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An Overview of History of Translation in the Western World
Mihir Dave,
Assistant Professor
Department of Communication Skills,
Marwadi Education Foundation’s Group of Institutions
Rajkot, Gujarat
Dr Paresh Joshi
Professor
Department of English
Veer Narmad South Gujarat University, Surat
Gujarat
Abstract
The act of translation is as old as the human language. In the west, the earliest reference
to the transitional activities goes back to as early as the third millennium BC. The act of
translation has been put under various domains so far that includes but not limited to “art,”
“craft,” or “science”. It is interesting to note that never before in the history, the act of translation
has been given its due credit and credential as it has been attributed in the last and the first
decades of 20th and 21st century respectively. The study of translation has been recognized as an
accepted filed of research. The present paper aims at drawing an outline of Western history of
translation briefly. The purpose of the paper is also do provide a tersely glance at the history of
translation in the west that can be a ready reference for the student and researcher of the
translation studies. It has to be noted here that the list of the periods and works of translation are
collected from various archives and reference books related to translation studies, however, the
author does not claim that the list is exhaustive.
Keywords- Translation theory; Literary translation; Historiography of translation
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An International, Peer Reviewed, Refereed, E- Journal in English
Vol. III & Issue V (December- 2018)
Introduction
The act of translation is as old as the human language. In the west, the earliest reference
to the transitional activities goes back to as early as the third millennium BC. The act of
translation has been put under various domains so far that include but not limited to “art,”
“craft,” or “science”. In the west, the earliest reference to the transitional activities goes back to
as early as the third millennium BC: “The Babylon of Hammurabi’s day (2100 B.C.) was a
polyglot city, and much of the official business of the empire was made possible by corps of
scribes who translated edicts into various languages.” (Nida 11). The role of a translator,
however, has been recognised under various contradictory categories from that of a ‘traitor’ or
even ‘predator’ or ‘cannibal’ to that of a ‘transformer’, ‘bridge’ or ‘deliverer’.
It is interesting to note that never before in the history, the act of translation has been
given its due credit and credential as it has been attributed in the last and the first decades of 20th
and 21st century respectively. The study of translation has been recognized as an accepted filed
of research and “books, journals and doctoral dissertations appear faster than one can read them
all, and at the heart of most of the exciting new research are broad questions about ideology,
ethics and culture.” (Kuhiwczak and Littau 14). The present paper aims at drawing an outline of
Western history of translation briefly. The purpose of the paper is also do provide a tersely
glance at the history of translation in the west that can be a ready reference for the student and
researcher of the translation studies. It has to be noted here that the list of the periods and works
of translation are collected from various archives and reference books of translation studies,
however, the author does not claim that the list is exhaustive.
The Roman Translations
In the Western world, the Romans are considered to be the earliest to engage in the
process of translation. Most of the Greek works from philosophical to scientific and from
historical to spiritual ones almost all the Greek socio-cultural and socio-political tradition were
translated to such an extent that its now beyond recognition as to which is Greek and which is
Roman. Later on, the translations of the Bible that were attempted too has its root in the
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An International, Peer Reviewed, Refereed, E- Journal in English
Vol. III & Issue V (December- 2018)
translation practices in Greco-Roman translation theory. It is therefore that one finds the earliest
translators of well-known Greeks texts such as Cicero and Thoraces also to be amongst the
earliest theorists of translation. It was Cicero’s sensitivity towards translation that gave birth to
the terms such as ‘word for word’ translation and ‘sense for sense’ translation. It was Cicero who
referred for the first time the systematic process of translation that was followed by his
predecessors in the western world. He advocated for the fine balance between ‘original text’ and
the ‘target text’. He mentioned the slopping side of carrying forwarding the just the ‘word’ of the
original text. However, Cicero suggested that mere word for word translation will not suffice. He
advocated the idea of accepting new words from the original source text with suitable elucidation
into the target text and language. Later on, Horace too laid emphasis to the process of translation
and accepted that the balance between the original and target text is challenging. He was aware
of the dilemma that a translator has to face while translating. He, therefore, advised the future
translators to avoid being a slave to the original text though he did advocate the use of the new
expression.
The Romans, thus, accepted the use of new words, expression etc. to be carried forward
into the target language as one of their aims of translation was to enrich their own literary
tradition. Therefore they seem to be open for ‘word for word’ or ‘expression for expression’
translation from Greek tradition into Roman so as to enrich their language and culture and they
were quite successful in doing so. Thus Romans made did not make ample emphasis of the
‘sense for sense’ translation, however, they made a significant difference between the ‘word for
word’ translation and ‘sense for sense’ translation.
