CONTENTS

CONTENTS....................................................................................................................................1
FOREWORD...................................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
CHAPTER 1 Theoretical Considerations Concerning Translation.................................................4
1.1. A Bird’s Eye View on Translation........................................................................................4
1.2. The Role of the Translator..................................................................................................13
1.2.1. Cultural Mediator........................................................................................................15
1.2.2. Linguistic Mediator....................................................................................................20
1.3. Translation Methods and Strategies....................................................................................25
CHPATER 2 A Theoretical Approach to Text Typology...............................................................32
2.1. Defining the text................................................................................................................32
2.2. Text Typology.....................................................................................................................41
2.3. Narrative texts.....................................................................................................................49
2.4. Descriptive texts.................................................................................................................54
2.4.1. The Nature of Description...........................................................................................54
2.4.2. Linguistic Peculiarities of Descriptive Texts...............................................................56
CHAPTER 3 Corpus Analysis, Translation and Interpretation.....................................................61
3.1. The Corpus Described........................................................................................................61
3.2. The Texts Translated..........................................................................................................62
3.3. Interpretation of the Translational Equivalents..................................................................85
CONCLUSIONS.........................................................................................................................104
GLOSSARY................................................................................................................................105
BIBLIOGRAPHY.......................................................................................................................108

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 FOREWORD
Description has always been regarded as problematic ever since Antiquity when Plato tried
to rewrite in his Republic fragments from Homer so that they would be “truly” narrative. Homer
himself attested to avoid, or at least to disguise descriptions by making them narrative. In the
nineteenth-century realistic novels, descriptions were narratively motivated, if not thoroughly
made narrative.
Narratological research concerned with description has so far focused on the distinction
between narrative and description. Classical narratology defines description as a narrative pause
interrupting the presentation of the chain of events. Description has not been thus exhaustively
treated in comparison with, e.g. much-research narrativity, as it also constitutes a major semiotic
macro-mode which transcends the boundaries of narrative texts, or even of literature in general.
With this in mind I have chosen to translate a group of descriptive texts from Romanian
into English, in the light of cultural differences in translation. I have selected a number of
fragments from Ţara de dincolo de negură - The Land Beyond Mists by Mihail Sadoveanu. One
of the most prolific Romanian writers, his work is noted for its imagery of primitive abundance,
and in particular for its depiction of ritualistic feasts, hunting parties and fishing trips. Ţara de
dincolo de negură belongs to travel writings and memoirs and includes accounts of hunting trips.
George Calinescu (1972) wrote that it comprises pages of great beauty which shows recluse men
in real life symbiosis with nature”(my translation). For Sadoveanu nature exists in a huge
multiplicity of flora and fauna species, paying attention to the most subtle and varied aspects of
nature for which he evinces an infinite admiration, he entitles Blaga’s appreciation who sees in
the great writer „the very nature that contemplates and interprets itself in terms of supreme
consciousness”. The author himself thought that „it is wonderful for someone to integrate and
harmonize with the landscape”.
This being said, I invite you to move foreword with the reading of our translation and
interpretation of some of the famous Sadovenian passages describing authentic Romanian
landscapes with a very talented art of detaliation.

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 INTRODUCTION
This paper takes a look at translating from Romanian into English using fragments of
descriptive texts from Sadoveanu’s The Land Beyond Mists. It is structured into three chapters.
The first chapter, entitled Theoretical Considerations Regarding Translation is a
theoretical component which addresses the basic aspects of translation. It is presented as seen by
linguists and men of letters of great value from Antiquity up to the present. Influential names like
Jakobson, Schleiermacher, Nida, Catford, Newmark, Venuti and their theories are quoted and
debated in an attempt to reach an all-encompasing conclusion about translation and the
translator. The figure of the translator is tackled from two different perspectives: as a cultural
mediator, bridging two different cultures and as a linguistic mediator, having an equally
important role which aims at communicating the correct meaning.
The second chapter is entitled A Theoretical Approach to Text Typology and offers a
complex insight into the notion of text from a linguistic point of view, dealing with the notion of
text and text typology; a number of text typologies are also presented. Context seems to be the
main factor to take into consideration when dealing with text linguistics. The narrative and
descriptive texts are analyzed along with their linguistic peculiarities.
The last chapter is concerned with the actual practice of translation including the
possibilities and the choices that I have made. The corpus of descriptive texts are first translated
and then interpreted according to the procedures and methods discussed in the previous chapters.
For the preparation of this paper I have referred to important linguistic and translation
books as quoted above. However my focuss was on Leon Leviţchi’s Guide Book for Translators,
Munday’s Introducing Translation Studies, Venuti’s The Translation Studies Reader and
Croitoru’s Interpretation and Translation.
Also attached to this work there will be found a glossary of Romanian archaisms and
regionalisms created in order to help with the vernacular terms encountered during the
translation process of the texts.

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 CHAPTER 1 Theoretical Considerations Concerning
Translation

1.1. A Bird’s Eye View on Translation

The practice of translating can be traced back in the first century BCE with Cicero and
Horace and later in the fourth century CE with St Jerome, but the study of the field has
developed properly into an academic discipline only in the second half of the twentieth century.
Before that, translation had been merely an element of language learning in modern language
courses and was dominated by what was known as the grammar-translation method based on
grammatical rules and structures.
Translation is an activity that is growing phenomenally in today’s globalized world. The
study of translation, an interdisciplinary field known as Translation Studies, has also developed
enormously in the past twenty years. It interfaces with a wide range of other disciplines from
linguistics and modern languages to Cultural Studies and Postcolonialism.
Translation between written languages remains today the core of translation research, but
the focus has broadened far beyond the mere replacement of SL linguistic items with their TL
equivalents. In the intervening years research has been undertaken into all types of linguistic,
cultural and ideological phenomena around translation.
If we look into a general dictionary, we find the following definition of the term
translation:
translation n. 1 the act or an instance of translating. 2 a written or spoken expression of the
meaning of a word, speech, book, etc. in another language.
(The Concise Oxford English Dictionary)
Translation is a human activity which enables human beings to exchange ideas and
thoughts regardless of the different tongues used; translation is a science, an art, and a skill. It is
a science in the sense that it necessitates complete knowledge of the structure and make-up of the
two languages concerned. It is an art since it requires artistic talent to reconstruct the original text
in the form of a product that is presentable to the reader who is not supposed to be familiar with
the original. It is also a skill because it entails the ability to smooth over any difficulty in the
translation, and the ability to provide the translation of something that has no equal in the target
language.

