Hostili praedo ditetur lingua latina: Conceptual Narratives of Translation in the Latin Middle Ages

Abstract

This article is an experiment: it attempts to look at medieval Latin translation practices through the lenses of a modern sociological theory of narrative. It argues that topoi found in translation prefaces are key elements of narratives that explain why the act of translation is necessary at all. The article identifies three such narratives, and elaborates in particular on one of them, which describes translation with the help of bellic metaphors.