Translation in the Medieval Europe

In the Medieval Ages the translation studies had just descriptive character; the scholars concentrated just on the translation technics:

• Writing dictionaries

• Adaption of terminology of SL to TL

• Improvement of the literary aspect of translation

• In most of cases they followed the translational patterns which had been developed in the Late Antiquity period.

 

New translations of the Bible into the national languages of Europe

• John Wycllife’s Bible (1384) – translation into the Middle English (in cooperation with Nicolas Hereford and John Purvey).

• William Tyndale’s Bible (1537) – translation into the Early Modern English from Hebrew and Greek (in cooperation with).

• Martin Luther’s translation of the Bible from Hebrew and Greek (1522-1534); its widespread circulation facilitated the emergence of a standard, modern German language for the German-speaking peoples throughout the Holy Roman Empire.

 

Impact of the Tyndale’s Bible on English language

Tyndale introduced new words into the English language:

• Passover

• scapegoat

• Jesus Birth (for Christmas)

He also creates new phrases which were used in the King James Bible:

• lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil

• knock and it shall be opened unto you

• twinkling of an eye a moment in time

Tyndale’s phrasal neologisms:

• fashion not yourselves to the world

• seek and you shall find

• eat, drink and be merry

• ask and it shall be given you

• judge not that you not be judged

• the word of God which liveth and lasteth forever

• let there be light

• the salt of the earth

• a law unto themselves

• filthy lucre

• it came to pass

• gave up the ghost

 

Biblia Complutensia (1514-1522): comparison of translations

• Biblia Complutensia is the first printed polyglot of the Bible; contains the Hebrew text of the Old Testament, the Septuagint, the Greek New Testament, the Vulgata and the Targum Onqelos (Aramaic).

This edition was initiated by Cardinal Francisco Jimenez Cisneros (1436–1517).

 

Summary
During the Middle Age period three main approaches were elaborated:

• 1. The ancient «strict and truthful» word-for-word translation of ecclesiastic (the Septuagint) and philosophic works.

• 2. The unrestricted free translation introduced by Horace and Apuleius, which had established an especially strong position in France and gained many supporters there.

• 3. The old trend adhering to the Cicero's principle of regular sense-to-sense translation without the unrestricted reductions or additions to the texts/works in their final translated versions.

 

The period of Classicism and Enlightenment

John Dryden (1631-1700) outstanding English author and literary critic, tried to reconcile these two historically opposite trends and sought a middle course between the «very free», as he called the second trend, and the «very close» (i.e. word-for-word) approach. He demanded from translators «faithfulness to the spirit of the original». This approach was applied in Dryden’s translation of Vergil’s poems.

 

The Epoch of Romanticism

J. Campbell demanded from translators of belles-lettres the following:

1) «to give a just representation of the sense of the original (the most essential);

2) to convey into his version as much as possi­ble (in consistency with the genius of his language) the author's spirit and manner, the very character of his style;

3) so that the text of the version have a natural and easy flow».

A. F. Tytler's requirements, as has been mentioned, were no less radical and much similar, they included the following:

1) «the translation should give a complete transcript of the ideas of the original work;

2) the style and manner of writing should be of the same character with that of the original;

3) the translation should have the ease of an original composition.