lecture 4. translation in renaissance europe.. 1. translation in renaissance italy. 2. translation...

Lecture 4. Translation in Renaissance Europe.

Translation in Renaissance Europe.

1. Translation in Renaissance Italy. 2. Translation in Renaissance

France. 3. Translation in Renaissance

Germany. 4. Translation in Renaissance

England.

Translation in Renaissance Italy.

The Renaissance was a cultural movement of the 14th to the 17th centuries, beginning in Florence and later spreading to the rest of Europe.

It was characterized by revival of learning based on classical sources and gradual but widespread educational reform.


During this period, attitudes to classical works were changing.

Earlier the major concern had been to pass on texts, copying acritically, adding or removing from the original without hesitation.

Now the emphasis was on restoring the original to its ancient purity, removing the centuries of dust.

This new philological approach supported by invention of printing brought about an increase in translation output, with new principles and goals.


Almost all the translations carried out during this

period were from Greek and Latin.

All sorts of texts were translated. The most

frequent were books on history, philosophy and

religion, together with poetry, though there

were also books on medicine, agriculture,

astrology, martial arts and mathematics.


Although Venice dominated the printing industry

(and therefore translation), the language into

which almost all works were translated was the

vernacular of Florence, the cradle of

Humanism. There gathered a large group of lay

intellectuals with Humanist ideas who knew

Latin and often Greek.


The translators of that time were not always

famous or prominent figures. Nevertheless, it

was their anonymous work, together with the

strong literary tradition of Florence that led to

the development of the Florentine vernacular

as the basis of the Italian national language.


The translators of religious texts were generally

monks and priests, whereas works on science

and philosophy were translated by lay people.

The basic purpose of non-literary translation from

the classical languages into the vernacular was

to propagate the religious message or

disseminate ideas of public usefulness among

the growing number of educated people.


The title page of the first work on mathematics translated in Italy by the well-known mathematician Niccolo Tartaglia (1499-1557), the first translator of Archimedes and Euclid into Italian, says:

"... translated for common convenience and usefulness. It is so clear that every average, uninformed and inexpert mind will be able to understand it".


Pietro Marino da Foligno wrote in his preface to

the translation (1528) Palladius, a 4th century

Roman agricultural writer: "... Palladius, worthy

and ancient writer on agriculture, translated

into the vernacular, so that those who don't

know Latin may benefit, enjoy and gain

information from his work".


Marsilio Ficino (1433 –1499), one of the most influential humanist philosophers of the early Italian Renaissance, an astrologer, carried out the first translation of Plato's complete existing works into Latin.

His Florentine Academy, an attempt to revive Plato's school, had enormous influence on the Italian Renaissance and the development of European philosophy.


The men of letters at court were often commissioned to translate literary works by patrons who did not know classical languages.

In the case of works for the theatre, translation meant performance (mostly at court).

There was also a huge amount of translation of ballads and French epic poetry, mainly for popular use.


Renaissance was also a dynamic period for translation theory.

In his brief treatise "De interpretatione recta"

(“From Straight Interpretation”) (1420), the well-known Humanist and historian Leonardo Bruni (1370/74-1444) set out rules a good translator should follow.


According to Bruni, the original work must be properly understood.

The translator has to have perfect knowledge of both the source language and the target language, not only as regards their syntax and vocabulary, but also their rhetorical patterns.

Bruni insisted that the author's actual style must be reproduced, together with the rhythm of the sentence.


Late Renaissance was characterized by universal recognition of the dignity of national languages.

Latin, however, was not discarded by the Roman Church. The outcome of the Council of Trent (1545-1563) was a fierce determination to defend Church ideology and control the spread of ideas with the help of the Holy Inquisition.


During this time printing flourished.

However, before the publication, every book was to

be approved by the religious authorities. If it was

considered unsuitable for publication, the book

was placed on a list known as the "Index of

banned books".


Such practice restricted the translation work.