4
 Developments have seen a certain blurring of research between the different types of
translation too. Thus, research into audiovisual translation now encompasses sign language,
intralingual subtitles, lip synchronization for dubbing as well as interlingual subtitles; the image–
word relationship is crucial in both film and advertising, and there has been closer investigation
of the links between translation, music and dance. Translation is, thus a cognitive, linguistic,
visual, cultural and ideological phenomena, which are an integral part of the process and product
part.
In trying to establish certain lines of approach to translation across time, Bassnett (1980)
argues that, it seems best to proceed by following a chronological structure, using as a starting
point the Romans’ concept that translation should be disscused within the wider context of the
two main functions of the poet: the universal human duty of acquiring and disseminating wisdom
and the special art of making and shaping a poem. But Cicero makes an important distinction
between word for word translation and sense for sense translation : “If I render word for word ,
the result will sound uncouth , and if compelled by necessity I alter anything in the order of
wording, I shall seem to have departed from the function of a translator.” Roman translation may
be perceived as unique in that it arises from a vision of literary production that follows an
established canon of excellence across linguistic boundaries. The ancient Greeks made a clear
distinction between “metapfrase” (literal translation) and “paraphrase” that the English poet John
Dryden will take over much later, in the 17 th century. In translation the Bible in the 4 th century,
St. Jerome adopted , as himself stated a sense for sense translation. The first translation of the
complete Bible into English was by Jojn Wycliffite in the 12 th century, in which the author
advocates for “translating as clearly as possible the <sentence> (i.e. the meaning).”
The 16th century saw the translation of the Bible into a large number of European
languages, in both Protestant and Roman catholic versions and the aim of the translations were to
produce an accessible and aesthetically satisfying vernacular syle. In his Circular Letter on
Translation, Martin Luther lays emphasis on the importance of the relationship between style
and meaning, advising the would-to be-translator to add to the wealth of imagery in the SL text
by drawing on the vernacular tradition too. In the 17th century, the task of the translator went
beyond the linguistic and became evangelistic as he was a radical leader in the struggle to
further man’s spiritual progress. Translation is perceived a having a moral, political, and didactic
purpose, far from its purely instrumental role in the study of rethorics ( Quintilian’s Institutio
Oratoria, 1st C AD descries translation as a stylistic exercise and recommends translation by
paraphrasing the original texts. The rise of the vernacular literatures involved the creation of a
vernacular SL text; works produced in other cultural contexts were translated, adapted and
absorbed on a large scale, therefore the importance of translation as a means of spreading

5
understanding. One of the fist theory in translation dates from 1540, when the French humanist
Etienne Dolet published a short ouline of translation principles, entitled How to translate Well
from one Language into Another; he stresses the importance of understanding the SL text, the
work of a skilfull and worthy translator is far more than a competent linguist, he must fully
understand the sense and meaning of the original text, to observe the sentences, figures and
forms proposed by the author and adorn them with figures and forms of oration fitted to the
original.
In Brazil, the cannibalistic theory of textual consumption, first proposed in the 1920s offers
an alternative perspective in which translation is seen in terms of physical metaphors that stress
both the creativity and the independence of the translator.
In Renaissance, translation came to play a role of central importance; in a time of explosive
innovation, translation “absorbed, shaped, oriented the necessary raw material, it established a
logic of relation between past and present, and between different tongues and traditions which
were splitting apart under stress of nationalism and religious conflict” (Steiner quoted in Bassnett
1980). Translation had become a primar activity, exerting a shaping force on the intellectual life
of the age, and at times the figure of the translator appeared as a revolutionary activist rather than
the servant of the original author or text.
The 17th century experienced various concepts regarding translation: Denham’s vision that
the translator and the author are equal but operating in clearly different social and temporal
contexts, or, more boldly, Cowly asserts that he has “taken, left out and added what I please” in
his translation; it was not so important that the reader know exactly what the original author
intented to transmit, but “what was his way and manner of speaking” (Bassnett, 2002:66). John
Dryden tackled the problems of translation choosing paraphrase (along with metaphrase and
imitation), or translation with latitude, the Ciceronian “sense-for-sense” view on translation, as a
more balanced path; at the same time the translator – the portrait painter, had to follow some
specific rules: to translate poetry, he must be a poet, a master of both languages, he must assume
both the features of the original and to fit into the aesthetic canons of his own age.
The concept of the translator as a painter or imitator reappeared in the 18 th century but with
a moral duty to his original subject and to the contemporary reader, to catch the essential spirit of
a text and fit it into contemporary standards of language and taste. This led to a large-scale of
rewritings, re-structuring , and the translation/reworkings of Racine, Shakespeare, etc. Latter in
this century, it was Tytler’s Essay on the Principle of Translation (1797) that laid the first
systematic study of the translation process. He synthesized three principles: “the translation
should give a complete transcript of the original work”, “the style and manner of writing should
be of the same character with the original”, and “a translation should have all the ease of the

