Description of water wells terminology – resource developed by M.S.N. CARPENTER, updated February 2000


This terminology is drawn from French-English databases developed by Dr. M.S.N. CARPENTER, Freelance Translator and Doctor of Geology. It results from his translation of the book « Le forage d'eau - réalisation, maintenance, réhabilitation », Masson, 1993 (author: Michel Detay). 

Indeed, this work forms part of a terminology project carried out since 1992, which has become grafted onto the translation activities of Dr. M.S.N.  CARPENTER  in several branches of the Earth Sciences (see example of glossary compiled for "Water wells", first English language edition, Masson-Wiley, 1997).

During spring-summer 1996, the terms were collected according to three criteria:
 


This work was carried out partly by a trainee, Miss Noëlle-Line POUIVE, who ensured entry of the of the data file-cards and the consultation of ertain sources (TERMIUM, for example).  Thanks to a fruitful collaboration with Michel DETAY, we created a bilingual database.  Initially, the goal was to extract a glossary for the English version of the book (English title:  "Water wells: implementation, maintenance and restoration", Masson Editor, Paris, 1997;  Co-editor:  John Wiley, Chichester, The U.K.).  Subsequently, the database was enriched by updates and additions of data extracted from sources published in French.

In the course of the various phases of development of this terminology, the following sources were made use of  during collection of the data file-cards:

CILF, Banque des Mots 8 and 25 (Geotechnics;  Landslides)
CILF, Banque des Mots 37 (Erosion - Transport - Sedimentation:  RAMPON)
CILF, Banque des Mots 39 (Polymetallic Nodules:  JÄGER)
CILF, Banque des Mots 44 (Vocabulary of tectonics:  NICOLAS)
CILF, Vocabulary of  Hydrology and Meteorology, 1978
CILF, Vocabulary of Geomorphology, 1979
CILF, Dictionary of the Environment, 1992
CILF, Dictionary of Agriculture, 1999
TERMIUM – bilingual databases of the Canadian government, on CD-Rom
International Association of Hydrological Sciences – French National Committee on Hydrological Sciences, work and
documents of the  Terminology Commission, N° 2, 1995

Other sources cited:

PETIT ROBERT, 1972 - Société du Nouveau Littré
MARGAT, 1973 - English-French and French-English  lexicon of hydrogeology and groundwater hydraulics.
BRGM, report 72 SGN 425 AME, 136 pp.
GUILLEMOT, 1986 – Elements of Geology, Editions Technip
JOHANET, 1987 - Trilingual lexicon on Water, 230 pp.
ALLABY & ALLABY, 1990 – "Concise Oxford Dictionary of Earth Sciences", Oxford University Press
QUID, 1992
GUILLE et al., 1993 - Monograph "Atolls of Mururoa and Fangataufa... " CEA/DIRCEN
MOUREAU & BRACE, 1993 - Comprehensive dictionary of petroleum science and technology, Editions Technip
FOUCAULT & RAOULT, 1995 - Dictionary of Geology, Masson Editions
PETIT LAROUSSE, 1996
HACHETTE Multi-media Dictionary 97
MICHEL, FAIRBRIDGE & CARPENTER, 1997 - English-French/French-English Dictionary of  Earth Sciences, 3rd edition, Masson

The sub-fields  covered include groundwater hydraulics, hydrology and water chemistry.

The hydrogeology terminology  developed for the CILF was established using the data base management system MULTITERM.  It contains:

370 French entries, with 3 spelling variants and 3 symbols/acronyms
370 translation equivalents in English, with 62 English synonyms (separated by commas) and 211 close equivalents
(different meanings separated by semi-colons)
352 definitions in French (single sentences, in Roman characters)
292 technical notes (in italics)
42 contexts (in quotation marks; by default, extracted from « Le forage d’eau »)
151 close equivalents (indicated by -->)
72 examples (e.g.) 38 French synonyms (Syn.)
3 French antonyms (Ant.)
11 French abbreviations (Abrév.)
248 cross-references to other entries (V)
202 source citations (the source by default is « Le forage d’eau »)

Filtered fields not included in terminology presented in the CILF format, but available on
request:

374 definitions in English
24 spelling variants in English (GB or US usage)
9 English abbreviations
14 English symbols/acronyms
81 contexts in English
331 notes in English
86 examples in English
214 English cross-references

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