The Letters of Silence Dogood: First Italian Translation

Once again, metatextual translation allows the reader not only to easily understand the prototext, with all its most important and significant elements, but it also helps to define the historical and social context of Benjamin Franklin’s time. The translation for the letters follows a report of intertextual translation, in which the body of the text is translated following prefaces, post factions and humorous and parodistic elements. Intertextual translation, based on the idea of Russian semiotic Jurij Lotman (1922-1993), seeks to reflect all the psychological and contextual characteristics of the time the original text comes from, not changing its meaning and trying to remain faithful even in the target language:

[...] the process of reciprocal information and inclusion in a general cultural world not only nears different cultures but emphasizes their differences too. By entering in a general cultural world, a culture begins in fact to cultivate more intensely its originality. [...] An isolated culture is always "for itself", "natural", and "ruled by customary laws". As soon as it becomes a part of a wider system, it gets to know an outer point of view about itself, and discovers its own specificity.

As for the translation and the difficulties in interpreting certain words, I found an exorbitant number of obsolete words, which during the years have been through changes and misuse. Here is an analysis of the origins and development of these words:

Heighth: from the Old English hēah.u, hēh.u, hīeh.u, equivalent to high + -th.
Cognate with Dutch hoogte,21 it is the obsolete word for height, and also the American proscribed alternative for height. Its first use was recorded in 1700, in Colley Cibber’s Richard III, as a rewriting of the 1699 Shakespearian Richard III, censored by the Master of the Revels. Cibber re-published the work writing the first act (considered a disaster) with a note on its suppression.

'Why then to me this restless World's but Hell,
Till this mishapen trunks aspiring head
'Be circled in a glorious Diadem --
But then 'tis fixt on such an heighth, O!…

The other trace of use of this word is in the eminent 1826 novel by James Fenimore ooper, The Last of the Mohicans, " […] That! that, is the print of a foot, but ’tis the dark hair's; and small it is, too, for one of such a noble heighth and grand appearance! […] "
Words like perswade and aukward, are the typical cases of variant pronunciations followed by attempts to reproduce the sounds of these words. Here the obsolete use of perswade has its recurrences in the 18th century book written by Eliza Haywood, Idalia: or, the unfortunate mistress. A novel:
Far be if from me, (answer'd he, bowing,) to renew the Memory of what may be distasteful; but I would fain perswade you to believe, that Heaven, which has so miraculously preserv'd your Life, will also make it happy. — — Surprising Things by a Hand unseen are often brought to pass: When you left Myrtano's House, you little suspected that the Person appointed for your Guide [..]

In the American panorama, the repeated word is seen in George Washington’s letters of First War Memories, in which he writes about his impressions and feelings in his early military career as a young colonel during the French and Indian War.

Another word with archaic uses and past spelling is “Vertue”, to say virtue or virtueless. Used around the 1500-1600’s , in the Heads of Household to Heads of State: The Preaccession Households of Mary and Elizabeth Tudor, 1516-1558, or in The Revenge of Bussy D'Ambois by George Chapman in 1613.

On the other hand, many words have been taken from the Latin language, as a result of the Early modern English period which borrowed freely from this language. In this specific case, the Latin word Rusticus maintains its original meaning to describe a country, rural, rustic house.
“What is probably not so well-known is that English language has incorporated many Latin voices in their original form, such as bonus, campus, focus and stadium.
Since today it is undoubtedly the world's vehicular language, its lexicons are used in other languages. And, in addition to the real anglicisms, there are also those which have Latin words as a basis but have been passed through the English pronunciation.”

So many words used by Franklin are considered archaic today, words that do not actually need a proper definition, but are interesting as examples of early use as opposed to their change in modern times. The last word I have investigated is Incroachment, as the archaic form of encroachment, mostly used around the 1700’s. [...]