THE STRATEGIES FOR RENDERING NICKNAMES IN UKRAINIAN TRANSLATIONS OF RICK RIORDAN'S 'PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS' AND 'THE HEROES OF OLYMPUS' CYCLES

Abstract

The article focuses on a comprehensive analysis of nicknames as a type of onymic vocabulary in Rick Riordan’s series ‘Percy Jackson and the Olympians’ and ‘The Heroes of Olympus’, the specifics of their rendering in Ukrainian translations Nicknames in fantasy discourse perform not only a nominative function but also characterizing, expressive, and aesthetic functions, which poses certain challenges for translation. Having employed a qualitative–quantitative approach, the authors suggest in the article a typology of nicknames, outline their functional parameters, and analyze regularities of translation transformations used for every type of nickname. It is demonstrated that nicknames with a high degree of idiomaticity require more flexible transformations, which can convey the comic effect, expressiveness, and individual character traits of the characters. Five types of nicknames were analyzed: based on physical appearance, derived from proper names, reflecting character or behavior, related to events, and formed through poetic periphrastic nomination. For each type, dominant translation strategies were identified, including calque, transcoding/transliteration, modulation with contextual substitution, traditional translation, descriptive translation, and compensation. Empirical material of 45 nicknames shows that translators succeeded in conveying the semantics, emotive-expressive, and stylistic features of the original onymic units. Particularly complex nicknames of gods and mythological beings required combined strategies to preserve the pathos, symbolic richness, and functional role. The study demonstrates that a differentiated classification of nicknames and a variable choice of translation strategies ensure adequate reproduction of their semantic, emotional, and stylistic traits in the target language. The research concludes that a comprehensive differentiation of nickname types and a variable choice of translation strategies ensure an adequate reproduction of their semantics and functions in the target language.