Essay on the Principles of Translation (Tytler)

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Essay on the Principles of Translation (1791)
by Alexander Fraser Tytler

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First published anonymously in 1791, this transcription is of the first edition. A second, enlarged edition, also anonymous, appeared in 1797, and a third, further enlarged, in 1813.

4543040Essay on the Principles of Translation1791Alexander Fraser Tytler

ESSAY

ON THE

PRINCIPLES

OF

TRANSLATION.

ESSAY

ON THE

PRINCIPLES

OF

TRANSLATION.

Nec converti ut Interpres, sed ut Orator, sententiis iisdem et earum formis
tanquam figuris, verbis ad nostram consuetudinem aptis.
Cic. de opt. gen. Orat. 14.

Title page decoration from 'Essay on the Principles of Translation' by Alexander Fraser Tytler published in 1791

LONDON:

Printed for T. CADELL;
and
W. CREECH, Edinburgh.

MDCCXCI.

CONTENTS.

Pag.
Introduction,		1
CHAPTER I.
Description of a good translation.—General rules flowing from that description, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .		10
CHAP. II.
First general rule: A translation should give a complete transcript of the ideas of the original work.—Knowledge of the language of the original, and acquaintance with the subject.—Examples of imperfect transfusion of the sense of the original—What ought to be the conduct of a translator where the sense is ambiguous, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .		15
CHAP. III.
Whether it is allowable for a translator to add to or retrench the ideas of the original.—Examples of the use and abuse of this liberty, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .		32
CHAP. IV.
Of the freedom allowed in poetical Translation.—Progress of poetical Translation in England.—B. Jonson, Holiday, Sandys, Fanshaw, Dryden.—Roscommon's Essay on translated Verse.—Pope's Homer, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .		48
CHAP. V.
Second general Rule: The style and manner of writing in a Translation should be of the same character with that of the Original.—A just Taste requisite for the discernment of the Characters of Style and Manner.—Examples of failure in this particular:—The grave exchanged for the formal;—the elevated for the bombast;—the lively for the petulant;—the simple for the childish.—Hobbes, L'Estrange, Eachard, &c. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .		76
CHAP. VI.
Examples of a good Taste in poetical Translation.—Bourne's Translations from Mallet and from Prior.—The Duke de Nivernois from Horace. Mr Webb from the Anthologia.—Fragments of the Greek Dramatis by Mr Cumberland. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .		91
CHAP. VII.
Limitation of the Rule regarding the Imitation of Style.—This Imitation must be regulated by the Genius of Languages.—The Latin admits of a greater brevity of Expression than the English; as does the French.—The Latin and Greek allow of greater Inversions than the English,—and admit more freely of Ellipsis, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .		110.
CHAP. VIII.
Whether a Poem can be well translated into Prose? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .		123
CHAP. IX.
Third General Rule: A translation should have all the ease of original composition.—Extreme difficulty in the observance of this rule.—Contrasted instances of success and failure, difficulty in the observance of this rule.— Contrasted instances of success and failure, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .		130
CHAP. X.
It is less difficult to attain the ease of original composition in Poetical, than in Prose Translation.—Lyric Poetry admits of the greatest liberty of Translation.—Examples distinguishing Paraphrase from Translation,—from Dryden, Lowth, Hughes, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .		146
CHAP. XI.
Of the Translation of idiomatic phrases.—Examples from Cotton, Eachard, Sterne.—Injudicious use of idioms in the translation, which do not correspond with the age or country of the original.—Idiomatic phrases sometimes incapable of translation, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .		159
CHAP. XII.
Difficulty of translating Don Quixote, from its idiomatic phraseology.—Of the best translations of that novel.—Comparison of the translation by Motteux with that by Smollet, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .		176
CHAP. XIII.
The genius of the translator should be akin to that of the original author.—The best translators have shone in original composition of the same species with that which they have translated.—Of Voltaire's translations from Shakespeare.—Of the peculiar character of the wit of Voltaire.—His translation from Hudibras.—Excellent anonymous French translation of Hudibras.—Translation of Rabelais by Urquhart and Motteux, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .		224

ERRATA.

p. 101. l. 9. drammatists read dramatists
p. 122. l. 4. ωκετο r. ωχετο
Ibid.l. 7. camp r. army

This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.

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