Journal articles on the topic 'Translations into Occitan'

There is a need to rectify certain mistaken notions propagated in recent years concerning the textual traditions of the Occitan Catharist Ritual and the New Testament found in MS PA 36 of the Bibliothèque municipale of Lyon. Without doubt, the manuscript was not copied prior to the midthirteenth century, and in all probability, not before 1280. The New Testament is a copy of an earlier Occitan model. Though we cannot know the number of copies which might have intervened between the original Occitan translation and the Lyon copy, Samuel Berger was probably correct in assuming that it is a direct copy from the original translation. Was the Occitan Ritual originally written in that language, or was it translated from a latin model related to the Latin Rituel published by Christine Thouzellier ? Nothing in the latter, written down in Italy prior to 1235-1240, supports A. Borst's thesis that it was translated from an Occitan version. The ceremonies contained in both the Occitan and Latin rituals were certainly administered in the spoken languages of the recipients. The Latin version was never intented to be administered in that language. It is possibly a model in an international language which could have been read, even translated, by an educated Cathar, whether a speaker of Italian or Occitan. The presence in the Occitan Ritual of a collection of liturgical recitations in Latin points to the obligatory use of certain Latin texts, e.g., the Lord's Prayer and John 1 : 1-17, and invocations during the various ceremonies. The presence there of these Latin passages does not furnish an argument for the Ritual having been originally written in Occitan, since a translator using a Latin model, and knowing that practice, would not have translated these into Occitan. The quality of the Latin in the Occitan Ritual reflects the oral transmission of persons not accustomed to the use of Latin. While certainly not translated from the Latin Ritual that we know, the Occitan version contains linguistic evidence that it was translated from a Latin model with phrasing closely related to our only known Latin version. The Latin tradition of the Occitan Ritual is certainly much older than the copy which we have of it, possibly going back to the late twelfth or early thirteenth century, as supposed by Christine Thouzellier. The smoothness of the Occitan text, with respect to the language of the Occitan New Testament in the same codex, shows that the translation incorporated a living phraseology. The language, as well as that of the accompanying New Testament, shows the undeniable imprint of the Occitan spoken in the former county of Foix (Ariège) and the neighboring areas of the old province of Bas Languedoc to the south of Toulouse and in western Aude. Nevertheless, one finds in the Ritual certain forms which appear to be either Italia-nisms or traits from the medieval Occitan-speaking area of the Cottian Alps, e.g. andam for excep¬ ted anam. This fact raises the possibility for the Occitan Ritual of a model written in a dialect from one of those areas. One can envisage also the possibility that a Fuxean or Languedocian, belonging to an expatriate group of Cathars, could have translated it from a Latin model. The Occitan Ritual contains thirty-two biblical quotations, only one of which is from the Old Testament. The New Testament quotations belong to a textual tradition which Berger identified a century ago, dubbing it the "Languedocian version". The best Latin versions come from the areas of Carcassonne, Narbonne, and the Pyrenees, hence the name. The New Testament of MS PA 36 and the five representatives of the Waldensian tradition belong to that tradition as do the two manuscripts containing the earliest German New Testament. The doubts expressed by Christine Thouzellier concerning the existence of Berger's Languedocian version are unwarranted and even detrimental to the advancement of Occitan biblical studies if they discourage scholars from making use of the texts belonging to that tradition. This is especially true for editors seeking to establish the texts of the Old Occitan biblical translations. Two examples are given here of situations in which the consultation of various Languedocian versions could have enhanced a recent edition of an Old Waldensian New Testament. Christine Thouzellier's mistaken assertion, repeatedly made in her writings, to the effect that the Lyon New Testament is a direct translation from MS BN, lat. 342 stems from her misreading of a passage from Berger's 1889 Romania article. Though an excellent representative of the Languedocian tradition, it is doubtful that BN, lat. 342 served as the model for the translation of the Lyon New Testament. In anticipation of a later study of the issue, one example is presented here which contradicts such a filial relationship. Miss Thouzellier's investigations showed quite correctly that the biblical quotations in the Latin Ritual were not translated from the Occitan New Testament in MS PA 36. Likewise, she maintained that those found in the Occitan Ritual were not taken from that New Testament, a position which is literally exact. However, she did not study the question of whether the biblical quotations of the Occitan and Latin rituals belong to the same "Languedocian version" as the Lyon New Testament. The author proposes to examine in a future article the textual tradition of the New Testament quotations in the Occitan Ritual.

