The Peculiarities of Re-Creating the Adjective "Bohemian" while Working at a Literary Translation (Based on A. Conan Doyle’s Short Story "A Scandal in Bohemia")

Abstract

The article deals with the analysis of culturally and contextually determined aspects of the meaning of the English adjective "Bohemian" as well as the peculiarities of their re-creation while translating works of literature. As illustrative materials employed are the opening fragment of the well-known short story "A Scandal in Bohemia" by A. Conan Doyle and its translations into German, French, Russian, and Ukrainian. Discussed in detail are both linguistic and extralinguistic factors which historically contributed to the evolution of the corresponding set of meanings which make up the semantic structure of the lexeme in question. Considering the etymology of the lexeme at hand and the comparative reception of the underlying notion by different national audiences, the author arrives at the conclusion that there was a marked difference between its etymological and current modern meaning, on the one hand, as well as between the connotative shades of the former depending on a cultural surrounding.
 Following the data thus accumulated, critically assessed are the translators’ decisions concerning their choice of the most contextually justified one among the meanings in question and an alternative variant of translation is proposed. It is recognized that the exact meaning of "Bohemian" as used by Conan Doyle has indeed to do with the notion of 'Gypsy', but solely in its Western European interpretation, free from the associations it connotes to the Slavic ear.