Resumen de La traduction comme appropriation : le cas des toponymes étrangers

Thierry Grass

• Even if the translation of toponyms appears to be simple on a first approach, it can be difficult on a linguistic level as well as on a more general "cultural" level. First, it is not easy to define what a toponym is; it possesses only a [locative] semantic feature. There are classes of toponyms like celestial objects (der Halleysche Komet = la comète de Halley), buildings (der Pariser Triumphbogen = l'Arc de triomphe) as well as mythical or fictive places (Utopia = Utopie) that all differ from the traditional classes of onomastics. Second, there are morphosyntactical differences as determination which can appear in German and not in French and vice versa (Sachsen = la Saxe; der Mars = Mars). For a same toponym, the reference can change (der Genfer See = le lac Léman, der Aralsee = la mer d'Aral and not *le lac d'Aral). There is also an aspect which is eligible as "the effect of history": Translation means adapting a name to your own. The more a foreign toponym has contacts to a given culture, the more it will be translated; despite of the recommendations of the United Nations in matters of translation of toponyms.

  
  
  Plan de l'article
  
  1. Toponymes et traduction
  1.1. La classe des toponymes dans Prolex
  1.2. Procédés de translation des toponymes
  2. La tentative de standardisation des toponymes
  2.1. Les Nations Unies et le traitement des noms géographiques
  2.2. Le GENUNG francophone, vecteur d'uniformisation pour le français
  2.3. Le StAGN, vecteur d'uniformisation pour l'allemand
  2.4. Le poids de l'histoire dans la traduction des toponymes
  3. Quelles sont les informations qui doivent figurer dans un dictionnaire électronique bilingue des toponymes ?
  3.1. Genre et nombre
  3.2. Flexion casuelle
  3.3. Détermination
  3.4. Type
  3.5. Variantes orthographiques
  3.6. Définition sommaire
  Conclusion