Abstract In 1197–1199 an anonymous scholar completed the translation of twenty-four medical works from Latin into Hebrew, which he listed in a Preface he wrote to the entire corpus. Some seventeen of these translations are extant. The translator describes himself as a Jew who took baptism but subsequently repented. His self-image as an apostate is reflected in his referring to himself as “Doeg the Edomite,” an appellation we also use. Doeg’s motivation to embark on his gigantic translation project was to keep Jews from flocking at the doors of Christian doctors, who prescribe to them medicines containing impure foodstuffs. Doeg also followed the aim of “enlightening” the Jews and reports that he was taken to task for this. The works translated by Doeg, which we seek to identify, mostly belong to the Salerno corpus. We argue that Doeg is likely to have worked in the setting of a Latin medical school, where the books he put into Hebrew were used in a program of learning. Doeg’s use of Occitan vernacular words transliterated in Hebrew letters allows us to conclude that he lived in the Midi, suggesting that he was in contact with medical scholars in Montpellier. Doeg’s corpus of translations is a significant index to the medical texts valued in Montpellier and sheds light on both Hebrew and Latin intellectual history. Comparisons of Hebrew passages from Doeg’s translations with their Latin Vorlagen allow us to conclude that for the most part Doeg translated literally, although at times reverting to paraphrases or shortening his texts. We argue that, whereas in the domains of philosophy and science most translations in the Midi were made from Arabic, in medicine Latin-into-Hebrew translations were fairly frequent already in the thirteenth century. Doeg’s story points to the causes of this difference: the medical field was one, comprising Jewish and gentile doctors and patients, with the ensuing collaborations or competition over patients compelling Jewish doctors to avail themselves of the best available knowledge.

<p>RIASSUNTO: Il presente lavoro mira a fornire nuovi appunti sulle conoscenze circa la traduzione catalana della <em>Somme le roi</em>, compendio morale francese composto nel 1279 dal domenicano Frère Laurent e di grande successo lungo tutto il xiv secolo. Le forti analogie con la versione occitanica della <em>Somme</em>, nota anche come <em>Libre de vicis et de vertutz</em>, lasciano presumere che il testo catalano discenda proprio dalla traduzione occitana e non dall’originale francese. Il caso di studio è reso difficile dalla mancanza di lezioni erronee imputabili al processo di traduzione e dalle complicazioni imputabili alla probabile concomitanza di più fonti, in occitano e in francese, dietro l’allestimento della versione catalana. In ragione di ciò, il contributo si sofferma a illustrare le due tradizioni testuali – catalana e occitana – mettendo a confronto i dati tratti dall’edizione critica del <em>Libre de vicis et vertutz</em>, di futura pubblicazione, con lo studio di Wittlin (1983) sul testo catalano. Il discorso si concentra principalmente su due questioni cruciali: la <em>reductio ad unum</em> dei testimoni catalani e la scelta di includere nella <em>recensio</em> occitana un testimone trascritto in catalano.<br /><br /></p><p>ABSTRACT: This paper aims at updating the scholarship on the 14th-century Catalan translation of the French moral <em>compendium</em> known as <em>Somme le roi</em>. The relevant similarities between the texts demonstrate that the Catalan version directly depends on the Occitan translation, known as <em>Libre de vicis et de vertutz</em>. Therefore, the paper illustrates both the Catalan and the Occitan textual traditions and compares the results of my critical edition of the <em>Libre de vicis et vertutz</em> with Wittlin’s study (1983) on the Catalan text. This examination will focus on two main critical issues: the <em>reductio ad unum</em> of all the Catalan manuscripts and the choice to include a Catalan manuscript in the Occitan <em>recensio</em>.</p>

Abstract Medieval Levantine Arabic sources contain two separate but synonymous terms for ‘count’ – a title borne by many crusaders. These terms are “qūm.ṣ” and “kund”. Although past scholars have agreed that “kund” was a transliteration of Old French “conte”, they have disagreed on whether “qūm.ṣ” derived from Latin “comes” or Occitan “coms”. This paper argues in favour of the Latin etymology. The paper then proposes that the distinction in the usage of “kund” and “qūm.ṣ” depended on the medium through which Arabophones communicated with the Franks in question. Latin “comes” likely entered Arabic as “qūmiṣ” via translations of Latin documents produced by the chanceries of the settled Syro-Frankish aristocracy. Meanwhile, French “conte” entered Arabic as “kund” via less formal oral contact between Arabophones and temporarily visiting crusaders and pilgrims.

