The translator’s place in the dictionary of quotations: superfluous figure or has the right?

Abstract

It has become customary to give the translator’s name on the front page of both fiction and non-fiction books, as well as in journal, newspaper and magazine articles. It is only fair that translators should take their rightful place in dictionaries of quotations next to the authors of memorable phrases, many of which would have never crossed the borders of their native linguacultures without the aid of a talented translator. The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (ODQ), Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations (Bartlett’s) and Konstantin Dushenko’s dictionaries of quotations were analyzed as the most authoritative and popular representatives of British, American and Russian traditions in the field of lexicographic fi xation of memorable utterances. The study revealed the specific approaches of each tradition to the inclusion in the dictionary of foreign-language material, to presenting it in the original language or in translation, with the name of the translator or anonymously. Among the key factors determining the lexicographers’ choice are the epoch when the quoted texts were created, the language they were written in, and their functional and stylistic properties, as well as the position of the dictionary compiler/editor, the personality of the translator, and the prospective user of the dictionary. In the Russian dictionaries, the proportion of anonymous translated quotations, especially literary quotations, is lower than in Bartlett’s, and signifi cantly lower than in the ODQ. In addition, the Russian dictionaries often include several translations of the same quotation with the names of their authors, which is rarely the case in Bartlett’s and completely absent in the ODQ.

References

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