Interestingly, many intellectuals of that period

became clergymen in order to further their

literary careers.

Most of translations during this period were literary,

especially poetry and religious. Translation of

scientific texts was minimal.


There was a new genre in translation, namely,

travel literature, which started with publication

(between 1550 and 1590) of a large collection of

papers by Spanish and Portuguese travellers,

translated by Giovanni Battista Ramusio of

Treviso (1485-1557).


Many classical authors were also translated; one of

the most prolific translators of works for the

theatre during this period was Lodovico Dolce,

from Venice (1508-1568).


A new feature of translation was the considerable

artistic effort involved. In order to refine their

literary skills, translators often competed against

the original, which was a new approach

compared to the early Renaissance period.


Between 1563 and 1566, Virgil's

Aeneid was translated by the

famous man of letters Annibal

Caro (1507-1566). This

translation is still studied at

school today and is considered

the first great work of

translation produced in Italy.


Being excellent from a poetic point of view, Caro's Aeneid is, like all the works of the time, far removed from the original.

For Caro translation meant the creation of a text with the same value as the original, though distant from it.

Such views of translator-poets became the norm for poetic translation until Romanticism and are still held today by some practitioners.


One work which stands out as a classic of non-

literary translation of the period is Tacitus'

Annales, translated by the Florentine scholar

Bernardo Davanzati (1529-1606).

Translation in Renaissance France.

In France, like elsewhere in Western Europe, the

Renaissance and the introduction of printing

brought about the decline of Latin tradition in

writing, rapid development of the national

language and a considerable increase in the

number of translations.


Specific terms were coined during this period to

describe the process of translation:

traduire 'to translate' was introduced by Robert

Esperre (1503-1559) on the basis of Italian

traducere,

and the humanist Etienne Dolet (1508-1546) was

responsible for introducing traduction

'translation' and traducteur 'translator'.


Dolet is a highly symbolic

figure in Western

translation theory.


The spirit of the time had changed: the Counter-

Reformation was spreading through France and

the Church had become acutely conscious of the

dangers of humanism and began to take

systematic action against it.


Dolet was tried for heresy by the theological faculty of

the Sorbonne on the basis of his translation of

Plato's Axiochus. He was condemned for adding a

few words in one passage. These words were seen

to cast doubt on the immortality of the soul. In

1546, Dolet was burned at the stake because his

translation had been too free. His death can be

regarded as a symbolic end to a period dominated

by humanist thought.


Dolet formulated basic principles of translation in

his work La maniere de bien traduire d'une

langue en l'autre ("How to translate well from

one language into another") published in 1540.


Dolet singles out five rules for translation: understanding the meaning of the original text, mastering both source and target languages, avoiding word-for-word renderings,

using the speech of ordinary people, and employing an appropriate tone.

The fourth principle, using the speech of ordinary people was evidently a response to the tendency of the 16th-century scholars to introduce neologisms and Latin structures into the vernacular.


The 16th century saw translations of great classical works into French. Plutarch's writings, Homer's Iliad, some Cicero's works were translated into French.

There were also numerous translations from Italian during this period (Petrarch's Sonnets among them).

Translations from other modern languages were restricted to English and German works.


In 1549, three years after Dolet's execution, the French poet Joachim du Bellay (1522-1560) published Défense et illustration de la langue françoise, which dealt a severe blow to translation.

Du Bellay was a member of a group of young poets known as the Pléiade school.


In his pamphlet he argued that translation was not a "noble" genre, since it did not involve creation.

In his opinion, translation was not patriotic or progressive, as it imported foreign works, in particular works of Antiquity.

Translation was presented as an obstacle to creativity in the vernacular.


Du Bellay distinguished between poetical and non-

literary texts and considered the former

untranslatable.

The translated text was seen as unable to provide

the grace and elegance of the original.


Du Bellay's criticism of poetical translation had an

impact on writers of his time, many of whom

tried to distance themselves from translation.

