German/English lexicographical contrasts: city, queen (quean), yard

A semantic set of three English words, city, queen/quean and yard is compared with its semantic equivalents in German, Stadt, Konigin and Garten/Hof. The primary sources for word definitions are Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language and the Oxford English Dictionary for the English lexemes; Brockhaus-Wahrig deutsches Worterbuch and Duden, das grosse Worterbuch der deutschen Sprache serve for the German lexemes. In addition to these dictionary definitions, cultural factors are included that impact on the meaning of the words and aid in determining the meaning differences between German and English, and between American English and British English.;Chapter III explores the semantic scope of Eng. city, queen/quean and yard. Chapter IV explores the scope of their semantic equivalents, Ger. Stadt, Konigin, Garten/Hof. The differences between American use and British use for all three English words are considered, as well as the differences between usage of Eng. queen in the homosexual and heterosexual communities. There is a clear difference in the way the Eng. yard is used in Britain and the United States. In order to account for this variation in the German, Ger. Garten and Hof are studied. The prototypical sense of the English lexemes are chosen to determine what the German equivalents would be.;Chapter V summarizes the findings from Chapter III and IV, before comparing each set of semantic equivalents. Upon comparison it is found that Eng. city and Ger. Stadt are similar in meaning, though German usage is closer to American than to British use. The case is similar for Ger. Konigin; however, Eng. queen is a much broader term than is Ger. Konigin. As for Eng. yard, American use is similar to Ger. Garten, while British use is similar to Ger. Hof.;Chapter II reviews the approaches lexicographers have taken to the problem of writing a dictionary. Bilingual dictionaries present a special challenge because they attempt to match semantic equivalents in different languages. The second part of Chapter II reviews theories of meaning that attempt to show how words are successfully defined.