--- Gerard Meijssen gerardm@myrealbox.com wrote:
Reacting toAndrew Dunbar.
A word may have several meanings in a language. Each meaning has its own definition. Your "topo" would propably best translate to rodent which includes
Absolutely not! I cannot find the Italian for "rodent" but Spanish is "roedor" and Romanian is "rozãtor" so it is surely something close to that.
Rodent is a whole category which includes a host of animals with different names for every language. In some languages the individual names do not map neatly to other languages. A guinea pig is also a rodent but it is a "cavia" in Italian. Not a "topo" or a "sorcio".
both mice and rats. When there is no exact word or phrase for mouse in Italian, it should not be only translated with the Italian topo. I am sure a description in Italian for a mouse is possible.
We should have both a description/definition and a list of translations. Each translation can have a small note if needed. The English wiktionary has so far been resistant to definitions feeling that a gloss "mouse" or "rat" is enough. I think this is unwise.
<snip> Regrettably I have no time to reply to other points right now. I hope to tomorrow.
Andrew Dunbar.
===== http://linguaphile.sf.net/cgi-bin/translator.pl http://www.abisource.com
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