Core Glossary

translation_memory.json is the enforced glossary for every Phase 2 translation in this curriculum. This document summarizes its shape and the principles behind it; see the Glossary Risk Groups for the full per-term entries.

Composition

The glossary currently holds 47 terms spanning all four risk tiers, drawn from the doctrines identified in Doctrine Analysis and grounded in the cultural realities identified in Culture Analysis. Every term entry records:

• The approved Telugu translation and transliteration
• The doctrine risk tier (Critical/High/Medium/Low) — generally lower than in this pipeline’s other Indian-language packages, reflecting Telugu’s mature, settled Christian vocabulary
• Explicitly rejected alternatives, with reasons — for several terms, the “rejected” alternative is not a non-Christian competing word but a theologically valid alternative from a different Telugu Christian denominational tradition
• Notes explaining any non-obvious translation or consistency choice

Governing principles

1. Established usage over invention — where existing Telugu Bible translation already has a settled rendering (దేవుడు, యేసు, ప్రభువు, రక్షణ, సువార్త, and even ధర్మశాస్త్రము for Law), this glossary follows it rather than proposing an alternative, even where the pattern used elsewhere in this pipeline might suggest otherwise.
2. Explicit documentation of denominational variance — where more than one Telugu Christian tradition has its own settled term (Holy Spirit, Holy, Church), this glossary names both, explains which communities use which, and locks one choice for this curriculum’s internal consistency.
3. Version-controlled and append-only in Phase 2 — if a new term is discovered during document translation, it is added to translation memory and the version number incremented, never silently improvised per-document (see the AI Translation Requirements’ Translation Memory Load and Enforcement Instructions).

Relationship to the Doctrine Risk Registry

Every glossary term’s doctrine field links back to an entry in doctrine_risk_registry.json, so a term’s risk tier is always traceable to the specific doctrine it protects — the glossary enforces vocabulary, the doctrine registry explains why that vocabulary matters, including the denominational-consistency reasoning unique to this Language Package.