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Synthesis
From Aristotle to Nietzsche, one’s attitude toward translation has devolved from a state of non-concern, to mild distrust, to eventually a full-grown skepticism.
Enthralled by a sense of “foreignness” of words and therefore eager to incorporate foreign words into one’s own writing, the Greco-Roman authors were less interested in the actual process of translation, preferring distinctive words to stay “alien” and “strange” in order to elevate the style. Aristotle, in Rhetoric, claims that because we feel the same in regard to style and in regard to foreigners and fellow-citizens, we should give our language a “foreign air,” for men admire what is remote, and departure from the ordinary makes anything appear more dignified (Rhetoric). Further, just as Cicero deems it a wonderful thing that all men are “more delighted with words used in a foreign sense than in their own proper and natural signification,” Erasmus also acknowledges that foreign words do “have a charm of their own” (On Oratory, De Copia).
From Saint Augustine onward, however, one began taking notice of translation between languages as an important process in and of itself, and paid attention to how different translation could significantly alter the meanings of the texts. Saint Augustine realized that “the translator” of the Bible could have omitted a particle to produce a new version of the Bible that adhered more closely to his own interpretation. Acknowledging the translator’s power and freedom to “choose” his own words, Augustine comments: what a “dangerous liberty to take” (On Christian Doctrine).
Augustine’s mild distrust of “the translator” from the fourth century gained heat and became full-grown skepticism in the seventeenth century, as authors such as Lock, Condillac, and Nietzche questioned whether translation was really “worth it,” acknowledging that one can never fully replicate the original thoughts in a different language through translation, an act that is fundamentally imperfect. Locke proposes that if we “exactly compare different languages,” we shall find that though different languages have words “which in translations and dictionaries are supposed to answer,” yet very, very few of those words would actually “[stand] for the same precise idea” (An Essay on Human Understanding). Condillac offers similar observations: first, it is extremely rare that “terms in two different languages showed perfect conformity” (Essay on the Origin of Human Knowledge). Second, it is impossible to produce acceptable translations of poetry, for “the same thoughts can rarely be expressed in both with the same beauties.” Equating the relationship between two foreign languages with the relationship between subject and object, Nietzsche argues that the “adequate expression of an object in the subject,” and equivalently the adequate translation of one language into another, is a “contradictory impossibility” (On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense). In between two languages completely foreign to each other, where there can be “no causality, no correctness, and no expression,” Nietzsche argues that there can be at mot an “aesthetic relation,” and instance of which would be “a stammering translation into a completely foreign tongue.”
Yet to end on a positive note, one should not forget Erasmus’ call to be more adventurous: “All the same I think we should sometimes be venturesome, especially in verse and in translating from the Greek. We can certainly make bold use of forms already in authors of the right sort.” Therefore, be bold and be adventurous in making up new words!
Quotes
By a current or proper word I mean one which is in general use among a people; by a strange word, one which is in use in another country.
Aristotle. The Poetics of Aristotle. London: Macmillan and Co., Limited, 1902. 77.
Metaphor is the application of an alien name by transference either from genus to species, or from species to genus, or from species to species, or by analogy, that is, proportion...There is another way in which this kind of metaphor may be employed. We may apply an alien term, and then deny of that term one of its proper attributes; as if we were to call the shield, not 'the cup of Ares,' but 'the wineless cup'
Aristotle. The Poetics of Aristotle. London: Macmillan and Co., Limited, 1902. 78-79.
...for departure from the ordinary makes it appear more dignified. In this respect men feel the same in regard to style as in regard to foreigners and fellow-citizens. Wherefore we should give our language a “foreignd air”; for men admire what is remote, and that which excites admiration is pleasant.
Aristotle. The Art of Rhetoric. Translated by John Henry Freese. London: William Heinemann, 1996. 351.
