When compared with medieval and Renaissance Latin translations from Arabic, Greek or Hebrew, one aspect of Latin literature remains little explored: that of Latin translations of works composed in Romance, Germanic or Scandinavian vernacular.It is the task of the research group Tradlat to explore this relatively new area.
This phenomenon – of translation into Latin from the vernacular – naturally raises certain questions about medieval and early Renaissance translation; not least the question of faithfulness to an original text. This task becomes even more complicated upon discovering possible translations in other vernaculars – in this case, the researcher must determine if the various translations can be traced back to one original vernacular version, or to a Latin translation that served as an intermediary. Moreover, these translations raised questions about both the relationships between European languages and the status of Latin.
The Tradlat research team’s first priority is to establish an inventory of the Latin translations of such works; then to make it accessible to the public (Repertorium). These Latin translations, in revealing yet another way of disseminating vernacular works, will add to our understanding of how texts traveled in Europe.
Traduire de vernaculaire en latin au Moyen Age et à la Renaissance. Méthodes et finalités. Études réunies par Françoise Fery-Hue, Paris, École des Chartes, 2013, 342 pages (Études et rencontres de l’École des chartes, 42). ISBN 978-2-35723-035-4 - Prix France : 32€
Nikolaus Thurn, Neulatein und Volkssprachen. Beispiele für die Rezeption neusprachlicher Literatur durch die lateinische Dichtung Europas im 15.-16. Jh., München, Wilhelm Fink, 510 p. (Humanistische Bibliothek, Texte und Abhandlungen, 61).
Michiel Verweij, "Winnie the pooh in Latin. Or how to put delightful English into equally enjoyable Latin", dans "Humanistica Lovaniensia, Journal of Neo-Latin Studies", t. LVII (2008), p. 301-319.
Approches du bilinguisme latin-français au Moyen Âge : linguistique, codicologie, esthétique, Stéphanie Le Briz, Géraldine Veysseyre (eds.)