Research Guides: Translation Studies: Reference Sources

Dictionaries in the Reference Center

Print copies of language dictionaries are generally located in the reference collection on the 9th floor of the Bobst Library. They are arranged by call number. Here is a list of some languages and their call number range:

English PE1625 - 1630
Old English (Anglo Saxon) PE279
Arabic PJ6640
Chinese PL1420 - 1455
Dutch PF625 -640
French PC2625 - 2640
German PF3625 - 3640
Greek (Classical) PA445
Greek (Modern) PA1139
Hebrew PJ4830 - 4833
Hindi PK1936
Italian PC1625 - 1640
Japanese PL675 - 679
Korean PL937
Latin PA2365
Persian PK6375 - 6379
Portuguese PC5327 - 5333
Russian PG2625 - 2640
Spanish PC4625 - 4640
Turkish PL191
Urdu PK1976
Danish PD3640
Hungarian PH2640

The Oxford English Dictionary

The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is the most comprehensive dictionary of the English language. The NYU Libraries offer access both online and in print:

Oxford English Dictionary (OED) This link opens in a new window
The Oxford English Dictionary is the authority on the evolution of the English language over the last millennium. It is a guide to the meaning, history, and pronunciation of over half a million words, both present and past. It traces the usage of words through 2.5 million quotations from a wide range of international English language sources, from classic literature and specialist periodicals to film scripts and cookery books.

The Oxford English Dictionary by Edmund S. Weiner (Editor); John Simpson (Editor)
Call Number: Bobst reference collection, PE1625 .O87 1989 Non-circulating
ISBN: 9780198611868
Publication Date: 1989-03-30

Reference books on translation

Dictionary of Translation Studies by Mark Shuttleworth
ISBN: 9781900650038
Publication Date: 2014-04-11
Published at a time of unprecedented growth of interest in translation, the Dictionary of Translation Studies aims to present the insights of a number of different approaches to translation in an unbiased, non-partisan way. With more than 300 articles, this essential volume provides the reader with a snapshot of a rapidly developing discipline, based on work produced in several languages.
Encyclopedia of Literary Translation into English by Olive Classe (Editor)
ISBN: 9781884964367
Publication Date: 2000-12-01
The Encyclopedia of Literary Translation into English provides the general reader, students and teachers at all levels with an historical analytical survey of the theory and practice of literary translation into English from the principal world languages and the works of major writers. 650 entries, written by an international team of scholars and translators, also assemble vital bibliographical material often not available elsewhere.
A Practical Guide for Translators by Geoffrey Samuelsson-Brown
ISBN: 9781847692610
Publication Date: 2010-03-24
An invaluable guide that offers practical advice on most aspects of translation, for those who have little or no practical experience of translation in a commercial environment, particularly those who wish to freelance. This revised edition (first was 1993) adds new information on electronic publishing and other emerging technologies. It assumes only a basic knowledge of personal computers (and, of course, fluency in the target language).
Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies by Mona Baker (Editor); Gabriela Saldanha (Editor)
ISBN: 9781317391746
Publication Date: 2019-09-20
The Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies remains the most authoritative reference work for students and scholars interested in engaging with the phenomenon of translation in all its modes and in relation to a wide range of theoretical and methodological traditions. It offers authoritative, critical overviews of additional topics such as authorship, canonization, conquest, cosmopolitanism, crowdsourced translation, dubbing, fan audiovisual translation, genetic criticism, healthcare interpreting, hybridity, intersectionality, legal interpreting, media interpreting, memory, multimodality, nonprofessional interpreting, note-taking, orientalism, paratexts, thick translation, war and world literature.
Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Technology by Chan Sin-wai (Editor)
ISBN: 9781000851540
Publication Date: 2023-04-11
Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Technology, second edition, provides a state-of-the-art survey of the field of computer-assisted translation. It is the first definitive reference to provide a comprehensive overview of the general, regional, and topical aspects of this increasingly significant area of study.
Übersetzung - Translation - Traduction: Ein internationales Handbuch zur Übersetzungsforschung / An International Encyclopedia of Translation Studies by Harald Kittel (Editor)
ISBN: 9783110226621
Publication Date: 2011-11-30
This international encyclopedia documents and surveys, for the first time, the entire complex of translation as well as the operations and phenomena associated with it. Structured along systematic, historical and geographic lines, it offers a comprehensive and critical account of the current state of knowledge and of international research.

Dictionaries and Thesauri

Aside from the Oxford English Dictionary (or OED), we have a number of other dictionaries available to you in both print and digital formats. Here is a sampling of some of the many dictionaries you will find at Bobst:

Credo Reference This link opens in a new window
Online collection of dictionaries, encyclopedias, biographical sources, quotations, bilingual dictionaries, and measurement conversions covering topics from the arts to the sciences.
Oxford Language Dictionaries Online This link opens in a new window
Offers fully searchable bilingual dictionaries, and unique study materials that provide extra help with learning and using an expanding range of languages. Includes dictionaries for Arabic, Chinese, German, French, Italian, Russian, and Spanish.

Dictionary of Old English, Old English corpus
Contains all surviving Old English material (over 3000 texts), excluding some variant texts. Each text includes a reference to its genre, period and language; a unique text number; a Cameron number; a short and expanded title used to identify the text in the Dictionary of Old English.
Middle English Compendium
The Middle English Compendium has been designed to offer easy access to and interconnectivity between three major Middle English electronic resources: an electronic version of the Middle English Dictionary, a HyperBibliography of Middle English prose and verse, based on the MED bibliographies, and a Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse, as well as links to an associated network of electronic resources.
Middle English Dictionary (online)
The print Middle English Dictionary, now complete, has been described as "the greatest achievement in medieval scholarship in America." Its 15,000 pages offer a comprehensive analysis of lexicon and usage for the period 1100-1500, based on the analysis of a collection of over three million citation slips, the largest collection of this kind available. This electronic version of the MED preserves all the details of the print MED, but goes far beyond this, by converting its contents into an enormo