Footnote: It is impossible to find a satisfactory English equivalent for the terms ξένος, ξενικός, τὸ ξενίζον, as applied to style. “Foreign” does not really convey the idea, which is rather that of something opposed to “home-like,”—out-of-the way, as if from “abroad.” Jebb suggests “distinctive”.
Aristotle. The Art of Rhetoric. Translated by John Henry Freese. London: William Heinemann, 1996. 351.
It is metaphor above all that gives perspicuity, pleasure, and a foreign air, and it cannot be learnt from anyone else...
Aristotle. The Art of Rhetoric. Translated by John Henry Freese. London: William Heinemann, 1996. 355.
This is why compound words are especially employed by dithyrambic poets, who are full of noise; strange words by epic poets, for they imply dignity and self-assertion...
Aristotle. The Art of Rhetoric. Translated by John Henry Freese. London: William Heinemann, 1996. 365.
Now we do not know the meaning of strange words, and proper terms we know already...as to words, they are popular if they contain metaphor, provided it be neither strange, for then it is difficult to take in at a glance, nor superficial...
Aristotle. The Art of Rhetoric. Translated by John Henry Freese. London: William Heinemann, 1996. 397-399.
The third mode, that of using words in a metaphorical sense, is widely prevalent...for when that which can scarcely be signified by its proper word is expressed by one used in a metaphorical sense, the similitude taken from that which we indicate by a foreign term gives clearness to that which we wish to be understood
Cicero, Marcus Tullius, J. S. (John Selby) Watson, Edward Jones, Marcus Tullius Cicero, and Marcus Tullius Cicero. Cicero on Oratory and Orators. New York : Harper & Brothers, 1875. (XXXVIII, 236).
Foreign words also have a charm of their own when introduced in the appropriate place...
Erasmus, Desiderius, Desiderius Erasmus, and Craig R. Thompson. Collected works of Erasmus. Literary and educational writings ; 2. Toronto: Univ. of Toronto Pr., 1978. 314.
Another kind of variation is provided by metaphor, for which the Latin term is translatio 'transference' so called because a word is transferred away from its real and proper signification to one which lies outside its proper sphere. There are various types of this .
Erasmus, Desiderius, Desiderius Erasmus, and Craig R. Thompson. Collected works of Erasmus. Literary and educational writings ; 2. Toronto: Univ. of Toronto Pr., 1978. 333.
Variety is also provided by onomatopoeia or word-making...I really do not see why we should be afraid to resort to this procedure if ever our sentence requires it...Plautus was not afraid of using vulpinari, 'play the fox,' translating the Greek...laureati 'laurel-decked' nummati 'moneyed,' scutati 'shield-bearing'... All the same I think we should sometimes be venturesome, especially in verse and in translating from the Greek. We can certainly make bold use of forms already in authors of the right sort, nor should we consider harsh or obsolete any word that occurs in a reputable writer. Here I totally disagree with those who wince at any word they have not actually found in Cicero, as if it were a barbarism (337-8).
Erasmus, Desiderius, Desiderius Erasmus, and Craig R. Thompson. Collected works of Erasmus. Literary and educational writings ; 2. Toronto: Univ. of Toronto Pr., 1978. 337-338.
...it rarely occurred that terms in two different languages showed perfect conformity. On the contrary, even in the same language, one could very often find terms whose sense was not clearly determined, with the consequence that they were open to a thousand applications
De Condillac, Étienne Bonnot. Essay on the Origin of Human Knowledge. Translated by Hans Aarsleff. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2001. (Part II, Section 10, 167).
For is it not at least as proper and significant to say, passage is a motion from one place to another, as to say, motion is a passage, &c. This is to translate and not to define, when we change two words of the same signification one for another; which, when one is better understood than the other, may serve to discover what idea the unknown stand for; but is very far from a definition, unless we will say every English word in the dictionary is the definition of the Latin word it answers, and that motion is a definition of motus
Locke, John. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. Boston, MA: Cummings & Hillard and J.T. Buckingham, 1813.(Book III, Chapter 4, 420-1).