The Bible Translations
The Bible translation led to a great deal of acceptance in terms of use of the vernacular
expression for the translation in most parts of Europe and started moving towards, though in
quite a primitive form, the concept of ‘equivalence' in translation. Thus, the Bible translations
gave rise to the vernacular form of writing which led to the enrichment of all the European
languages. The translations were also used as a defense against the uncouth and crude dogmatic
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An International, Peer Reviewed, Refereed, E- Journal in English
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beliefs that were prevalent in the church. The malpractice of the clergy was made quite difficult
if not impossible by the available translations of the scriptures in the vernaculars in the
emergence of new nation states. John Wycliffe, who was the first to translate the Bible, laid
emphasis on the comparative study of the grammatical structure and complex meaning of words
of the source text and the target text as two necessary steps in the translation process. This
comparative analysis was accepted as a basic outline for translating any text by translators in
other languages as well. Some of the translators also advocated for the need of an accessible and
an aesthetically satisfying style in the target language text. It can be said that two major
objectives of the Bible translations were agreeable intelligibility and a heartwarming style.
The Renaissance Translations:
As it is a known fact that the Renaissance gave rise to humanism and for the first time in
the history of European culture, especially socio-religious culture, ‘God' came into the centre
rather than the ‘church' and ‘I' came to the centre of ‘my' universe. As a result, in the
Renaissance style of translation, there can be seen the creative appropriation of the source text.
The target text and the target readers were given much more prominence than ever before.
Mathieson’s (1931) study gives a number of examples of appropriation by the English
translations and translators. Earl of Survey’s translations reveals a great deal of creativity in his
translation of Petrarch’s sonnets. He went beyond word by word or even a line by line
translation. He enhanced the sense of ‘I’ so that his translations attain immediate impact on the
contemporary readers. Thus, in the Renaissance period, there can be seen an approach among the
translators towards the target text and reader-oriented translation rather than the source text-
oriented translation.
Translations in Seventeenth Century
Zealous and most productive period of the Renaissance in prevailed throughout Europe
from the 14th century up to a mid-seventeenth century. The major characteristic of the
Renaissance was a spirit of adventure and wonder for novelty. The spirit of adventure led the
explorers of Europe to go beyond their regional and continental frontiers and the spirit of wonder
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for novelty led them to appreciate and assimilate the best that is there in the unknown world. The
translation had been one of the major sources of reception, application and assimilation. From
mid-seventeenth century onwards, rationalism and inductive reasoning started dominating
English literature and literary criticism. Rules and regulations of literary composition, as well as
dramaturgy, started being formulated by taking the classical texts of Greco-Roman times as
models. Notions of imitation and decorum were expanded to the next level and the process of
translation attempted systematically. John Dryden translated Epistles of Ovid into English. In his
preface to Epistles (1680), Dryden outlined a rough theory of translation. He distinguished three
methods of translations:
(1) Metaphrase
(2) Imitation and
(3) Paraphrase
Dryden prescribed ‘Paraphrase' as an ideal approach for translation and downgraded both
‘Metaphrase’ and ‘Imitation’. ‘Metaphrase’, according to Dryden, referred to a word-by-word
and line-by-line translation of the text from one language into another. Whereas ‘Imitation’
referred to as a free translation where translator takes imaginative flights and goes beyond the
preview of translation. It is, therefore, that Dryden was critical of Ben Jonson’s literal translation
in the art of poetry which can be considered as ‘Metaphrase' according to Dryden's classification.
Cowley’s translation of Pindar (1656), on the other hand, was considered ‘Imitations’ because
while rendering the ‘Pindarique Odes’, Cowley had indulged in free flights of verbal fancy.
Dryden viewed such imitation as ‘transmigration’. True to the new classical spirit of decorum
Dryden considered ‘Paraphrase’ to be the best method or outlook for translation. According to
Dryden, ‘Paraphrase' means a method of translation with some latitude, resulting in a ‘sense of
sense’ translation. Like his predecessor Cicero, Dryden too aimed at assimilating Virgil’s Latino
into the Restoration English and in the process to enrich the English language. Later, Dryden
views on translation can be seen echoed in Alexander Pope who also favoured the middle path
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and wanted the spirit of the original text to be captured in the translated text. He also laid
emphasis on the stylistic details of texts.
Translations in the 18th century
The translation methods laid by Dryden and Pope were followed in the 18th century as
well. Dr Samuel Johnson, in his Life of Pope (1779-80) held the view that a translator has the
right to be read in his own terms. Hence, Dr Johnson, justifying Pope’s translations, based on the
fact that they are addressed to his own time and country. Thus, Dr Johnson added one more
question for the translator as a prerequisite of translation i.e. along with ‘what to translate?' and
‘why to translate?' a translator should also pose ‘for whom to translate?’ Around this time, large-
scale translations of already translated texts were available in order to make them appropriate to
contemporary taste and language. Thus, the 18th century brought a new dimension to the
translation theory i.e. target readership oriented translation and language appropriation according
to the taste and current language of the time.
By the end of the eighteenth century Alexander Fraser Tyler Published, The Principles of
Translation (1791) which was the first study of its kind in the English language. Tyler
mentioned, along with other minor approach and methods, three basic principles of translation:
(a) the translation must retain the complete idea of the original work,
(b) the style and manner of writing should be of the same type as the original and
(c) the translation should have the ease of the source language text.
Tyler did not recommend Dryden’s concept of ‘Paraphrase’ for even this, according to him, led
to loose translations. He, however, recommended ‘omissions’ and ‘additions’ in the translation in
order to clarify ambiguities.
