Translation of Polysemantic Words

Different meanings of polysemantic words are revealed in the context. The term "context" is understood as the minimum stretch of speech diagnosing each individual meaning of the word. The context individualizes the meanings, brings them out.

The context reveals concrete or abstract meanings of a word, its direct or transferred meaning, e.g. the word "truth" is used in its concrete everyday meaning in the phrase "Tell me the truth" - «Скажи мне всю правду», while in the following sentence "To understand and to know the reality, it is necessary to have a theory of knowledge corresponding to truth (R. Fox, Marxism and literature) the word "truth" is used in its abstract philosophical meaning «истина». Для того, чтобы постигнуть и понять действительность, необходимо иметь теорию познания, соответствующую истине. In the following examples the context reveals direct and transferred meanings of the word "to cripple". "Smith was crippled in the war" - «Смит был искалечен на войне» (direct meaning), "Reactionaries cripple the national movement in Africa" - «Реакционеры подрывают национально освободительное движение в Африке» (transferred meaning).

The context also reveals a free or bound use of the word. He made a pace or two forward, (free) - Он сделал шага два вперед. Не kept pace with the times (bound) - Он не отставал от века. In this latter case the word "pace" forms part of a phraseological unity and is translated by a corresponding phraseological unity.

Here are some more examples. The adjective "brittle" developed a new figurative meaning used to describe "tone", "looks", "temper", etc.

"He has a brittle - easily loses his temper. (Hornby)

A brittle smile -деланная улыбка - (a forced smile) Kathleen was as white as Cade had been the day Scarlett called, white and hard and brittle(M. Mitchell) Катлин была бледна как Кейд в тот день, когда Скарлет заехала к ним. На её лице было застывшее, жестокое выражение. The context is not always limited to a minimum stretch of speech (microcontext). Sometimes macrocontext (a paragraph, a chapter or even a whole book) is necessary for a correct interpretation of the meaning. Describing Becky Sharp Thackeray writes: "The wretched woman was in a brilliant full toilet". Knowing Thackeray's negative attitude toward Becky, of the two meanings of the word "wretched" - (1) несчастная, (2) негодная the latter should be used in the translation of this sentence: Негодная/коварная/ женщина была в ослепительном туалете.

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