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 risks identified in Culture Analysis and Comparative Theology. Every term entry records:

• The approved Urdu translation (Perso-Arabic script) and transliteration
• The doctrine risk tier (Critical/High/Medium/Low)
• Explicitly rejected alternatives, with reasons — including, where relevant, which specific Islamic technical term is being avoided and why
• Notes explaining any non-obvious translation choice, including cases where the approved term is itself shared with Islamic theological vocabulary and requires contrastive teaching rather than substitution

Governing principles

1. Follow established Urdu Christian Bible precedent where it exists — proper names and core terms (خدا, یسوع, خداوند, مسیح) follow the Urdu Bible Society tradition rather than inventing new renderings.
2. Distinguish shared-vocabulary risk from forbidden-substitution risk. Some terms (نجات, روح القدس, مسیح) cannot be avoided because they are the only recognizable words for the concept and are also live Islamic theological terms; these require contrastive teaching, not substitution. Other terms (کافر, اسلام, دعوت, تبلیغ) are avoidable and are avoided outright because a safer alternative exists and is equally recognizable.
3. Explicit rejection with reasoning, not silent avoidance — every Critical-risk term records why a tempting alternative is wrong or risky (see alternatives_rejected), citing the specific Qur’anic verse or Islamic doctrine where relevant, so a translator or reviewer understands the reasoning rather than just following a rule.
4. 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, and from there to the specific Qur’anic verse or Islamic theological doctrine the doctrine registry names as the source of the collision.