This article examines a translation into a hybrid French-Occitan vernacular of an eighth-century historical narrative of adultery, treason and murder. It compares this to the narrative structures and content of the troubadour vidas and razos, which were created in the same period and regions as the translation. The aim is to uncover a possible dialogue between early medieval narrative historiography and the emergence of Old Occitan narrative in prose. In so doing, this enquiry intends to develop further the question of the importance of translation to medieval vernacular literature and historical writings

The Occitan New Testament to which a Cathar ritual is appended (Bibi. mun. de Lyon, PA 36) does not have its origins among the Cathars. It is the work of a Waldensian translator. The translation of Latin presbyteros as preveires provides strong evidence that the original translation in the dialect of southern Languedoc was done for Waldensian proselytization. A community of Languedocian Cathars would have subsequently appropriated for their use the text of that Waldensian New Testament. Flagrant Piedmontisms in the Ritual, written in the same hand that copied the New Testament, support the thesis that our manuscript comes from one of the villages in the Italian Piedmont where the Languedocian Cathars took refuge after 1310.

ABSTRACTOccitan and Catalan are in an increasing state of language obsolescence in France. Their phonologies both contain a voiced palatal lateral approximant /ʎ/, not present in modern French, that is being replaced in all positions by the palatal approximant [j]. It is not clear whether this is an effect of language contact with French because [j] commonly emerges as a variant of /ʎ/ in non-contact varieties of Romance. This article examines the distribution of /ʎ/ in Occitan and Catalan, using auditory and acoustic data from a wordlist-translation task conducted with 40 native speakers. The analysis aims to determine the nature of this sound change either as the result of transfer from French or as a regular sound change that is motivated by the phonetic similarity of [ʎ] and [j]. The mechanisms governing transfer from French are modelled statistically to account for the distribution of historically appropriate and contact-induced variants of /ʎ/, and acoustic analyses test the hypothesis that the change is internally motivated and occurring gradually. Results show that the factors conditioning the change may be different in each of these related languages in that it is contact-induced in Occitan, but potentially due to internal and external factors in Catalan.

Abstract Altough little known in medieval history, the Breviari d'Amor of Matfre Ermengaud was deeply influenced by medieval preaching. An Occitan encyclopaedia, the Breviari includes a short guide to preaching, entitled “De predicacio et en quel manieira deu hom predicar” which derives from the Cura pastoralis of Gregory the Great. “De predicacio” is no mere translation, but a subtle adaptation: it indicates not only how the Breviari is aimed toward lay education in the popular language, but also to what point it responds to its historic and religious context. This study, therefore, considers the Breviari as a text deeply engaged in the matter of preaching in Languedoc at the end of the thirteenth century.

Abstract In the poetry of many nations, the interjection O! is a marker of poeticalness, a marker that contributes to the factors distinguishing poetry from colloquial speech. O! is treated not so much as an expression derived from the language in which a given poem was written (i.e., English, Italian, Polish, etc.) as a common lexeme within an international poetic language. In different countries, the interjection O! is understood in similar ways and does not require translation, even if the other parts of the poem are rendered in distinct languages. Despite the importance of the interjection in world literature, research into the semantics of O! has been limited in scope. The aim of this article is to trace the main stages of development that O! has undergone in European poetry from antiquity until the present day. The article initially discusses the semantic variants of the interjection in ancient Greek and Latin poetry. These derive from two functions of O!, functions that are described within the context of the Bakhtinian concepts of the addressee and superaddressee. Subsequently, the process in which the autonomy of this lexeme was shaped with regard to vernacular languages is considered. The examples illustrating this process have been taken from Bulgarian, English, French, German, Italian, Occitan, and Polish poetry.

The De proprietatibus rerum by Bartholomaeus Anglicus is an encyclopaedic compilation written in Latin between 1230 and 1240. Seven translations were made in the 14th-15th centuries, in French, in Occitan, in English, in Dutch, in Spanish and in Italian. The last chapter is dedicated to music, with descriptions of fourteen instruments. The author’s main sources are the Etymologies of Isidore of Seville and Boethius’ De institutione musica. Translations into romance languages often abbreviate and alter the text, changing the names of instruments, adding or removing details. The article aims to illustrate the problem of translation from Latin to vernacular and to analyse the nomenclature and description of musical instruments.