Language and the conversion of geographical names 1
B. Transliteration, transcription and translation of geographical names
3. Translationִ
Translation (Glossary, 350), dealt with here, and exonymization (Glossary, exonym, 081), dealt with in part two, chapter VI, transplant a toponym linguistically from a source to a target language. Unlike transliteration and transcription, they do not attempt to preserve either an endonym’s original spoken form or its written one but are concerned instead with the problem of how to name a place, rather than how to write that place’s endemic name.
By definition, translation is the expression of meaning of a word in a given language, the source language, in terms of another, the target language. To what extent does this process apply to geographical names?
One of the differences between a proper name such as a toponym, and a common name or other words, is that whereas the latter can be found together with their meanings in an ordinary dictionary or lexicon (we therefore speak of lexical translation), the former, that is to say, the geographical name, will usually be found only in a geographical dictionary or gazetteer.
Translation can be employed as a method of names conversion only if the source toponym, wholly or in part, has semantic or lexical meaning, in other words, only if it can be found in an ordinary dictionary. This rules out translation of many one-word names such as London, Pretoria, Sydney, Kassel and Nantes, unless one returns to the historical or linguistic
root of the name in a diachronic (historical) process and examines its meaning, but then one would have to substitute the Latin Castellum for Kassel in German, translating it by Castle (English), Château (French), Qasr (Arabic), Kastélli (Greek), Castillo (Spanish) or some equivalent in another language.
Translation, being the conversion of a toponym from one language to another, requires that the target language be specified explicitly or implicitly.
Above, the phrase "wholly or in part" was used in reference to a toponym’s having semantic or lexical meaning. In a composite name (Glossary, 212) the parts are (a) the generic component, which is always a word with lexical meaning such as river, hill, town, bridge, new, etc.; and (b) the specific component which may be any word, lexical or not, such as a proper name and even a toponym, for example, “Victoria” in “Lake Victoria”, “York” in “New York”
and “Swansea” in “Swansea Bay”. In some languages, both components are often combined in a single word, as in Cambridge, Newport, Villeneuve and Rheinbischofsheim, while in other languages, such as Arabic and Hebrew, this is impossible.
However, it should be added that generics can be true or false. Lake Victoria is a real lake, therefore, its generic component is a true one. On the other hand, Lake Placid in New York State is not a lake but a populated place; and 'Ayn as-Sultān is a populated place, not a spring (Arabic 'ayn). Thus, in these cases, lake and spring are false generics (Glossary, 111).
When is translation resorted to in names conversion? Chiefly when the toponym includes a "translateable" generic term. Naturally, toponyms are often translated when one deals with topographic features outside one's own linguistic region. A common case is that of the cartographic editor preparing a general atlas in a particular language. He or she will be sure to translate some of the names in "foreign" lands, so that they will better convey to the reader the nature of the feature named. General geographical or other texts, too, often make use of names translation.
However, here we are mainly concerned with a geographical names authority. Its members, too, may have to apply translation, for example, in a multilingual country like South Africa which has 11 official languages. Take the case of the English name Cape Town: its Afrikaans (and formerly Dutch) name is Kaapstad, and the two names are translations of each other and enjoy equal administrative status. The city's Xhosa name eKapa ("at the cape") is not a translation but an adaptation of the Afrikaans kaap. In the Afrikaans name Mossel Baai, only the generic term is translated, so that the town now carries the allonyms Mossel Baai and Mossel Bay. In such cases, the translated names and the original ones constitute endonyms, even (though not necessarily) standardized and official ones, as decreed by the names authority. If the names are not of equal administrative status, the names authority should determine the order of preference.
On deciding to translate a toponym, one must check it for meaning and "isolate" its translatable parts. Speaking very generally, four possibilities concerning translation present themselves.
1. The name under consideration is a simple non-translatable one or is not to be translated for other reasons. Some examples were presented above (London, Pretoria, etc.).
2. The name is of the composite type, being composed of a specific and a generic element, in either order. Generalizing, there are then the following possibilities:
(a) Only the generic element is translated. Examples: Sliabh Speirin (Irish)—Sperrin Mountains; Simonstad (Afrikaans)—Simon's Town;
(b) Translation is applied only to the specific element or elements of the name: Sierra del sur (Spanish)—Southern Sierra; Pacific Ocean—Stiller Ozean (German);
(c) Both specific and generic elements are translated: Tafelberg (Afrikaans)—Table Mountain; Suomenlahti (Finnish)—Finskaviken (Swedish).
In many cases, the specific component, though not translated, is adapted to the target language, as in the example of Speirin/Sperrin in 2(a) above, while in 2(b), Ocean/Ozean can also be regarded as an adaptation, both words being derived from Greek/Latin, rather than a translation.
The three processes of names conversion—transliteration, transcription and translation—
require different qualifications on the part of the toponymist. Transliteration and transcription are involved with writing systems on the one hand and with pronunciation on the other, while translation demands a knowledge of languages. A good toponymist will combine skills encompassing these areas of linguistics.