A contrastive look at the synonymic relationship of French and Slovak terms in the field of geriatrics

Abstract

This paper aims to discuss the synonymic relationship between equivalent French and Slovak specialised terms in the field of geriatrics, and the implications it may have when translating specialised (geriatric) texts. In the theoretical framework, medical terminology and, in particular, geriatric terminology, is defined with a specific focus on key characteristics of medical terms, drawing primarily on the works of Horecký (1956), Masár (1991), Pavlovič et al. (2011), Karwacka (2015) and others. The controversial role that synonymy may have in determining terminological equivalents is also discussed. Based on the classification by Karwacka (2015), synonymic pairs of geriatric terms identified during the phase of compilation of a terminological glossary in the field of geriatrics in French and Slovak are categorised into groups based on the nature of the synonymous term and illustrated with examples. Overall, five types of synonyms were identified (eponym – non-eponymous term; international – domestic term; term – colloquial name; English term – domestic term; term – acronym), which may pose challenges for medical translators.