The translations performed by the Pléiade can be

described as a combination of literalism and

innovation, with considerable coinage of

neologisms derived from Greek and Latin.


One of the best known French

translators of the period,

Jacques Amyot (1513-1593)

introduced several Greek works

to French readers, including

Plutarch's Lives and Longus'

Daphnis and Chloe.


Although his translations were criticized for being

too literal, Amyot's main task was to provide

absolute clarity for the French reader.

Amyot provided glosses and definitions which did

not exist in the source text.

His translation of Longus' work is said to be better

known than Longus' original work.


Amyot proposed avoiding awkward neologisms,

indicating logical connections between

sentences and paragraphs, using a simple,

natural style and harmonious phrasing.

Amyot’s translation of Plutarch has been called by

critics as the supreme effort of the French

language to equal the languages of antiquity.


A synthesis of sixteenth-century views on translation can be found in Michel de Montaigne's Essays (1580-1588).

Montaigne writes about a hierarchical relationship between languages, with classical languages at the top and the vernacular at the bottom.

He also differentiates between aesthetic and informative texts and sees the latter as being less problematic for the translator.

Translation in Renaissance Germany.

In the 14th-15th centuries German was rapidly

developing into a literary language.

Martin Luther's translation of the Bible helped to

establish a literary form of German which was

oriented towards the vernacular rather than

Latin.


The translations of so-called "Viennese School" of the

14th and early 15th centuries fall into two classes,

thus continuing the medieval tradition:

on the one hand, what was called aigne dewtsch, a

scholarly source-text-oriented German which

followed Latin norms,

and on the other hand translations into German in its

current written forms, free from the limits of Latin

(this was called gemaine Teutsch).


Niklas von Wyle (1410-1478) was convinced of the

inherent primacy, linguistic and stylistic

superiority of Latin sources, so he translated

them into German as literally as possible.


The humanists Albrecht von Eyb (1420-1475) and

Heinrich Steinhoewel (1412-1482) practised

a different, more pragmatic, target-oriented

translation method.


Albrecht von Eyb was particularly concerned with

the intelligibility of his translations.

He adapted the language and subject matter of the

comedies of the Roman playwright Plautus to

the 15th-century German popular culture and

theatrical conventions.


Steinhoewel followed similar translation principles. In his translation of Aesop he introduced numerous proverbs, rhymed verses and allusions to topical events.

Steinhoewel justified his interpretative method of adaptive and recreative translation with reference to Horace's and St. Jerome's principles.


Thomas Murner (1475-1537) also followed "naturalizing" translation method.

In his translation of Virgil's Aeneid (1515) he makes no attempt at imitating Latin participle constructions; antiquity is transposed to 16th-century Germany, reflecting German customs, traditions and ideas.

Murner was proud of having resurrected Virgil's epic from Latin death to German life.

Translation in Renaissance England.

During the first ten years of Elizabeth I's reign (1558-1568) four times as many translations were produced as in the previous fifty years.

The main areas of translation were the Bible and classical literature. Demosthenes, Homer, Plutarch and other classical authors were translated, often by way of an intermediate source, e.g. Sir Thomas North's translation of Plutarch's Lives (1579) was based on Jacques Amyot's French translation.


Different translations of the same text were often

in competition with each other: translators often

competed trying to be the first to produce and

publish their translation of a certain classical

source text.


This period was also characterized by continuing debates about the adequacy of the vernacular to transmit the riches of classical learning.

Some scholars saw the task of translators as a patriotic act to improve the cultural position of the English nation.

Nicholas Grimald, by translating Cicero's Thre Bokes of Duties (1556) wanted to "do likewise for my countrimen: as Italians, Spaniardes, Dutch-men, and other foreins have liberally done for theyrs".


Not all texts were thought equally fit for translation. For example, Christopher Marlowe's translations of

Ovid were banned and burned in 1586 by order of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

English readers had to wait until 1620 for a complete text of Boccaccio's Decameron, and until 1694 for the whole of Rabelais' Gargantua and Pantagruel.


