The Grand dictionnaire terminologique (GDT) is an online terminological

database In computing, a database is an organized collection of data stored and accessed electronically. Small databases can be stored on a file system, while large databases are hosted on computer clusters or cloud storage. The design of databases sp ...

containing nearly 3 million French,

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

and

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

technical terms in 200 industrial, scientific and commercial fields. The GDT has existed in a number of formats over the years, including a dial-up service known as Banque de terminologie du Québec (BTQ), and a

CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains data. Computers can read—but not write or erase—CD-ROMs. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold both comput ...

version. LGDT is now available only as a freely-accessible web site. Produced by the

Office québécois de la langue française The (, OQLF; en, Quebec Board of the French Language) is a public organization established on 24 March 1961, by the Quebec Liberal Party, Liberal government of Jean Lesage. Attached to the , its initial mission, defined in its report of 1 Apri ...

, the GDT is the result of thirty years of work by

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

-based terminologists. It is the most complete translation resource for Canadian English-language technical terms.

Quebec French

When translations differ between

Quebec French Quebec French (french: français québécois ), also known as Québécois French, is the predominant variety of the French language spoken in Canada. It is the dominant language of the province of Quebec, used in everyday communication, in educa ...

and "

Standard French Standard French (in French: ''le français standard'', ''le français normé'', ''le français neutre'' eutral Frenchor ''le français international'' nternational French is an unofficial term for a standard variety of the French language. It ...

", – for example in the expression "cerebrovascular accident" (CVA), translated as ''accident cérébrovasculaire'' (ACV) in Quebec French and ''accident vasculaire cérébral'' in France – the two forms are both given with a paragraph describing their origins, usage and conformity. The GDT thus allows writers to adapt their writing to suit their audience, be it North American, European or African.

1990 Reforms of French orthography

The GDT uses the 1990 Reforms of French orthography with

loanword A loanword (also loan word or loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language. This is in contrast to cognates, which are words in two or more languages that are similar because th ...

s and

neologism A neologism Greek νέο- ''néo''(="new") and λόγος /''lógos'' meaning "speech, utterance"] is a relatively recent or isolated term, word, or phrase that may be in the process of entering common use, but that has not been fully accepted int ...

s. It also prioritises usage of each word by its prominence in other authoritative works.

References

External links

* * * {{cite web, url=http://ptaff.ca/ptafflist/2005-07/1120742558-pourquoi_le_grand_dictionnaire_terminologique/, title=Pourquoi le grand dictionnaire terminologique ?, language=fr, trans-title=Why the "Grande Dictionnaire Terminologique"?, date=July 2005 Lexicography French language Translation databases Databases in Canada