Between phonemic loans and descriptive labelling: principles, examples and lexical innovation in the Huaxue cailiao Zhong-Xi mingmu biao

The article is an analysis of the Huaxue cailiao Zhong-Xi mingmu biao 化學材料中西名目表⁠, or Vocabulary of names of Chemical Substances, a glossary of technical and scientific terms edited by the English translator John Fryer (Fu Lanya 傅蘭雅, 1839-1928) in cooperation with his Chinese colleagues, particularly Xu Shou 徐壽(1818-1884). In the first two chapters of the article, the author traces the origin of the glossary, its principles and the translation choices adopted in the text, briefly highlighting the theoretical background of Fryer’s work. In the third chapter, the translation methods adopted by Fryer for the renderings of technical terms are divided into four categories, and a statistical sample of each is provided. In the fourth chapter, the author briefly highlights some issues connected to the translation of chemical terminology and the complex interactions between contemporary chemical theory and chemical terminology. Finally, in the last chapter, examples of neologisms attested for the first time in the HXCL are provided, indicating their diffusion in works published after the glossary. The purpose of the article is to show that the HXCL can be considered an innovative and important step in the evolution of Fryer’s translation theories. Despite being incomplete, from both a methodological and lexicological point of view, the text exercised a strong influence on technical and scientific textual production in late Qing China, as well as the relevant nomenclature in Chinese. The article contributes to the research on the HXCL and, more generally, on technical and scientific bilingual glossaries in late Qing China, casting a new light on John Fryer, his Chinese colleagues and their translations of technical and scientific texts for the Jiangnan Arsenal.