6
original composition”, a TL reader-oriented translation, unlike Dryden’s prescriptive one (in
Munday, 2001:26). Tytler also expressed his opinion on whether it was acceptable to add or to
take ideas from a text, that is the translator’s choice, only that it should be cautionally used; the
translator should posses a genius akin to that of the original author, and that constant reading was
of great importance for understanding a language than any existing dictionary.
The Romanticism of the early 19th century discussed issues of translatability and
untranslatability, the main trends were related to the German literature and philosophy (the
hermeneutic and existential phenomenology). The idea was that language is not so much
communicative as consultative in its interpretation and that leads to the transformation of the
foreigh text. Important names like Friederich Schleiermacher, Thomas Carlyle, Alexander von
Humboldt shaped the stage of the translation process seen as a creative force which brought
together cultural and social functions, freshing languages and enriching literatures; this was a
rejected concept with the Victorians who held an elitist concept of culture and education.
Translation was no longer seen as a prime means of enriching culture but as an instrument, a
means of bringing the TL intelligent, elited readers to the SL text in the original, a means of
moving the reader the author (Schleiermacher’s preffered strategy) through an “alienating” - as
opposed to “naturalizing” - method of translation; this entails giving the reader the same
impression that the translator received from the source text. The translator must valorize the
foreign and transfer that into the TL. Schleiermacher’s approaches had a tremendous influence
on the modern translation theory and his classification of texts into the “Dolmetscher” and the
“Ubersetzer” become more prominent in Reiss’s text typology. The Romantic individualist line
led on to what Eugene Nida sealed as a “spirit of exclusivism” where the translator appears as a
skilful merchant offering exotic wares to the descending few (in Bassnett 1991:74-78).
The first three decades of the 20th century seemed locked in what G. Steiner called the
sterile debate over the triad “literal”-“free”- “faithful” translation but was also marked by the rise
of the Czech Structuralism, the development of communication theory, the application of
linguistics to the study of translation: in short the bases of modern translation theory. It is clear
that the prevailing concepts and approaches concerning translation belong to the age that
produces them, and to the socio-economic factors that mould and determine that age. Translation
was rethought from a modernist stand which valued experiments with literary form as a way of
revitalizing culture, and gains its autonomy. Influential in this period are the works of Walter
Benjamin and Ezra Pound. The former considers that a translation participates in the “afterlife”
(Uberleben) of the foreign text, it is a kind of interpretation that recreates the values belonging to
the foreign text over time, a “pure” language. The latter opinions that translation takes two
forms: the translated text might be “interpretative”, a critical “accompaniment”, a lexical choice,

7
or, translation might be an “original writing” so well knitted as to determine the rewriting of the
foreign, creating thus the illusion of originality. This period is characterized by a formalist
interest in technique through innovative translation strategies, but also by a strong functionalism
closely tight to the social function of translation in order to keep the cultural unity intact.
Anyway, there is a subtle change in this views as the Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges states
that literary translation are nothing but varying representations of the same foreign text and
culture and their degree of equivalence is always in doubt. By the end of the 1930s translation
is seen as a distinct linguistic practice “with its own norms and ends”, the “splendor” of
translation as Ortega put it, consists in handling the cultural and linguistic differences in order to
transpose the reader from its linguistic habits into those of the foreign author. (Venutti 2000: 11-
14)
The following two decades finds the translation theory under the auspices of a fundamental
issue, that of translatability. Influential figures in philosophy, literary criticism, and linguists
question whether translation can close the gaps between different cultures and languages. One
sceptical trend in this respect pertains toVladimir Nabokov who believed that only national
literatures were capable of producing unique “masterpieces” that challenge the translator to
parent an ideal version, ultimately unattainable. He also deemed English language and the
homogeneous American consumer culture not to fall into the line of the Russian profoundness.
The optimistic counterpart resorts to Nida’s idea that translation is in fact paraphrase; translation
needed to be based on the translator’s acquisition of sufficient “cultural information” to render
the cultural equivalent and decrease the linguistic differences to a specific referent. Translation
deepens its theory with Roman Jakobson’s essay “On Linguistic Aspects of Translation” (1959)
that describes it in semiotic terms. The author makes a very important distinction between three
types of written translation: intralingual, interlingual and intersemiotic; interlingual named
proper translation involves “substitut[ing] messages in one language not for separate code-units
but for entire messages in some other language”(Munday 2001:36). Jakobson moves on to
consider key issues as linguistic meaning as a potentially endless chain of signs and equivalence
between words in different languages. The most influential work of this period (which remained
the basic work for the next decades) was that of Jean-Paul Vinay and Jean Darbelnet who
produced a textbook on the basis of comparative stylistics of French and English. The authors in
discussion identified two general translation strategies: direct translation and oblique translation,
which hark back to the “literal vs free” division; they argue that translation entails reducing the
linguistic and cultural differences to empiricist semantics: “Equivalence of message ultimately
relies upon an identity of situations” (quoted in Fawcett 1999:42).

8
 The 1960s and the 1970s witnessed translation theory focussing on the concept of
equivalence, normative in essence, based on text types (a case which we will discuss in the
following chapter) and having a social function; starting from the Firthian and Hallidayan
analisys of a language as being communicative, translation is thus set as establishing a
relationship of identity or analogy between the original text and the translated one There was no
place for such notion as relativity in translation, but only for, as Mounin puts it “universals” of
language and culture. However, there was in this period a well-known theoretical trend as to
whether to practice a comprehensible translation addressed directly to the reader and based on
pragmatic equivalence, or a translation based on formal equivalence that aims at the linguistic
and cultural features of the original. Keeping this idea of correspondence in translation, prolific
theorists advanced such oppositions as: “formal” and textual” ( Catford 1965), who also coined
the term translation shift, i.e. “departures from formal correspondence in the process of going
from the SL to the TL” (Catford 2000: 141), “dynamic” and “formal” ( Nida and Taber 1969),
“communicative” and “semantic” (Newmark 1977), “covert” and “overt” (House 1977). For an
overt translation to be intelligible in Houses’s opinion, it must rely in extra information
(expansions, insertions or annotation) due to the innate peculiarities of the source text. That is
why a pragmatic, communicative translation was favoured sometimes and the translator made all
the efforts to represent as faithfully as possible the source language, finding applicable
equivalents in his time and society. Literary translations came to ocuppy “positions”, “functions”
whether “central” or “peripheral” in the case of polysystem theory; these translations were
considered facts of the target system, capable of establishing relations with the original. The
author of the theory, Itamar Even-Zohar assigned translation a central (innovative) or peripheral
(conservative) role, depending on literature’s status: minor or major.
The earlier functionalist translation based on detailed typologies of equivalence which
directed attention to reader becomes unproductive in Gideon Toury’s vision; he attempts to
explain that not only various shifts occurs, but they represent types of equivalence that points to
target norms in the receiving culture at a definite historical moment. Translation throughout this
period is a conglomerate that comprise linguistic-oriented concepts and psycholinguistics,
semantics, anthropology, and literary criticism Influential in this respect is George Steiner’s
study After Babel, who deepens the hermeneutic concept of translation as an interpretation of the
foreign text, arguing that “great translation must carry with it the most precise sense possible of
the resistant, of the barriers intact at the heart of understanding” (quoted in Venuti:270).
The 1980s and the 1990s saw the translation theory as greatly innovational and wide-
ranging, the notion of equivalence is reconsidered and added variable notions such as “fidelity”,
“identity”, “adequacy”; translation went through various theoretical approaches (semiotics,

