history of romanian translation

7/29/2019 History of Romanian Translation

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The First Romanian

Translations


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Early Translations.

17th century

The Enlightenment


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Present day Romanian has been

influenced by non-Romance lgs such as

Hungarian,

Albanian and

various Slavic lgs spoken in the

neighbouring countries.

Romania switched from the Cyrillic to

the Roman script in 1860.


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Early Translations.

In common with many other lgs, the 1st TRs into Ro were of religious

nature and motivation.

The basic Christian terminology is ofLatin origin,

ex. Dumnezeu from Dominte Deo,

Lord,

boteza from baptizare, baptize,

cruce from crux, cross.


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Between the 10th and 13th centuries,

the lg and the organizational structureof the Slavonic church were officially

adopted in Romania,

signaling the incorporation of Roterritory into the Byzantine sphere of

influence.

This development played a major role

in shaping the Ro culture in

subsequent centuries.


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There is no indication ofwhen and

where it was completed.There are cultural and linguistic

elements

which support placing it in the north

of Transilvania,

for ex. the fact that it contains alarge number of Hungarian

elements.


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Given that Romanian was not a written

lg at the time,

the official lg. being Slavonic in all

contexts,

the 1st RO translations cannot beexplained in terms of internal needs.

These TRs appear to have been driven

by Lutheran and Calvinistic propaganda.

The 1st Ro printed document was a

Lutheran catechism published in Sibiu


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In 1559 Deacon Coresi published

Intrebare crestineasca (TheChristian Inquiry),

the 1st printed Ro translation on

record;

in 1561 he published a RoGospel

and in 1570 a Ro Psalterand a Romissal.


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These TRs enjoyed the support of

the authorities.Prince Zapolya of Transilvania

personally

commissioned the replacement of

Slavonic books by Ro ones.


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17th century

Nicolae Costin (1660-1712) statesmanand historaian

translated Antonio de Guevaras

famous book Reox de Principes (1529)from Latin.

Spatharus Milescu, diplomat, great

scholar,

was the 1st to translate directly from a

Greek original.


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Milescus most important contribution was

translating the Old Testament in full from a

version ofSeptuagint published in Frankfurtin 1551.

The TR appeared in 1688 under

the title Biblia de la Bucuresti and

all Ro versions of the Septuagint have since

been based on it.

The 1st poet translator in the Ro tradition was

Dosoftei, the metropolitan of Moldova.


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The 1st bilingual dictionary with Ro as

the SL was Dictionarum valachio-

latinum.

It contained 5.000 headwords

was compiled by Mihai Halici fromCaransebe in 1643.

Lexicographic activity, combined with

increased involvement in the practicalproblems of translation,

stimulated thinking in this area.


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The lack of perfect correspondence

between words of2 lgs began to be

noted and discussed.

While translating Carte de p ravi le

(Book o f Laws), I. B. Deleanu observed

that there was no exact term for the

German Verbrechen


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and noted that the lack of appropriate

terminology posed a serious difficulty for the

anonymous author ofRetorica.

This close link between practice andtheory

remained the driving force behind

translation studies in

Romania/Moldova down to the present

day.


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The Enlightenment

During the 18th centurywhen the Enlightenment was

beginning to gain ground in Europe,

the governers appointed by the

Ottoman sultan

began to rule in the Romanianprincipalities.


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The principalities

Wallachia, Moldova andTransilvania

went through a rapid process of

secularization during this period,

with translations and adaptations of

popular literature graduallyreplacing those of the religious

works.


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French became the dominant SL

in translation,with writers who expressed the

spirit of the Enlightenment,

such as Voltaire, Rousseau,

being among the most translated.


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The translators were either

educated members of the Ro royalfamily, like Vacarescu and

Iordache Golescu, or

Greek scholars brought in by the

new rulers

to teach at the royal academies inIasi and Bucharest.


