Author: Paolo Pentenero

Publisher: Grafiche Baudano. Strada di Druento 286, 10078 Venaria Reale, Torino, Italy

Date of publication: April 1988

Price: Lit. 95,000

· Number of pages/entries: 436 pp., 10,000 entries

· Quality of paper & print:17 cm x 24 cm, acid-free paper, two-column layout. Excellent quality. I have not found one single typo!

· Typeface: Boldface is used for the source terms in both directions, and the type is clear and visible.

· Quality of binding: The dictionary is solidly hardbound, with a white jacket.

· Readability: Excellent.

· Convenience of look-up: Each entry (strings included) appears in its natural order. The usage of abbreviating the Italian Vedere ("See") as Ved. is deprecated, due to its more common meaning (vedova or "widow"). V, or Cfr. (confrontare) are normally preferred.

· Grammatical information: None.

· Contextual and encyclopedic information: Most of the terms are referenced according to field of application (40 categories, ranging from Penetrant Flow Detection to Metallizing). About 10% of the terms are followed by a clear and concise explanation.

· Appendices: None.

· Percent "filler words": Less than 2%.

· Expected terms found: I have found practically every term I looked for: resistance welding; passo di riflessione or skip distance; arcatom welding; C-type gun; immersion testing; elettrodo infusibile o r nonconsumable electrode; pulsed laser; nocciolo or weld nugget; delayed fracture; short bell branch joint; ignitrone or ignitron; tong brazing; lappatura or lapping; bolster; percussion weld; tempo caldo or current impulse time; TIG-arc welding.

· Terms not included: Mesh weld or saldatura a paro preparata a smusso; ragnatura or star fracture (although the other Italian rendition, frattura a raggera, is present); YAG laser or laser a granato di ittrio-alluminio; volatilizzazione or volatilization; laser cavity or cavità resonante; MIG-arc (or metal inert gas arc) welding or saldatura ad arco in atmosfera inerte con elettrodo fusible, although inert gas arc welding is included; saldatura a fori or plug weld although the more descriptive (and less used) saldatura entro fori is present.

· Terms not found in other dictionaries in this field, which add to the value of the work: Mr. Pentenero lists several terms used exclusively by the welding community. For example, ciafrino, a term normally translated as a synonym of presello or caulker, but which has acquired the meaning of smusso or bevel. TheFirst Dictionary lives up to its name in another area as well, our collective nightmare, the strings. Double flare V groove weld; glow discharge electron beam welding (which I now discover means cold cathode electron beam welding); and flanged open joggled simple lap joint are just the tip of the iceberg.

· Evaluation: This dictionary is excellent.

Comments

My main complaint against Mr. Pentenero's work is that it includes only English and Italian. This focus unjustly limits the audience to such a sound effort. Nevertheless, for those of us who have dealt with the subject in either target language, this dictionary is a blessing. The fine series of 9 multilingual glossaries produced in the last thirty years by the International Institute of Welding (and published by the Institut za Varilstvo, Ptujska 19, Ljubljana, Slovenia) has two features which I have always found distressing. The glossaries adopt Czech as their key language and are the living proof of Borocz's law of research, which states that when working with a dictionary of more than one volume, the next reference shall always be in another volume.

Paolo Pentenero's work collects an astounding number of terms, is well organized and, with the exception of laser technology, has an authoritative flare which will insure its lasting value. A cross-reference with the available literature (McGraw-Hill Zanichelli, Marolli, the mentioned IIW/HS glossaries) shows the Author's superior expertise and reliability. If welding is your groove, get it!