9
discourse analysis, poststructuralist theory) that led to a division into fields and disciplines,
exploring unique aspects of cross-cultural communication. William Frawley thinks of
translation as a “code in its own right”, a third code, distinguishing among translations according
to their degree of semiotic “innovation”; what was previously treated as shifts mirrors now in
that the translating involves to detect meaning or structure in the source text and then describe a
deviation from it in the translated text. Instead of translation, other theorists preffer “translatorial
action” which implies that translation includes also editing and consulting in the cross-cultural
process of communication. The skopos theory coined by Hans Vermeer (Skopos and commission
in translational action 1989/2000) focuses on the purpose of the translation, which in its turn
establishes the methods and strategies that are to be used so as to obtain a functionally adequate
result; the author emphasizes the translator’s precise intention, aim is to adapt his textual
realization (the translatum) to a set of addressees in the target language.
Andre Lefevere who redefines Even-Zohar and Toury’s concepts of literary system,
considers translation as a form of rewriting, an original composition, a “refraction” of the source
system. With the rise of poststructuralism, translation is reconsidered not as purely
transformative of the source text, but also interrogative, deconstructive, capable of releasing
numerous potentialities, yet the translation should not be viewed as another original. Translation
was also analyzed on the basis of comparative discourse analysis and ethic concepts; the former
type of translation entails a double interpretation by which the source text is rewritten in the
translated language through “associative chains” (Philip E. Lewis 1985), while the latter
introduces deformation, a term consisting in “systematic negation of the foreigness of the
foreign” (Berman’s example of bad translation 1984) when osmosed into the target language and
culture. Good translation, on the other hand, presupposes respect for the linguistic and cultural
differences. There appeared also the idea of untranslatability because of the dissimilarities that
may appear during the translation process, a rather sceptical approach. It consists in the “inherent
indeterminacy of language, the unavoidable instability of the signifying process” (Venuti 2000 :
218).
The translation process has been characterized by unequal power relationships ever since
earlier centuries where this unequality was reflected by a superior original and an inferior copy;
and so the history repeats once again and translation is considered from a postcolonial point of
view by a hierarchized society. Translation is revealed as “an agent of the empire” (in Vicente
Rafael’s terms), which comes to question eventually the very notion of cultural translation,
otherwise with little impact on the more technical and pragmatic projects of the period.
In the last decade of the former century, translation achieves a certain institutional
authority, most obvious in the increasing translator training programs and scholarly publishing.

10
Translation research reflects important and usefull advances in linguistics - such as pragmatics
and computerized corpora, in literary and cultural theory – globalization, poscolonialism,
sexuality, leading to fragmentary approaches to translation which branched it into
subspecialities. Besides a new interdiscipline emerged, that of cultural study, which linked
literary theory, criticism, and anthropology. All in wall it was a growing, highly productive
period that turned translation studies into “an international network of scholarly communities”
(Venutti 2000:334). Hatim and Mason (1990), Mona Baker , Neubert and Shreve (1992)
conceived translation on the model of the Gricean conversational maxims, i.e. “quantity” of
information, “quality”/truthfulness and “relevance”/consistency of context, and
“manner”/clarity. They consider that translation involves transmitting the foreign message by
making use of the target linguistic community’s maxims. Ernst-August Gutt (1991) oriented
translation to a cognitive approach; there, the intentional communication depends on the relation
between the individual’s knowledge, belifs and values, in short his psychological state, and the
processing effort needed to derive contextual efforts. Hatim and Mason (1997), analyze
translation in complex nuances, on linguistics grounds, entailing terms of style, genre, discourse,
pragmatics, and ideology; the text is studied as a whole transcending the binary opposition
“literary” and “non-literary” translation. The authors in disscusion also investigate a unique
approach to translation, i.e. subtitling, folding translated dialogue over politeness theory, a
formalization of speech acts, linguistic indicators that the characters are accommodating each
other’s “face-wants”. Furthermore, theorists such as Mona Baker and Sara Laviosa initiate, for
the first time, concepts to analyze computerized corpora of translations that provided translation
studies with powerful analytical tools; it focused on the increasingly trend of text production to
the exclusion of reception, as the computer was only programmed to identify and quantify the
“abstract, global notions” (Baker 1997), the universals of translated language. The culturally-
oriented research in translation poses incisive interrogations and calls attention to the social and
historical difference in translation. The research during this years seeks to combine the linguist’s
concern for details with a cultural historian’s awareness of social and political trends which
might bring social change.
Translation was thus seen as a power of forming identities, a means by creating
representations of the foreign texts that satisfy needs in the translating culture; this identities are,
however, influenced by ethnicity and race, gender and sexuality, class and nation.
Lawrence Venuti is considered one of the most intense figure within the field of translation.
His magistral work concerns the cultural orientation of translation, maneuvering such concepts
of language as poststructuralism, discourse, and subjectivity so as to determine their relations to
cultural difference, ideological contradiction, and social change. Venuti uses as example the

