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The following paper deals with the concept and typology of terminological synonyms in English and Czech, focusing on the official sport terms codified in English and/or Czech dictionaries. The analysis focuses on Anglicisms as terminological doublets, hyposynonyms, stylistic synonyms, and false friends. Results show that a high number of synonyms were generated by the process of transshaping or translating English terms into Czech. Our analysis suggests that there may be found three types of sports synonyms in English (real, quasi-, and pseudo- synonyms) and four main types in Czech (terminological doublets, Anglicisms as hyposynonyms, false friends, and stylistic synonyms). The use of synonyms is even more evident in modern or newly created sports; mass media and the accessibility of data through the Internet playing an essential role as they mediate an immense input of information to the target population.

Language represents one of the main factors that determine the distinctiveness and cultural identity of each branch of sport. Its rich lexicon is an indication of its diffusion and status in the society. A large number of professional and trade jargons such as coaching jargon, sports training terminologies, the language of sport sciences, sport medicine and athletes’ and sport fans’ slang have emerged from the area of sport. Each of these reflects phonetic, stylistic and morphological features of its national language. Given that English has undoubtedly become the source language of sports terminology with a vast influence on other languages, the aim of this paper is to compare the formation processes in both Czech and English sports terminologies, emphasizing the influence of English on the formation of Czech sports terms.