Speaker
Description
The Bible is by far the most translated work of literature with translations encompassing more than 700 languages in the year 2020. Most translations were made over the past two hundred or so years, when missionary work resulted in Bible translations into numerous languages outside the Western cultural sphere, notably in Africa and Asia, leaving their mark also on lexicography. Parallel to or as a corollary of Bible translations, dictionaries, mostly bilingual ones, were compiled.
These dictionaries essentially built on the need for target language equivalents to theological concepts in the Bible source languages (for the Old Testament: Hebrew, for the New Testament: Greek). Ensuring terminological consistency in translations was an overriding concern. Sometimes also target language neologisms were needed for items of reality not found in the target language external world.
This paper views the nexus between Bible translations and lexicography through the prism of the southern African language called Ndonga. Also it explores the nexus between Bible translations and dictionary editing in the Ndonga language, drawing additional conclusions on a more general lexicographic basis that may shed further light on the interface beteen translation and lexicography, including from an Asian perspective.