11
situation of the English language in translations and draws attention to the mask of so called
fluency which does nothing but domesticates the foreign text under the illusion of transparency;
the original text passes thus for the original, yielding the translator as invisible. He also
discusses the “foreignizing” translation which departs from the values, beliefs, and
representations that predominates in the target language. The publication of The Translator’s
Invisibility (1995) provides an account of the history of translation from the 17th century to the
present day, Venuti shows how fluency prevailed over other translation strategies to shape the
canon of foreign literatures in English and investigates the cultural consequences of the receptor
values which were simultaneously inscribed and masked in foreign texts during this period. The
author locates alternative translation theories and practices in British, American and European
cultures which aim to communicate linguistic and cultural differences instead of removing them.
Venuti brings a final contribution by redifining the autonomy of the translated text as the
target language “remainder” that the translator frees in order to bridge the gap between the
linguistic and cultural boundaries among readership; he is also aware of the fact that translation,
no matter time and space, faces different ways of understanding and evaluating the translated
text, and eventually the world itself.
People change places all over the world and this reflects into the very process of translation
which is no longer seen as the transfer of texts from one language into another, but as a process
of negotiation between texts and cultures, a process during which all kinds of transactions are
mediated by the figure of the translator. The translation is used metaphorically to describe the
condition of the contemporary world, a world in which millions migrate. Translation studies has
developed to such an extent that “it is really a perfect interdiscipline, interfacing with a host of
other fields” (Hatim and Mason 2004). There are, however some theorists (e.g. Riccardi 2000)
who still consider it an “emerging” discipline despite its breadth of contacts (Fig. 1) and varied
methods of analysis.

12
 linguistics:
philosophy: semantics,pragmatics
hermeneutics, ,
postructuralism, sociolinguistics,
deconstruction contrastive
linguistics,
Corpus linguistics,
cognitive linguistics,
Translation text/discourse
literary studies:
analysis
language poetics, rhetoric,
engineering: literary criticism,
machine translation, narratology, critical
corpora cultural discourseanalysis,co
terminology, studies: film mparative literature
lexicology, multi- studies language
media and power,
gender studies,
gay studies,
history,
postcolonialism
Figure. 1 Map of disciplines interrelated with Translation Studies

1.2. The Role of the Translator

Richness of vocabulary, depth of culture, and vision of the translator, all these represent
corroborating factors that could certainly have very conspicuous effects on the translator’s work.
The mythology revolving around the figure of the translator, alternatively criticized and
derided, hightened or romanticized, assigned with such images as the copyst, the acolyte, the
slave, the bricoleur, the re-creator, the mediator and other methaphors, served to either discharge
or praise the translator status. There was also the distinction between technical translator,
essentially seen as a craftsman and the literary translator who has been interestingly appraised as
a creative artist.
The art of the translator, for Horace and Cicero had to be based on the principle non
verbum de verbo, sed sensum exprimere de sensu (of expressing not word for word, but sense for
sense) and his responsibility was to the target language readers.
Katharina Reiss holds the syntagm pragmatic translator, arguing that he/she doesn’s
simply analyze the linguistic and cultural features of the source text, but reverbalizes them
according to the values of a different language and culture.
Steiner’s description of the translator as a shadowy presence, like Larbaud’s description of
the translator as a beggar at the church has far more to do with notions of hierarchy in the chain

13
of communication between author, text, reader and translator that with any intrinsic aspect of the
process of translation itself.
Elena Croitoru states in her book Interpretation and Translation (2004) “the translator’s
task is to render the ST, the original author’s interpretation expressed in a number of variations,
replacing all the variations contained in the ST by their equivalents.”
The act of translation establishes a relationship between two partners and Paul Ricoeur
identifies them as the "Foreign” – a term that covers opera, its author and language, and the
“Reader” – recipient of the translated work". We understand that the position of mediator is
occupied by the translator, which has a complex mission to convey the message and facilitate the
transition from one linguistic code to another. It is an uncomfortable instance of mediator, judge,
arbiter of the good taste, a supporter of specific terms that seek their entry in the language, or a
binding agent between languages and cultures. The translator bears thus two social tasks: on the
one hand, to facilitate communication between the two partners and, on the other hand, to enrich
the target (receiving) culture by introducing in it’s society and cultural tradition new aspects of
form, content or purpose, therefore, new aspects of the world.
Irrespective of the position taken, it seems very appropriate here the metaphor used by
Franz Rosenzweig and paraphrased by Ricoeur that to translate means to be “a faithful servant of
two masters”: the foreign author and the reader that “lives” in the same language as the
translator, a paradox that Schleiermacher analysed in two sentences: to guide the reader towards
the author or to guide the author towards the reader. It is a complex equation and the translator
may experience a number of issues raised by the resistance from the foreign’s language/culture
in the translation process, as well a resistance coming from the reader. Romulus Munteanu
(1984:12) states that “Translations favors a quest for concepts, an everlasting exploration of
different nuances required by a faithful rendering of the original text. Always careful not to
betray the fundamental meaning, the translator creates new forms, provides a language specific
to a great poet or philosopher” (my translation).
Walter Benjamin, in his famous essay entitled The Task of the Translator, notes that “The
task of the translator consists of finding that intended effect [intention] into which he is
translating, which produces in it the echo of the original” (in Katan 2004:126). To him, a
translation constituted the continued life of the original. Benjamin states that the translator “
must expand and deepen his language by means of the foreign language.” (ibid., p. 150).
In his book Translation and Translating (1991), Bell defines translators as communicators
that “receive signals containing messages encoded in a communication system which is not, by
definition, identical to their own.”, i.e the translator decodes messages transmitted in one
language and re-encodes them in another. For the translator, the encoding (a) consists of re-