Whereof the intranslatable Words of divers Languages are a Proof. Nay, if we look a little more nearly into this matter, and exactly compare different languages, we shall find, that, though they have words which in translations and dictionaries are supposed to answer one another, yet there is scarce one of ten amongst the names of complex ideas, especially of mixed modes, that stands for the same precise idea, which the word does that in dictionaries it is rendered by...we shall find this much more so in the names of more abstract and compounded ideas, such as are the greatest part of those which make up moral discourses; whose names, when men come curiously to compare with those they are translated into, in other languages, they will find very few of them exactly to correspond in the whole extent of their significations.
Locke, John. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. Boston, MA: Cummings & Hillard and J.T. Buckingham, 1813.(Book III, Chapter 5, 430).
(*Note: Buck does not contribute directly to the discussion of "foreignness" and "strangeness" of languages, but she is in conversation with Aristotle and Cicero, who I quoted at the beginning of this dictionary entry page. Her position goes against those of the ancients.)
Let us turn, however, to Cicero's first theory. As stated, it seems to imply that the novelty or remoteness of the images aroused by the metaphor accounts for the pleasure derived. It is more than probable that this conception was obtained from Aristotle, who notes " an air of strangeness " as conveyed by metaphor, having previously stated that "it is proper to invest the language with a foreign air, as we all admire anything which is out of the way, and there is a certain pleasure in the object of wonder." This theory has not found favor with the modern rhetoricians; but it deserves recognition, as bearing some relation to the hypothesis last discussed (55-6).
Buck, Gertrude. The Metaphor: A Study in the Psychology of Rhetoric. Ann Arbor: The Inland Press, 1899. 55-56.
The air of strangeness, observed by Aristotle, is not, as Cicero seems to think, derived from the remoteness of the images concerned, but rather from the novelty of their origin and relationship. This is but saying once more that the mind traverses new country under the spur of metaphor. But just why this should be pleasurable belongs to the inquiry which has been deferred.
Buck, Gertrude. The Metaphor: A Study in the Psychology of Rhetoric. Ann Arbor: The Inland Press, 1899. 56.
V. Metaphor is pleasurable to the reader, not, as we have been told, because it is a concise expression of thought, nor because it brings images before the mind, nor because it communicates "an air of strangeness," nor because it economizes the reader's mental energy, nor yet because it has a generally stimulating effect, but because it incites the reader to reconstruct the mental process by which it came into being, and thus sets up in him an activity which, being both harmonious and varied, satisfies the demands of the physical organism for nicely adjusted, symmetrical, free yet unified exercise (69).
Buck, Gertrude. The Metaphor: A Study in the Psychology of Rhetoric. Ann Arbor: The Inland Press, 1899. 69.
But in any case it seems to me that "the correct perception" - which would mean "the adequate expression of an object in the subject" - is a contradictory impossibility. For between two absolutely different spheres, as between subject and object, there is no causality, no correctness, and no expression; there is, at most, an aesthetic relation: I mean, a suggestive transference, a stammering translation into a completely foreign tongue - for which I there is required, in any case, a freely inventive intermediate sphere and mediating force.
Nietzsche. Philosophy and Truth. Humanities Press, NJ. 86.
Examples
Plainly, therefore, the same word may be at once strange and current, but not in relation to the same people. The word sigynon, 'lance,' is to the Cyprians a current term but to us a strange one.
Aristotle. The Poetics of Aristotle. London: Macmillan and Co., Limited, 1902. 77.
Nouns and verbs being the components of speech, and nouns being of the different kinds which have been considered in the Poetics, of these we should use strange, compound, or coined words only rarely and in few places...the reason for this has already been mentioned, namely, that it involves too great a departure from suitable language
Aristotle. The Art of Rhetoric. Translated by John Henry Freese. London: William Heinemann, 1996. 354.
