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| Author | Message | | | Posted on Fri May 21, 2010 23:15:58 | |
| | There appear to be discrepancies between the English, German, Spanish, Rioplatense, and French translations of Carmen 1.
The Latin text contains:
...auses es unus Italorum
omne aevum ... explicare...
The English and German translations take the genitive Italorum to apply to aevum, thus "the whole age of the Italians" and "als einziger der Italer."
However, the French, Spanish, and Rioplatense translations take the genitive Italorum to apply to unus, thus "alors que tu osas, le premier en Italie," "te atreviste, el ĆĀŗnico entre los italianos," and "cuando vos, el ĆĀŗnico entre los itĆĀ”licos."
These modern translations obviously convey different meanings. I was under the impression that Italorum applied to aevum (in accordance with the English and German translations), however I am not entirely certain; it seems that, grammatically, Italorum could apply to unus.
What do scholars say about this passage, and how do they translate it? I suggest that all of the modern-language translations be in accordance with one interpretation of the Latin text.
(Note: how interesting that the two Germanic languages in this group translated it one way and the three Romance ones the other!)
Sincerely,
Michael B. | |
| | | Posted at Sat May 22, 2010 23:29:20 | Quote |
| | Hello Michael.
The scholars have actually long been divided on the issue, and that's why you see different translations. There's no absolute way of knowing which it is, thus is the nature of Catullan poetry, but if you want to know the most recent commentator's opinion on the matter, D. F. S. Thomson remarks in his edition of Catullus (1997) that unus governs Italorum, and the meaning of "unus" would be equivalent to "primus". | |
| | | Posted at Fri Sep 24, 2010 15:43:40 | Quote |
| | | Quote: | | | | | The English and German translations take the genitive Italorum to apply to aevum, thus "the whole age of the Italians" and "als einziger der Italer." |
"Als einziger der Italer" would actually be English as "who alone amongst Italians", so also the German translation does _not_ agree with English. | |
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