14
encoding into a different language, (b) concerns the same message as was received and (c) is
aimed at a group of receivers who are not the same as the original sender.
Nida (1984) states that in the translation process, the translator decodes the message,
analyzes and reformulates it; the translator breaks the text into smaller units and then builds it
again.
The idea of the translator as a mediating cultural and linguistics agent hacks back to the
1970s and the 1980s when the endless debate over word-for-word and sense-for-sense translation
seems to have reached a common point; it was the first step towards the communicative role of
the translator, who as R. Taft (1981) said “may never be called upon to engage in the exact
translation of words, rather he will communicate the ideas in terms that are meaningful to the
members of the target audience”. The concept of cultural mediator was, however, first introduced
by Stephen Bochner in his book The Mediating Person and Cultural Identity (1981) in which
Taft states that “A cultural mediator is a person who facilitates communication, understanding,
and action between persons and groups who differ with respect to language and culture. (…)”
The cultural mediator transcends the basic role of the translator and interpreter of expressions,
intentions, perceptions of the cultural sides; he is bicultural, a participant in both cultures,
serving as a balance in the communication process between cultures. Some years before, George
Steiner, had pointed out the translator’s linguistic role as a “bilingual mediating agent between
monolingual communication participants in two different language communities” (Steiner,
1977). Taft (1981) considers that a mediator must possess at the same time some blending shills
in both cultures: knowledge about society ( history, folklore, traditions, customs, etc.),
communication skills, technical skills, and social skills.

1.2.1. Cultural Mediator

We have seen how the translator made his way into the world of the translation studies and
underwent several changes throughout time. In order to understand what is the role of the
translator in mediating cultures, let us fist take a look on what culture is in fact. Among
numerous definitions, I shall reproduce only those which exerted an influential role.
One of the old and widely-known definitions of culture was formulated by the
anthropologist Edward Tylor in 1871: “Culture is that complex whole which includes
knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, customs, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by
man as a member of society” (Encyclopedia Britannica 1983, vol.4:657). A more complex
definition, the lengthy one of all 164 is recorded in 1952 by two anthropologists Kroeber and

15
Fluckhohn who believe that “(…)the core of culture consists of traditional (i.e. historically
derived and selected) ideas and especially their attached values” ( cited in Katan 1999/2000:14).
Based on the german’s expert H. Gohring conception of intercultural communication, M.
Snell-Hornby (1988) examines culture from an anthropological point of view as "all aspects of
social human life"; culture is therefore seen as being “ the sum of knowledge, experiences and
perceptions within immediate connection with the actions that are based on either linguistic or
social-behavioural rules”.
In the 1990s Susan Bassnet and Andre Lefevere were by no means the only translation
scholars who argued the case for a “cultural turn” which proved to be a massive intellectual
phenomenon. The translators set about the task of tracing the genealogy of translation in their
own individual contexts, while exploring the power relationships that are involved when
transferring a text from one context to another.
In the complex and complicated world we have come to live in, manifest, and interact as
individuals the cultural context is an extremely important factor. We see how not few times an
original literary text betrays the era and the time during which it was produced A
misunderstanding of a communicative context can often generate a whole chain of errors which,
like a vicious circle, may cause undesirable situations. Citing Edward Sapir, Bassnett argues that
“No language can exist unless it is cemented in the cultural context, as any culture cannot exist
unless it has the centered structure of a natural language. (…) Just as a surgeon operating on
open heart can not make abstraction of the body, the same any translator cannot treat a text
outside the culture from which it originates” (1991: 1239.
There were, however, different approaches to the concept of culture: the behaviourist
approach that present selected facts about what people do and do not, the ethnocentrist approach
that upholds the belief that the worldview of one’s culture is central to all reality (the superiority
of the culture to which one belong, the idea that people are culture-bound), the functionalist ,
ideologically-based approach towards one or another’s cultural dominant, or preferred values.
The cognitive approach advances the idea that cultures shape reality in various ways. All this
models treats culture as a stoned data, sheding a pessimistic light on the idea of mediation
between cultures. It was, however, the dynamic approach that advanced the idea that culture is a
dynamic process, constantly being negotiated by those involved, a historical system influenced
by symbols and past and future meanings and a dialectic process between internal models of the
world and external reality.
In an extensive treatment of culture in the context of translation, Katan (2004) introduces
the concept of the culture as a shared “model of the world”, a hierarchical ordering of congruent
and interrelated beliefs, values and strategies; his theory is based on Edward T. Hall’s popular

16
anthropological iceberg model, or the “Triad of Culture” (1959/1990) in which the tip of the
iceberg represents the technical culture (coincides with the humanist ideal of culture) a way by
which we learn culture through explicit instructions, the text is dressed in its civilized clothes. At
this level, the translator has the role to transfer the terms and concepts in the source text with
minimum lost, and his main concern is the text itself and the translation of “culturemes” (Nord
1997) or the “cultural categories” in Newmark’s terms (1988) that covers a wide array of
semantic categories: from geography and traditions to institutions and technologies.
The second level is represented by the formal culture, a way by which people learn culture
through a trial-and -error process, aiming at what is normal appropriate, rather than what is
civilized. Hans Vermeer’s concept that “culture consists in what one needs to know, master and
fell, in order to asses where members of a society are behaving acceptably or deviantly in their
various role” (translated in Snell-Hornby 2006) seems applicable in this respect. Here, the
translator has to take into consideration some culturally-specific translation strategies (which are
the suited texts for translation, what type of translation and criteria to employ, only to mention a
few) and develops the skopos theory, adjusting the translation to the receiver’s expectations.
Hall’s third level, the informal culture resides in the unconsciouss which stores given
values and beliefs about the self and the world; these are core, primary ethical values or
“transcendental values” (Walter Fisher, in Baker 2006). Accordingly, the implanted, infused
culture becomes a subjective representation of reality which in its turn patterns one’s way into
the real world.
Lefevere and Bassnett’s “cultural turn” in the 1990s stems from the concept that
translation is a bicultural practice demanding mindshifting from one linguacultural model to
another and mediating skills from the part of the translator to succed in managing the differences.
Polysystem theory (Even-Zohar 1990), postcolonial theory (Bassnett 1999) and narrative
theory (Baker 2006) all share the idea that within the complex cultural systems, the privileged or,
on the contrary, the suppressed texts will either fight for an independent position (as they can not
be assigned to a specific culture), or will subject the system itself to continuing questioning. It is
in fact a competing and unequal system of power and the translator takes in this case the
important role of constructing the world, admitting that “texts and they themselves are carriers of
ideologies (Hatim and Mason 1997: 147). The translator is no longer a detached mediator, but is
conscious of being “an ethical agent of social change” (Tymoczko 2003), or “an activist” (Baker
2006b) involved in renarrating the world.
“Invisibility” is a term used by Venuti “to describe the translator’s situation and activity in
contemporary Anglo-American culture” (cited in Munday 2001:146). This invisibility is
considered by Venuti, firstly as a result of the translator’s tendency to translate “fluently” into

