Problems of Word for Word Equivalence in English—Arabic Dictionaries and their Lexical and Cultural

Abstract

The basic principle underlying all bilingual lexicographical practice is word- for word equivalence. This principle is based on the belief that meaning is a universal concept found in all languages .The only difference is in the words provided by languages to convey it (Lado, 1957:77).
The aim of this paper is to examine the University of validity of this principle in detail and to refer it to some linguistic and cultural problems arising in the compilation of English-Arabic dictionaries.
It is often said that meaning is the attitude toward and the classification of the universe by a certain community and the words provided to convey it are no more than classifiers of that experience (Lyons, 1969:420).