German and English Ecological and Energy Efficiency Terminology

The paper deals with terminology in the fields of ecology and energy efficiency in the German and English languages. This terminology has been developing rapidly since the mid- XIXth century, particularly through the adoption of numerous concepts from related scientific disciplines and from everyday language. Nowadays more and more new words and expressions appear, creating difficulties in compiling specialized dictionaries. Scientific interest in this area is driven by the growing attention of leading countries to environmental protection and the rational use of natural and energy resources. Environmental issues cannot be resolved by a single country alone, as most global challenges require active international cooperation and coordinated action, increasing the demand for high-quality translations of relevant materials. The constant emergence of new environmental terms necessitates their classification, as well as the study of the sources and the formation of neologisms. The aim of this study is to determine the structural and semantic characteristics of German and English terms in the field of ecology and energy efficiency. The authors used such research methods as continuous sampling, structural and semantic analysis, descriptive and comparative methods. Material for the study was selected from English-Russian and German- Russian environmental dictionaries, as well as from texts published on specialized websites in English and German devoted to ecology and energy efficiency. The analysis revealed that the majority of sampled terms denote environmental factors and energy-related concepts and phenomena. The source of new terms in both languages is common vocabulary, which undergoes a process of terminologization and metaphorization. There are also borrowings from other languages and neologisms. The German language borrows ecological terms predominantly from English. The active use of compounding as a means of word formation in German ensures the brevity and conciseness of the German terms, unlike the English ones.

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