17
English in order to produce a readable text in the target language, thus creating an “illusion of
transparency” and secondly by the way the translated text is typically read in the target language.
The preference for fluency is what makes the translator “invisible”, to use Venuti’s term. The
translator becomes invisible and translation assumes secondary importance because of “the
prevailing concept of authorship”, (Venuti quoted in Munday 2001: 145). A text is judged
acceptable “when the absence of any linguistic or stylistic peculiarities …[gives] the appearance
that it reflects the foreign writer’s personality or intention or the essential meaning of the foreign
text”(ibid., p. 146).
As we could see, depending on the definition adopted, culture may be formally learnt,
unconsciously shared, or be a site of conflict. But culture has to be understood not only as a set
of levels or frames but as an integrated system, in a constant state of flux, through which textual
signals are negotiated and reinterpreted according to context and individual stance.
The translator’s task does not follow the road from word through sentence and text up to
the cultural context, but the other way round. Only after having thoroughly assimilated the
expressions and the spirit of another culture, can the translator begin his descent from text down
to the sentence and to the word. A good translator is essentially a shape shifting, a chameleonis
spirit, capable of blending in, penetatring the very soul oh both cultures. He should be able to
achieve what Bantaş and Croitoru (2004: 17-18) named “transfer of spirit”, hence the feeling that
translation is an attempt to link two parallel worlds.
Antoine Berman (in Ricoeur 2005: 66) considers that every culture – and, by extrapolation,
any language –is self sufficient and tends to encompass, to attach other cultures and other
languages. Berman does not propose a translation based on subordination to the foreign
language, but on a relation of equality, on a dialogic raport between the foreign language and its
own.

18
 Figure 2 The literary translator’s brain (right and left emispheres)

Eco’s semiotic concept of culture treats translation as an “ongoing process of generating

new interpretants by a society on interpreters” (Eco 1979) is incompatible with the idea of an
ultimate logical interpretant. It was first Charles W. Morris (1938) who spoke of the translator as
a fourth element of semiosis (which for Morris was a relation between “sign” “signification”,
and “interpretant”). In Charles Peirce’s semiotic terms, the translator is actually an interpretant,
capable of establishing a relation between the Saussurian “signifier” and “signified”. As all
semiotic signs, a text-sign is a living entity, continually seeking to realize itself through some
interpreting mind, rather than passively waiting to be realized; the so called realization of the
text-sign is not necessarily performed by a human utterer but it is self -generating . This means
that in the translation process, the active mediator role is not played by the translator, as
commonly known, but by the autonomous action itself through the sign gets to realize its
meaning. The translator is merely instrumental, a passive medium, a symbol in the process of
communication. The sign is not translated by the translator, because it really translates itself. The
translator does not address the text-sign, but the text-sign addresses the translator; the translator
does not exist as a flesh-and-blood person but as a mind - that is as a sign. Furthermore, the sign
addresses, in the interpreter’s memory a particular image which is the “mental equivalent” of that
sign – in short, it’s interpretant. The text-sign must be seen as a living organism requiring
translation for its survival, seeking a receptive mind capable of generating interpretants; without
interpretive response, the text-sign would die and disappear.

1.2.2. Linguistic Mediator

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 Inter-linguistics communication is realized due to the translational act, and cannot but exist
within the cultural context. As Bassnett (2001) puts it, language is “the heart of what beats in a
culture and only from the interplay of the two may arise the energy of life”.
The fact that the language and the cultural context in which it operates are subject to
changes arising from the evolution and the dynamics of life, leading to the need for re-
translation, re-saying of the message in new terms adapted and aligned to the surrounding reality.
Language and sociocultural context had certain coordinates at that time; the difficulty of
translating consists in capturing this data, to "serve" the language of the source, but also to adapt
them to the language and the context in which the recipient works. Regardless of what side we
choose to view things, it becomes eventually obvious that everything is confined to the context.
Context should maintain its leading role in imposing certain terms for a translation. Expanding
our discussion in this sense, we consider the linguistic context which include linguistic and
semantic elements constituting the translated text and a cultural context, which is within a
general framework and generous coverage of the problem, which aims to set the directives
establishing the coordination and direction to the message shape in a communication of any type.
Which are, therefore, the characteristic elements of the context in order to ensure a good
interpersonal communication? Ricoeur’s (2005: 94-97) view of the linguistic concept is divided
into three units: “the words, i.e. the signs that you find in lexic, phrases, for which there is no
vocabulary (nobody can tell how many phrases have been or will be spoken in a language) and
lastly, the texts, i.e. sequences of sentences”. An interesting observation completes this simple
classification. “The handling of these three kinds of units, one reported by Saussure, the other by
Benveniste and Jakobson, and the third by Harald Weinrich Jauss and the texts theorists,
constitutes a source of divergence across the dream of a perfect language and a source of
misunderstanding in the daily usage, and, as such, an opportunity for multiple and competing
interpretations” (R. Enescu, Translation, a means of knowledge 1979: 7) – my translation.
Confronting possible misunderstandings and multiple interpretations which the three linguistic
units can generate by their interweaving into what is called the language of a linguistic
community, the translator has the task of taking pertinent decisions in order to minimise the
danger which threatens comprehension within a communication. Communication is represented
and conditioned by numerous stages which, in turn, are determined by other aspects of the
language, context, culture, situation, reality, time, to name only a few of the series.
We may consider, therefore, the translation as one of the most important linguistic
concerns, but also the most full of responsibility and of paradox, at the same time. Translation is
an act of great responsibility as it may alter what is called “ the spiritual universe of a linguistic