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The 1st direct TR from English

was probably ByronsManfred,

translated in 1843 by the Ro

revolutionary and writerC. A. Rosetti.

The 1st English novel to be translatedwas also to become one of the most

popular;

this was Defoes Robinson Crusoe,translated and published by V. Draghici

in Iasi in 1835.


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Ro magazines also carried

the 1st news about the NewWorld during this period and

translations ofAmerican lit-resoon began to appear.


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Washington Irving was the 1st

author to be translated into Ro in 1836,

followed by

Benjamin Franklin,

James Fenimore Cooper,

Edgar Alan Poe

Mark Twain.


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Harriet Beecher Stowes

Uncle Toms Cabin -published inIasi in1853.

The flourishing of translation activity

during the 19th century

had an enduring influence on Ro

cultural life and helped to bring our territory closer

to the rest ofEurope.


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The poet M. Eminescu (1850-89)

was similarly influenced by GermanRomanticism.

His excellent translations of

the Austrian poet Lenau,

B itte (Reques t)and Das du rre Blatt(

The Withered Leaf)were published in Convo rb ir i l i terarein

1879.


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Eminescu created a highly

expressive poetic language,and in so doing made it possible for

TRs into Ro

to stand in their own right

as equals of their European and

American originals.


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The last quarter of the 19th

centurywitnessed an emphasis on

translating works which focus on

social issues.

These included

GogolsThe Inspec to r-General, published

in 1874,


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Turgenevs

The Nest of Genlefolk (1880),Dostoevskys ("

")

Crime and Pun ishment(1898),Chekhovs

Motley Sto r ies (1899). (Pstrye

Rasskazy")


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The contemporary period

During the 1st halfof the 20thcentury,

a number of excellent TRs were

published by scholars

who were established poets in

their own right.


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The poet George Cosbuc

translated from German as well as anumber of other lgs,

including Greek (Homers Odyssey),

Latin (Virgils Aeneid and Georgics),Sanskrit (Rig-Veda), Ramayana and

Mahabharata),

and Italian.


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His translation of

Dantes The Divine Comedywas

considered one of the best existing versions

by C. Tagliavini,

a well-known Italian scholar who had a

special interest in Romanian.

Another Transivanian, St.O. Iosif (1875-

1913),

was considered one of the best translators

ofGerman poetry during this time.


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He translated

Heine, Goethe, Schiller, Burger, andLenau.

He also translated work by theHungarian poet Petofi (The Apostle),

as well as Shakespeares Romeo andJul ietandA Midsummer NightsDream,

the The Iliadand Odysseyweretranslated in perfect hexameters by G.Murnu.


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Other writers translated/ retranslated

during this period include

Jules Verne, Oscar Wilde, M.

Lermontov, Ivan Goncearov, Eugene

ONeil, Mark Twain, Marcel Proustand Balzak.

These Trs- personal affinity and

individual choice on the part oftranslators rather than of official

planning.


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Publishers were mainly interested in

producing lucrative, popular lit-re.

High quality lit-re could also be

successful.

One of the most popular authors duringthis period was W.S.Maugham:

almost 30 of his titles were

translated by the Romanian writer I.

Giurea and

published between 1930-1945.


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TR after World War II

World War II and the years whichfollowed it

brought about a new isolation.

Both original and the translated

lit-re were censored.


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The 1950s witnessed a growing

demand for foreign lit-res,with a definite need for

translations

since the majority of the Romanian

public did not speak foreign lgs.


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Several masterpieces appeared in

excellent TRS during this period.For ex.,

in 1955

2 important works by Goethe

were published;

Faust, translated by the great poetand philosopherLucian Blaga,


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the autobiographical novel

From My L ife. Poetry and Truth, translated by Tudor Vianu, an

outstanding scholar of the time.

TRs of this type were the result of

personal choice.


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Only the Russian classics were

systematically in a series of acomplete works,

including Gogol (1954),

Checkhov (1954-63),

Turgenev (1953-62).


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