A third cause is the use of epithets that are either long or unseasonable or too crowded...if epithets are employed to excess, they reveal the art and make it evident that it is poetry. And yet such may be used to a certain extent, since it removes the style from the ordinary and gives a “foreign” air.
Aristotle. The Art of Rhetoric. Translated by John Henry Freese. London: William Heinemann, 1996. 363.
This is one cause of frigidity; another [cause of frigidity of style] is the use of strange words; as Lycophron calls Xerxes “a monster of a man,” Sciron “a human scourgea”; and Alcidamas says “plaything in poetry,” “the audaciousness of nature,” “whetted with unmitigated wrath of thought”
Aristotle. The Art of Rhetoric. Translated by John Henry Freese. London: William Heinemann, 1996. 363.
On this head, it often appears to me wonderful why all men are more delighted with words used in a metaphorical or foreign sense than in their own proper and natural signification.
Cicero, Marcus Tullius, J. S. (John Selby) Watson, Edward Jones, Marcus Tullius Cicero, and Marcus Tullius Cicero. Cicero on Oratory and Orators. New York : Harper & Brothers, 1875. (XXXIX, 237-8).
Now this ambiguity is resolved by one word that follows, which is translated enim [for]; and the translator who have omitted this particle have preferred the interpretation which makes the apostle seem not only in a strait betwixt two, but also to have a desire for two.
Augustine, On Christian Doctrine (Book Third, Chapter 2, 82).
Now if the translator had chosen to say, propterea consolationem habuimus fratres in vobis, he would have followed the words less literally, but there would have been less doubt about the meaning; or, indeed, if he had added nostri, hardly any one would have doubted that the vocative case was meant when he heard propterea consolati sumus fratres nostri in vobis. But this is a rather dangerous liberty to take.
Augustine, On Christian Doctrine (Book Third, Chapter 4, 85).
Foreign words also have a charm of their own when introduced in the appropriate place, like using gazae, a word meaning 'treasures' taken from the Persians, since the Persians are famous for their opulence and for the luxury that accompanies it. acinaces 'scimitar' for gladium 'sword' is borrowed from the Medes, and essedum 'wagon' for raeda 'carriage' from the British, ungulum is Oscan for anulus 'ring,' cascus for vetulus 'old' Sabine. uri 'wild oxen' is Gallic, as also merga 'marie,' the marrow or fat of the land, which is dug out to manure the fields, also gaesa, a sort of weapon. parasang, a distance of thirty stades, is Persian. camurus 'with crumpled horn,' that is, turned in on itself, will also be listed among foreign words (314).
Erasmus, Desiderius, Desiderius Erasmus, and Craig R. Thompson. Collected works of Erasmus. Literary and educational writings ; 2. Toronto: Univ. of Toronto Pr., 1978. 314.
There are many other words which have found their way in, together with the things they name, from barbarian nations to the Greeks, and from the Greeks to us, such as sinapi, piper, zinziber [mustard, pepper, ginger], etc (315).
Erasmus, Desiderius, Desiderius Erasmus, and Craig R. Thompson. Collected works of Erasmus. Literary and educational writings ; 2. Toronto: Univ. of Toronto Pr., 1978. 315.
Plautus was not afraid of using vulpinari, 'play the fox,' translating the Greek...laureati 'laurel-decked' nummati 'moneyed,' scutati 'shield-bearing'... (337-8).
Erasmus, Desiderius, Desiderius Erasmus, and Craig R. Thompson. Collected works of Erasmus. Literary and educational writings ; 2. Toronto: Univ. of Toronto Pr., 1978. 337-338.
