people, not so much by English speaking philosophers. Once a nurse was speaking to an old woman as if to a child, and the old woman chose to say nothing in reply. The nurse then was writing down "she is not cognitive" on official reports.