Peter:Fair enough. But none of them has the sense "inaccurate translation" or "non-literal rendering from one language to another" which Jim seems to use.
I noticed that
http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=paraphrase has the
entry:
Main Entry: 1para·phrase
Pronunciation: 'par-&-"frAz
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle French, from Latin paraphrasis, from Greek, from
paraphrazein to paraphrase, from para- + phrazein to point out
1 : a restatement of a text, passage, or work giving the meaning in another
form
2 : the use or process of paraphrasing in studying or teaching composition
Definition #2 we can ignore.
I looked up a few dictionaries on line, and they all gave the same definition. None of
them restricted paraphrase to within a language. Because sometimes a direct translation
comes up gibberish, I noticed that when I worked as a translator, I always had to
restate something in a form other than a direct translation to give an understandable
meaning. I was one of those translators who does not like deviating from the original
text, but many times I had to in order to make the message contained in the original
understandable to those speaking the target language. That has always been my
understanding of "paraphrase".
Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.