‘If they have not the french’: translation choices in The Happy Deliverie of Women (1612)

Abstract

This paper explores the translation strategies followed in the first rendering in English of Jacques Guillemeau’s De l’heureux accouchement des femmes (1609), Paris: Nicolas Bvon. Research reveals that the style of translation and the techniques deployed arise from his attitude towards the contents, as reflected in the translator’s preface. The translator seeks to preserve female privacy and to avoid mentioning explicit sexual matters. Our framework of analysis relies on Laura Cruz García’s model of translation strategies in specialised discourse as set out in ‘Copy Adaptation or How to Translate a Source Product into a Target Market’, published in Meta: Translator’s Journal, 58 (2): 347–72. Quantitative analysis indicates a major tendency on the part of the translator to use substitution devices, but also reduction and extension devices in this order. The use of a third language, namely Latin, is particularly interesting in the translation process of proper nouns, book titles and technical terms, which indicates a marked sign of register appealing to expertise and authority.

Keywords:

• Renaissance translation
• medical translation
• translation methods
• translation procedures
• stancetaking

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. The printed text indicates the following initials of the authors: T.C., I.D., M.S., T.E. Evenden (2000, 8) has identified the first two initials as corresponding to the names of midwives Catherine Turner and Dina Ireland, respectively.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Francisco Alonso Almeida

Francisco Alonso Almeida is senior lecturer in English linguistics at the Departamento de Filología Moderna, Universidad of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Spain), where he delivers courses on English (historical) linguistics, pragmatics and literary translation. He has published on aspects of scientific English discourse in international refereed journals such as Neophilologus, Journal of Historical Pragmatics, Neuphilologische Mitteilungen, Intercultural Pragmatics, Discourse Studies and Folia Linguistica Historica, among others.

Ángeles Sánchez

Ángeles Sánchez is senior lecturer in French studies at the Departamento de Filología Moderna, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Spain), where she delivers courses on French language and literature. She has published on aspects dealing with lexicography, cultural studies and literature written by women. She has published in specialised journals such as Çedille, Expressions Maghrebines, Théleme and Dialogues Francophons, among others.