Metaphoric Conceptualization of Translation and Translator in Para- and Metatexts: “dead” and “live” Metaphors

Abstract

Intellectual pursuits in general and in translation particularly cannot be conceptualized without resorting to metaphorical means relating this experience to more perceptible ones. In European languages the metaphor in question is TRANSLATION IS MOVEMENT / RELOCATION. The terms for translation in various European languages (translatio(n), traduction, perevod) all imply the idea of relocation of a physical object. Translatare and traducere, the latter introduced by Italian humanists, find parallels (prēlozhiti and prēvoditi respectively) in Slavic prologues of the period. Although its verbal realization is conventional and even trite now, this conceptual metaphor has survived in lexemes designating the agent, the process and the result of translation activity. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the terms used by several late antique, medieval, and modern translators in their prologues, epilogues, and metatexts on translation, and especially vivid metaphorical imagery that regularly appear in their texts. This fact must not be neglected by translation theory. All the constituents of translation process, namely, agents, source and target texts, translation method, the signifier (lesignifiant) and the signified (le signifié) in the translated text, the process of translation and the life of the translated text in a new culture are discussed metaphorically. The agent of the activity under study (translator) is mostly represented via the metaphor of a master’s (author’s) servant, although sometimes the relationship between the author and the translator is envisioned as a competition or even a conquest. The motivation behind translators’ endeavor is often discussed in terms of the monetary “talent” parable (where talentum is a unit of weight) quoted or alluded to by Aelfric in England and John the Exarch in Bulgaria in the 10th century and Marie de France and Theodosius from the Cave Monastery in Kiev two centuries later. The relationship between source and target texts is illustrated with an artistic metaphor, among others. The signified and the signifier in the text are often presented as a body and clothing or a jewel and its wrappings. The translation process is often shown as that of construction in medieval texts and work of machinery in modern ones. The life of the target text in its new surroundings is discussed through revitalizing the old metaphor of relocation (as the cargo of a ship unloaded onto a distant shore) or through various biological metaphors.