Il linguaggio delle istituzioni comunitarie tra creazione terminologica e resa traduttiva

Abstract

Since the birth of the European Community in 1957, the hectic political activity of the European institutions has given rise to an ever-increasing terminological body, to the extent that an overwhelming number of glossaries and handbooks have been published over the years in order to familiarize citizens with the too often obscure concepts and expressions employed by the so-called Eurocrats. In this article we will look at the underlying reasons for the presumed obscurity of the European institutions' language. In the first part we will analyze some of the ways in which the creation of the Community lexicon takes place (above all, the shift of meaning from already existing words to new words with a Community-related significance, but also metaphors, derivatives and abbreviations). The second part will be focused on a more translation-related aspect, that is to say the ways (mostly loan translations) in which newly-coined words are adapted into the 11 official languages of the Union, in order to create a consistent legal terminology valid in all 15 Member States. However, as one can imagine, the adaptation of a lexical unit into the languages and the legal procedures of 15 Member States is a far from perfect process, and can easily lead to misunderstandings, sometimes with serious legal consequences or simply to a lack of transparency for the public. Lastly, some cases in point are examined, with particular reference to the Italian language.