Translation was viewed as means of enriching the English language, primarily its lexicon.

On the other hand, translation was seen as a powerful instrument in moral, political and social instruction of new readers, above all, middle class, who were not educated in classical languages.

One of the aims of translating in Elizabethan England was to give Englishmen proper examples of social and political behaviour.


Plutarch's Lives of prominent Greeks and Romans was regarded as an arsenal of examples to be followed.

Among the readers of the English translation by Sir Thomas North was William Shakespeare, who used it when writing his three great Roman plays: Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra and Coriolanus.


Humanist prose writer, diplomat, scholar and translator Thomas Elyot (1490-1546) greatly contributed to popularizing the classics by his versions of Plato and Plutarch. He also translated works of Galen and other ancient physicians.


His Dictionary (1538) was the first book published

in English under such title.

It gave an English equivalent for each Latin word

included. It helped to establish English as the

language of learned and practical discourse.


In the preface to his translation of St. Cyprian’s fourth-century A sweet and Devout Sermon (1534) Elyot wrote:

I have translated this little book: not superstitiously

following the letter, which is verily elegant, and

therefore the harder to translate into our

language, but keeping the sentence and intent

of the Author.


George Chapman (1559/60–1634) is best known for

his translations of Homer. He published the

complete translations of the Iliad (1611), the

Odyssey (1614–15) and Homeric ‘Hymns’

(1616).


Chapman insisted on non-literalism and argued that only poetic talent and inspiration can help in the translation of poetry.

Chapman translated directly from the original, with errors due to ignorance or haste.

He justified his ‘varietie of new wordes’, writing: "If ‘my countrey language were an usurer, he would thank me for enriching him’.


Writing for the new readers who had little

knowledge of the societies in which the source

texts had been created affected translation

strategies.

The primary obstacle faced by translators of that

time was the inability of the English language

and culture to express the cultural diversity of

the source texts.


Translators could either expand the target-

language stock of words by means of

borrowings, or look within the target culture for

equivalents or near-equivalents that would

express foreign cultural phenomena.

A preference for the second option resulted in a

significant naturalization of source texts.


In his translation of Plutarch, North translates the

phenomenon 'gladiatorial combats' which was

not familiar to the English reader as follows:

"the cruell fight of fensers at vnrebated

swordes“.


During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance,

translation was seen as one of the few areas of

writing open to women.

In England, women were restricted to the

translation of religious texts only.


In 1603, John Florio (1553-1625), the English translator of Montaigne and author of an influential Italian-English dictionary, commented on the link between translation and the status of women:

since translations are always defective, they must be female.


Most translations made by women during the

Renaissance are more literal – literalism gave a

kind of protection as it allowed the translator to

decline all personal responsibility.


Prominent women translators of the sixteenth century:

Mary BassettAnne CookeQueen Elizabeth Mary Sidney the Countess of Pembroke (the sister

of Sir Philip Sidney), and a middle-class woman, Margaret Tyler.


The English princesses, both Mary and Elizabeth,

made translations as New Year’s gifts, which

showed off their accomplishments. Mary Tudor’s

translation of the Prayer of St Thomas Aquinas,

made from Latin when she was twelve, still

survives, and so do translations by Elizabeth I.


It is common for women translators of that time to

present their translations as a private exercise,

assuring the reader that they were not trying to

show off in an inappropriate, unfeminine

manner.


Margaret Tyler, who lived in the 2nd half of the 16th century, was an exception among women translators of her time.

She translated a Spanish romance A Mirrour of Princely Deedes and Knighthood (1578) in a nonliteral manner and in the preface defended her work and introduced positive images of women of action, at the time when it was not considered proper for women to be active.

Chivalry romances came into fashion as a result of her work and continued to be translated from Spanish into English during the next centuries.

lecture 4. translation in renaissance europe.. 1. translation in renaissance italy. 2. translation...

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