20
entity”. Translation is even more subjected to extremely severe rules than the source text, as it is
not “creation, but re-creation, it is not invention but re-production and communication”.
The translator may also face the problem of untranslatability or nonequivalence, due to the
existence within the linguistic systems of some specific terms that a particular context
specifically carries. There is a first stage of the untranslatability which consists in the plurality of
languages, diversity, the difference among languages, suggesting a radical disparity by which
translation should be a priori impossible ( Ricoeur 2005:115). This stage moves and takes certain
forms at the level of the word as a linguistic and cultural exponent. So, Catford (in Basnett
2001:32-35) distinguishes two types of intraductibility: on the linguistic level this phenomenon
is caused by the lack of the target language (receiver) of a lexical or syntactically substitute for
an item that belongs to the language of the source (transmitter). On the other hand, we are
warned that the second type of intraductibility is more problematic: if the linguistic
intraductibility is the result of the inherent differences arising between the source language and
target language, the cultural intraductibility is due to the absence in the target language of some
“relevant situational models” for text in the source language.
In his Guide Book for Translators (2000), Leviţschi writes that to translate well means to
render the meaning, the logical structure and the emotional content of the source language text so
faithfully that the translated text can have the same effect as the original has upon the reader.
Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an
equivalent target-language text.
Firth defines meaning as “a complex of relations of various kinds between the component
terms of a context of situation”; when translation a phrase for example, it is the function that will
be taken up and not the words themselves, as the phrase is connected to a social behavioural
pattern and the translator has to surpass the problem of finding a similar convention in the TL
culture and often takes into account the question of interpretation besides selecting a TL phrase
which will have a roughly similar meaning. Levy believed that the translator had the
responsibility of finding a solution to the most daunting of problems, and he declared that the
functional view must be adopted with regard nor only to the meaning but also to style and form.
Many people assume that translating requires considerable training in linguistics. But this
is not true. Some of the best translators have no training whatsoever in linguistics, although some
introduction to linguistics can make translating a much more meaningful activity. The essential
skill of translators is being able to understand correctly the meaning of a source text. Knowledge
of linguistics is, of course, not a handicap, but a distinct asset in clearly distinguishing between
the structures of a text and the understanding of a text.

21
 Linguists analyze texts, but translators must understand texts. Baker (1992/2006) thinks
that translators need to know the meanings of words in particular texts, but not necessarily all the
meanings that are listed in comprehensive dictionaries. Similarly, translators do not need to
analyze all the layers of grammatical structures if they can comprehend accurately the ways in
which they relate to one another. The comprehension of a text as a whole is much more
important to a translator than outlining the structural levels, although in some cases identification
of the literary structures can provide insight for the correct understanding of a text.
One of the key problems in the translation process is whether the translator manage to
mediate the meaning from the source text into the target text. The “meaning of meaning” has
been studied at the level of the word and sentence- in terms of semantics, and as a social or
communicative value which concerns the domain of pragmatics.
With the systematic, theory-based approach to the rising disciplines in the early 1960s, the
process of translation, a science itself by now draws on the resources of linguistics and, more
precisely those branches of linguistics as semantics whose goal is “a systematic account of the
nature of meaning” (Leech 1981). Eugene Nida - the father (il padre as Newmark named him)
of modern translation manifested a great interest to “the science of meaning” His major interest
in the analysis of meaning derives from his translators’ practical experiences such as the
ambiguities of the source text, especially multiple senses, figurative meanings and near-
synonyms. He adopted and simplified Chomsky’s theoretical ideas in linguistics in order to
overcome literary and metaphorical difficulties encountered during the translation process.
In Towards a Science of Translation (1964), Nida turns from the old idea that an
orthographic word has a fixed meaning and towards a more context-based definition of meaning
according to which a word acquires meaning through its context- a highly important factor,
especially when dealing with metaphorical meaning and with complex cultural idioms. Nida
incorporates into his analysis-transfer-restructuring model of translation (presented in Fig. 3), the
Chomskyan deep structure-surface structure of a sentence. Nida breaks linguistic meaning down
into referential (denotation) meaning reffered to as words as signs or symbols and connotative
(connotation) meaning which focuses on the emotional reaction of the reader generated by a
word.

22
 A (source language) B receptor language)

(analysis) (restructuring)

X (transfer) Y
Figure. 3 Nida’s three stage system of translation (from Munday 2001: 40)

In the first phase, that of analysis, the translator decodes the structure of the source text in
order to find matching linguistic items (one-to-one correspondence) between the two languages.
Here, the translator’s key problem is the referential, objective, cognitive meaning which derives
from the relationship of word to word rather than that which concerns the word in isolation. Not
only that the signifier changes from one language to another but the very native speaker of a
language do not share the same referential use of an everyday word. Some items are culture-
bound, although Jakobson may have stated that any concept can be rendered in any language.
Virtually, all words posses both type of meaning (only with a few exceptions concerning the
words that are not fully lexical items, the grammatical operator). On the other hand, some words
like democracy, love, patriotism have, more that not figurative meanings and seems difficult to
define the objective ones. The connotative meanings may vary from one person to another, from
one society to another, it is an individual choice, depending on the effective, emotional impact.
There are the specifications of the connotative meanings of a word that the translator continually
needs. That is why a “semantic space” - a study that can be traced back in 1957 performed by
Osgood, Suci and Tannenbaum - is needed. In this study, individuals are asked to assess words
according to clines of evaluation (good-bad, clean-dirty, fresh-stale, pleasant-unpleasant,
beautiful-ugly), potency (strong-weak, large-small, loud-soft, heavy-light, bright-dark) and
activity (active- passive, tense-relaxed, hot-cold, fast-slow, solid-liquid) thereby, plotting the
individual’s distribution of the meaning of a word. