about this glossary

ABOUT THIS GLOSSARY:
This Spanish-English glossary features lexical items gleaned directly from contextual materials in the field of photography, not terms drawn from other
glossaries or word lists.
The scope has been limited to approximately two hundred words of a technical
sort culled from a variety of written sources (data available upon request).
While these lexical items are wide-ranging, the glossary is not intended to be
all-inclusive in its coverage of the technical terminology in the field.
The manner of presentation conforms to the following guidelines:
„ The Spanish words, in boldface, are shown in the column at the left; their
equivalents in English, not bolded, appear in the column at the right:
glosario
glossary
„ The terms featured are those suitable for use in the Spanish of Mexico and
the English of the United States. Any dialect variant included is noted as such:
cajuela
trunk (of a car); boot
(U.K.)
computadora; ordenador (Esp.)
computer
„ For the most part, headwords are handled in the singular. When a plural
form is noteworthy, it is indicated as follows:
campus
campus(es)
dato(s)
datum (pl. data)
plan(es) de estudios;
currículo(s); currícu-
curriculum; (pl. curricula;
curriculums)
lum (currícula); curriculum (curricula)
tesis
thesis (pl. theses)
„ When options considered worth noting exist, these are indicated with the
preferred form listed first:
canícula; días de mucho
dog days
calor
cansadísimo(/a); muerto(/a) de cansancio;
rendido(/a)
dog-tired
perro(/a); can (literario)
dog
„ Where the part of speech is not readily apparent, notations for the purposes
of clarification are provided:
(el) acta de nacimiento
(f.)
birth certificate
grito
cry
llorar; gritar
(to) cry
„ Verbs are presented in the infinitive, and alphabetized according to the first
letter of the infinitive (in Spanish) or the base form (in English):
agravar (una situación)
(to) aggravate
agregar (algo)
(to) add (something)
sacar de quicio (a una
persona)
(to) annoy
„ When the matter of a word’s gender may prove confusing, gender markers
are indicated as follows:
humorista; cómico(/a)
comedian(/enne)
jefe(/a)
chairperson
mapa (m.); croquis (m.)
map
However, when words can be assumed to follow the standard rules for
gender marking in Spanish—as in the case of cómico(/a) when used adjectivally—no special notation is provided:
cómico
comical
„ Capital letters are used only for proper names; in this matter, the custom of
each language is followed:
catolicismo
Catholicism
cristiandad
Christendom
Cristo
Christ
Cristo (también: cristo);
crucifijo
crucifix
Jesucristo
Jesus Christ
Additional examples:
Dirección de Servicios
Escolares
Registrar’s Office
director de servicios
escolares
registrar
generación
graduating class
Generación 2004-2005
Graduating Class of 2005
río Nilo
Nile River
The general process followed in compiling this glossary was inspired by that
employed by Professor James Murray in the preparation of the world-famous,
twelve-tome Oxford English Dictionary.1 For the reader interested in the specific approach used in preparing the present glossary,2 details are supplied below.
Each head word included in this glossary was first captured on a data-registry
form upon which the compiler recorded the following information: the general
lexical-semantical field to which the term belongs; the grammatical category
of this lexical item (that is, whether the word is a noun [regular or proper, feminine or masculine], verb, adjective, adverb, or other); the genus (or specific
area of the broader field) to which this lexeme corresponds; bibliographical
data for the source of the term; the context in which the lexical item originally
appeared; a minimum of three translation options identified from consultation
of two major bilingual dictionaries and one monolingual dictionary or technical
source in either the target or the source language, as well as additional searches via Internet and field research, as needed; observations, where pertinent,
regarding nuances in meaning or particular difficulties encountered in the
matching process; and, finally, the compiler’s choice for best match (as well as
the grammatical category for this) in the target language.
The accuracy of the information for each headword was verified by a consultant
knowledgeable in the lexical-semantical field involved and its terminology in
English and Spanish, as well as reviewed (on the data-registry form as well as
in the glossary both during compilation and upon completion) by a bilingual professor of lexicology in the graduate program in translation and interpretation in
English and Spanish in which this glossary was originally prepared.
For further information, contact the compiler:
kdrecktrah@uag.mx
___________
1
The procedure used in preparing the first edition of the OED is described in nontechnical
language for the general reader throughout Simon Winchester’s The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of
Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary (New York: HarperCollins, 1998).
2
The procedures and format employed for creating the present glossary are those set forth by
Professor Richard Finks Whitaker for students of lexicology in the Master’s Program in Translation and
Interpretation in English and Spanish at the Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara, in Mexico.