Translations in Romantic Age
The translators of the Romantic Age in the early nineteenth century were able to give the
art of translation a new turn. They rejected the rationalism of the 17thcentury Restoration Age.
They rather emphasized the crucial role of imagination. Coleridge in his Biographia Literaria
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had distinguished between ‘Fancy’ and ‘Imagination’. He considered ‘Imagination' to be the
course of creativity.
Thus, translation too was viewed in terms of imagination i.e. as a higher creative activity.
Webb (1976) showed from Shelley’s writing that he appreciated translation for their ideas and
other literary feature. The translators of the Romantic Age created language text an element of
‘Strangeness’. Shelley aptly summarizes the Romantic predicament in The Defence of Poetry.
"It was as wise to cast a violet into a crucible that you might discover the formal
principle of its colour and odour, as to seek to transfuse from one language into
another creation of poet. The plant must spring again from its seed, or it will bear
no flowerer and this is the burthen of the cure of Babel." (Shelly, 33)
The Victorian Translations
The Victorian translations were also anxious to receive the expressions of the remoteness
of time and place of the original text. In fact, they added a new dimension to the art of translation
i.e. of archaism this added an element of obscurity to literary translations. Matthew Arnold had
delivered a series of lectures entitled On Translating Homer (1862). For him, the true judge of
the translated texts are the scholars and it is only they who can judge whether a translation has
more or less the same effect as the original. His advice the critic of translation was this: “Let him
ask how his work affects those who both know Greek (the language of the original text) and can
appreciate poetry.”(Arnold, 99). Thus, according to Arnold, a translator must have to dissolve
the original text in order to bring the target text reader to the source language text through the
transition. This view appeared to be close to the new classical perspective though unlike them the
Victorian did not see translations as a means of enriching their own culture.
Henry Wordsworth Longfellow around the same time, proliferated a literal perspective of
translation while discussing his own translation of Dante’s divine comedy. The long fellow gave
more emphasis to rhyme while translating poetry. Thus, according to Longfellow, stylistic
features were distinctive from the spirit of the work which should also be considered, especially
while translating poetry. Contrary to the view of Longfellow, Edward Fitzgerald believed that
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An International, Peer Reviewed, Refereed, E- Journal in English
Vol. III & Issue V (December- 2018)
the spirit of the source text can be carried forwarded to the target language text. In his Rubaiyat
of Omar Khayyam (1858), Fitzgerald demonstrated that it was possible to bring a version of, if
not the entire spirit of the source text, into the culture and language of the target text as a living
entity. He used the analogy of ‘a live sparrow than a stuffed eagle’ to advocate his preference to
the target text as a live and appealing work. Thus, it can be seen that by the end of 19th century,
translation theory has started evaluating the translated text as an independent text and not just a
parasite representing and advocating the source text only.
Twentieth Century Translations
The 20th century marks the rise of linguistic theory in general and in appreciating a work
of art in particular. The impact of these linguistic and literary theirs can be seen on the twentieth-
century translation as well. It is interesting to note that most of these linguistic theories were
developed in isolation from the main traditions of the literary stream. There can be seen a great
deal of impact of these theories on the interaction with literary text and creative thinking. Later,
there can be seen the impact of various theories such as American structuralism and
transformational theory based on the precept of Noam Chomsky among others on the world of
literary translation. It was in the 1980s that some attempts were made to combine both linguistic
and literary theories of translation act. Language and literary texts are now seen to be rooted in
the cultural matrices of a speech community. Thus the view is gaining ground that,
“Each society will interpret a message in terms of its own culture: The receptor
audience will decode the translation in terms of its own culture and experience, hot in
terms of the author and audience of the original documents.” (Larson, 436-37)
Thus, till the first half of the 20th century, the translator either preferred literal translations
or the translation with some or maximum latitude. The translators taking liberty while translating
was still considered to be ‘Free’ or ‘inferior’ translation. However, by the second half of the 20th
century, the speculation started shifting from a literal or a free translation to the consensus and
the commonsense approach as a middle course. This approach has started disregarding not only
the sense but also the form of the original text.
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Conclusion
Thus, one can see there is an extensive history of translation in the western world. The act
of translation had been the source of enrichment of the language and also of the culture as in the
Roman translation; it has for enlightenment and outreach of religions to the masses as in the
Bible translations; it has been for refining and uplifting literary style and manner as in the
Restoration age translation of French drama into English; it has been for the spiritual
enlightenment from some foreign spiritual perception as ‘transcendentalism’ in 18th century
England; it has also been for relishing the best of the work of art in the other language and to
undertake comparative studies as in 19th and 20th century. Therefore, it can be said that
translation is an integral part of language and literature studies around the world.
References
Gentzel, Edwin. Contemporary Translation Theory. London: Rutledge, 1993/2001. Print.
Kuhiwczak, Piotr and Karin Littau, eds. A Companion to Translation Studies. Toronto:
Multilingual Matters Ltd., 2007. Print.
Nida, Eugin, Toward a Science of Translating. 1964. Print.
Tymoczko, Maria. Translation in a Postcolonial Context. Manchester: St. Jerome, 1999. Print.
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