Home Linguistics & Semiotics Chapter 17. Germanic tradition
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Chapter 17. Germanic tradition

  • Gauti Kristmannsson
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A World Atlas of Translation
This chapter is in the book A World Atlas of Translation

Abstract

The report on the Germanic translation tradition spans a long period of time, from the Gothic beginnings and the Nt translation of bishop Wulfila in the fourth century, through the Carolingian Renaissance and the late medieval traffic of chansons de geste and romances, disseminated and read for centuries. The Reformation and its translational explosion is another important aspect and in the following centuries, it may be argued that the literary development of the Germanic speaking literatures was more or less driven by translation, through translations and imitations of the classics right into the Romantic era, which, paradoxically, led to the invention of the purely original author and ever increasing translational activity, since the mother tongues had taken over in the Germanic literary systems.

Abstract

The report on the Germanic translation tradition spans a long period of time, from the Gothic beginnings and the Nt translation of bishop Wulfila in the fourth century, through the Carolingian Renaissance and the late medieval traffic of chansons de geste and romances, disseminated and read for centuries. The Reformation and its translational explosion is another important aspect and in the following centuries, it may be argued that the literary development of the Germanic speaking literatures was more or less driven by translation, through translations and imitations of the classics right into the Romantic era, which, paradoxically, led to the invention of the purely original author and ever increasing translational activity, since the mother tongues had taken over in the Germanic literary systems.

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