Buddhist Hybrid English

Buddhist Hybrid English is a term coined by Paul J. Griffiths[1] as an analogy to Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit to designate the often incomprehensible result of attempts to faithfully translate Buddhist texts into English. This effort often involves the creation of entirely new English phrases for Sanskrit, Tibetan, Chinese, or Japanese phrases, the use of English words in uncharacteristic ways, and heavy reliance on calques.

An example Buddhist Hybrid English phrase is "own-being" to translate Sanskrit svabhāva in contexts where it is used as a technical philosophical term, equivalent to English essence.[1]

Notes

  1. ^ a b Daniel Anderson Arnold (2005), Buddhists, brahmins, and belief: epistemology in South Asian philosophy of religion, Columbia University Press, p. 223, ISBN 9780231132800, http://books.google.com/books?id=4YE9H1B7BMEC&pg=PA223&dq=%22buddhist+hybrid+english%22 

References