An evident confirmation of this is found in the proverbs, which are maxims of human life, the same in substance but expressed from as many points of view as there are or have been different nations, as has been noted in the Axioms [161]. Thus the same heroic origins, preserved in brief in the vulgar tongues, have given rise to the phenomenon so astonishing to biblical critics: that the names of the same kings appear in one form in sacred and in another in profane history. The reason is that the one perchance considers men with regard to their appearance or power, the other with regard to their customs, undertakings, or whatever else it may have been. In the same way we still find the cities of Hungary given one name by the Hungarians, another by the Greeks, another by the Germans, another by the Turks. The German language, which is a living heroic language, transforms almost all names from foreign languages into its own. We may conjecture that the Latins and Greeks did the same when we find them discussing so many barbarian matters with Greek and Latin elegance
Vico, Giambattista. The New Science. Translated by Thomas Goddard Bergin and Max Harold Fisch. 3rd ed. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1948 (Book II, Section II, Chapter 445, 133).
Strictly speaking, one can even say that it is impossible to give good translations of poetry, for the reasons that prove that two languages cannot have the same character also prove that the same thoughts can rarely be expressed in both with the same beauties.
De Condillac, Étienne Bonnot. Essay on the Origin of Human Knowledge. Translated by Hans Aarsleff. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2001. (Part II, Section 15, 195).
The terms of our law, which are not empty sounds, will hardly find words that answer them in the Spanish or Italian, no scanty languages ; much less, I think, could any one translate them into the Caribbee or Westoe tongues: and the Versura of the Romans, or Corbant of the Jews, have no words in other languages to answer them ; the reason whereof is plain, from what has been said.
Locke, John. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. Boston, MA: Cummings & Hillard and J.T. Buckingham, 1813.(Book III, Chapter 5, 430).
There are no ideas more common and less compounded than the measures of time, extension, and weight ; and the Latin names, hora, pes, libra, are without difficulty rendered by the English names, hour, foot, and pound : but yet there is nothing more evident than that the ideas a Roman annexed to these Latin names, were very far different from those which an Englishman expresses by those English ones.
Locke, John. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. Boston, MA: Cummings & Hillard and J.T. Buckingham, 1813.(Book III, Chapter 5, 430).
Even the rays of the sun became in his optics fine tangible rods. The image which they produced upon a visible surface meant nothing to him; he considered it an ancillary concept derived from a foreign sense, from another world. The most difficult problem in geometry, the construction of bodies as a whole, was easy for him to demonstrate; but the easiest and most intuitive task for the sighted, the representation of figures upon a surface, was for him the most difficult. Here he had to build upon concepts that were foreign and intangible for him, and he had to speak to the sighted as if they were blind (Part I, 34).
Herder, Johann Gottfried. Sculpture: Some Observations on Shape and Form from Pygmalion’s Creative Dream. University of Chicago Press, 2002. (Part I, 34).
Works Cited
Aristotle. The Poetics of Aristotle. London: Macmillan and Co., Limited, 1902.
Aristotle. The Art of Rhetoric. Translated by John Henry Freese. London: William Heinemann, 1996.
Cicero, Marcus Tullius, J. S. (John Selby) Watson, Edward Jones, Marcus Tullius Cicero, and Marcus Tullius Cicero. Cicero on Oratory and Orators. New York : Harper & Brothers, 1875.
Erasmus, Desiderius, Desiderius Erasmus, and Craig R. Thompson. Collected works of Erasmus. Literary and educational writings ; 2. Toronto: Univ. of Toronto Pr., 1978.
De Condillac, Étienne Bonnot. Essay on the Origin of Human Knowledge. Translated by Hans Aarsleff. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
Locke, John. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. Boston, MA: Cummings & Hillard and J.T. Buckingham, 1813.
Buck, Gertrude. The Metaphor: A Study in the Psychology of Rhetoric. Ann Arbor: The Inland Press, 1899.
Nietzsche. Philosophy and Truth. Humanities Press, NJ.
Vico, Giambattista. The New Science. Translated by Thomas Goddard Bergin and Max Harold Fisch. 3rd ed. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1948.
Herder, Johann Gottfried. Sculpture: Some Observations on Shape and Form from Pygmalion’s Creative Dream. University of Chicago Press, 2002.