To the Terminologists of the Institute of the Lithuanian Language¹

I have read the booklet Terminology Corrections, which you prepared and published in 1992. Thank you for this very necessary publication: it has filled many gaps in terminology and corrected more or less widespread language errors. Since this little publication has long been impossible to find in Kaunas bookshops, even with a lantern, I believe it should be reissued.

In thanking you, I would also like to make a few comments.

There is no doubt that international components video-, audio- should be replaced with Lithuanian equivalents (to tell the truth, I think we will not be able to get rid of them completely: we realized this too late, and foreign advertising also has its effect). It is clear why formations such as videįrašas, videojuosta need to be corrected, why the word videostudija may be used, and why it is proposed to use something other than videomagnetofonas; but why must videokasetę be replaced by vaizdajuoste arba vaizdo kasete, audioaparatūrą – garso aparatūra? I agree that these are better, but kasetė, aparatūra, like magnetofonas, studija, are international words, so the correction of all these words should be based on the same rule:

videocassette (– videotape, video cassette), video studio (– video studio, video recording studio), videocassette recorder (– video recorder), audio equipment (– audio equipment), audiocassette (– audio cassette, audio tape).

A similar case is autopakrovėju. On p. 21, the use of autokrautūvas is proposed. I think this word should be corrected to automobilinis krautuvas.

Would it not be better to correct universamą (p. 116) to the non-suffixed adjective phrase universali maisto parduotuvė?

Išėmimas iš pardavimo (p. 47) is corrected to uždraudimas pardavinėti. That is suitable if sales are prohibited. But what if they are not prohibited, yet nobody buys those goods and they are returned to the warehouse or the manufacturer? Another term would be needed here.

It is very good that p. 63 gives various ways of correcting the word motininė—

¹This is a letter sent to the Institute of the Lithuanian Language by V. Jurkienė, chief linguist of the Kaunas City Board. We thank the esteemed linguist both for her substantive letter and for permission to publish it. Ed.

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On p. 34, daughter atom is corrected from “riantų.” However, no correction is made to the recently frequent phrase daughter company. Since businesspeople use this term for divisions of an already established company or for companies engaged in similar activities and belonging to the same owner, perhaps the company established first could be called the primary (or main) company, and the one established later (the “daughter company”) the secondary company?

On p. 78, widescreen cinema is corrected to widescreen cinemas. N. Sližienė writes in “Gimtoji kalba” (1992, issue 6, p. 9) that “having considered this spelling problem, the State Commission of the Lithuanian Language decided that the word theatre is entirely unnecessary when speaking about cinema; it is enough to say and write: cinema, video cinema (e.g., Vingis cinema).” I think this is a very good decision: there really is no theatre there, and this compound name probably dates back to the days when short performances or concerts were held before a film screening. Russian influence is also undeniable. Moreover, older people still remember when such an establishment was called a cinema.

On p. 129, pea soup (=pea soup). I agree that one word is better. But is a compound name really incorrect? Perhaps it should merely be suggested that the one-word term be used, rather than correcting the compound as an error. All the more so because we cannot always name every soup with a single word. Cabbage soup, potato soup, groat soup—yes. But what about pasta and beans? Pastasoup? Beansoup? (There is a woman with that surname.) Sometimes soups can be called cabbage, pasta, but only when it is clear that soup is meant. Otherwise, there may be confusion with pasta (semi-finished products) sold in grocery stores.

Alongside the corrections medsesers, medpunkto (p. 61) and vettarnybos, vetpunkto (p. 122), one could also give shortened forms, often used and very convenient in documents and advertising: med. sesuo, med. punktas, and so on.

On p. 96, skerdiena is corrected to skerdėna. Does this mean that the word skerdiena should not be used? The “Dictionary of the Lithuanian Language” (vol. XII) lists both words, while page 68 of issue 54 of “Kalbos kultūra” states: “Derivatives with the suffix -ena are names for hides and furs, e.g.: arklena ‘horse hide’, kiaulena ‘pig hide’, ožkena ‘goat fur or goat hide’; meat names, meanwhile, are formed with the suffix -iena, e.g.: arkliena, kiauliena, jautiena. The meat of a slaughtered and eviscerated animal is skerdiena. This term

7—880

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should not be confused with skerdena. Meat-industry specialists use the word skerdena to mean a slaughtered animal before it has been eviscerated and processed” (A. Montvilienė’s short article “Correctable and more precisely definable prefixed product names”².

The correction of prailginimo laidas also varies. On p. 80 of “Terminologijos taisymai,” the suggested form is prailgintojas (= ilgintuvas); the previously mentioned short article in “Kalbos kultūra” (p. 68) states that “of the two terms ilgiklis and ilgintuvas for a certain type of electrical cord, ilgiklis is preferable, since nouns with the suffix -iklis are better suited to naming smaller devices or tools. Names of larger devices are generally formed with the suffix -tuvas, e.g.: drėkintuvas, gesintuvas, purkštuvas.”

In language publications, the corrections proposed for the word išlaikyti, meaning “to deduct, to subtract a certain amount from a sum,” vary considerably. On p. 47 of “Terminologijos taisymai” it is corrected to išskaityti; on p. 36 of the error guide “Kaip nereikia kalbėti,” to išskaičiuoti; on p. 68 of A. Piročkinas’s “Administracinės kalbos kultūra,” to išskaičiuoti; and on p. 152, to išskaityti. The “Dictionary of the Lithuanian Language” (vol. XII) includes išskaičiuoti and išskaityti. Page 253 of the “Dictionary of Contemporary Lithuanian” gives both words, but for this meaning only išskaityti. A final decision should be made about which of the two words to use as the term. If this has already been decided in “Terminologijos taisymai,” perhaps it should be announced in print to avoid confusion.

The same applies to the correction of the word skorovarka. On p. 96 of “Terminologijos taisymai,” the correction is greitpuodis; on p. 88 of the error guide “Kaip nereikia kalbėti,” it is greitviris, troškintuvas.

It is not very clear why “Terminologijos taisymai” treats as errors some words included in the “Dictionary of International Words”: diametras (= diameter), futliaras (= case, sheath), pliažas (= beach), tablo (= display board), titulinis puslapis (= title page), termoforas (= hot-water bottle). The word termoforas is listed as acceptable on p. 32 of the booklet “Kaip nereikia kalbėti.” It is clear to many that these “international” words, which probably entered the dictionary by mistake, should be replaced with Lithuanian equivalents; nevertheless, an article explaining in detail whether the use of these words is a language error would be very useful.

Senior linguist, Kaunas City Board

V. JURKIENĖ

²This is also what is meant in “Terminologijos taisymai.” On p. 96, it is not the word skerdena itself that is corrected, but its use in the sense of “skerdiena” (as shown by the label for a non-recommended meaning, ntk. r.). St. K.

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