Arabic Identity of the Translated Foreign Scientific Terminology

Abstract

This research paper attempts to disambiguate the scientific terminology nature, by tracing its fields and specialities through the presentation of theoreticians’ opinions and the investigation of books dealing with scientific terminology, and to demonstrate the fine line between the latter, the specialised term and the technical term. It calls into question also the Arabic linguistic incubator of foreign scientific terminology by exploring the translated or Arabised scientific terms Arabic identity, through the examination of control elements of foreign scientific terms’ reception within Arabic language system regarding their developing and use, such as the Arabic language flexibility to express scientific innovations, its preservation and weakness limits and the scientific Arabic term use ranging between Arabisation efforts and newcomer and non-Arab translation, and the scientific Arabic terms, normalized by Academies or Organisations, documentation and consolidation. To this end and to unveil the Arabicness of scientific terms translated into Arabic, this study compared a number of Arabised and translated scientific terms for the same foreign signified, by demonstrating Arabic forms and measurements adopted in translation. The translated scientific terms treated were found in compliance with Arabic forms and structures, however, their use, employment and superseding the Arabised scientific terms challenge goes beyond the formal structure and requires some conditions observation; such as the Arabic scientific term prevalence and commonness, its structure brevity and conciseness, its developing and spreading acceleration before the foreign scientific term becomes publically famous and frequent, the Arabised term exclusion to be erased and unused, so that the translated Arabic scientific term remains the unique recourse to express its signified.