Rivista internazionale di tecnica della traduzione n.17 - 2015

One of the aspects less analysed in the comparison of languages is that of prefixation. In this study we search to establish the main characteristics of prefixation in the Spanish and Italian languages in order to amplify the semantic field that covers each of them, principally with reference to their extension. Concretely, we study the cases of the prefixes re-, in-, des-and super- in Spanish and their different equivalents in Italian. From the translation point of view, we will examine the major cases of contrast in word formation and will propose the most appropriate solutions.

Verbal periphrases with the infinitive often behave differently in Spanish and Italian. In this paper, through a contrastive analysis between the two languages I analyze some aspects of the use of such periphrases, such as the way in which a non-personal form is attached to the auxiliary verb (directly or through a prepositional link), the behaviour of clitics within the verbal periphrasis and the behaviour of these structures when they are used in the passive. Moreover, given the absence of verbal periphrases both in practical dictionaries and bilingual dictionaries, I propose the Italian translation of the main structures using the infinitive in Spanish, focusing on those in which the auxiliary verb is subject to a major lexicalization. This marks a significant contrast with the Italian language, which is not so rich in verbal periphrasis. In the search for Italian equivalents, two main dimensions have been taken into account: on the one hand, the characteristic aspectual values of the periphrases (such as time, modality, reiteration and perfectiveness); on the other, the situational context.

This work gives hitherto unpublished information on the life and work of the French translator Gabriel Chappuys (1546-1612/13). After a section devoted to his biography – determination of his date of birth, information about his family and his social background, details of the studies he undertook and the places where he worked, determining the different posts he held at the court of Henri III, etc. – we focus on his activities as a translator, in all their various facets: what did translating mean to him? Why, and for whom did he translate? How did he go about translating? Does he follow the tradition established by Étienne Dolet, or does he diverge from it? Can we judge the quality of his translations? This study aims to answer all of these questions.

The first translation to French of El Criticón (1651) by Gracián is published in 1696 with the title L’homme detrompé ou Le Criticon, signed by Maunory, the same Guillaume de Maunory who is the author of Grammaire et Dictionare espagnol (1701) published briefly afterwards. This translation had a publishing life somewhat fortunated in the 18th century, and it was reissued by Alfred Coster in 1931, the famous French expert on Gracián. We intend in this article to peruse the translation theory expressed in the preface of L’homme detrompé and observe how it does or does not suit with the translation practice of Maunory himself, especially regarding metaphor (lexicalized and not) for which we will especially compare a chapter of the translation by Maunory with the original work by Gracián as a representative sample of the whole book.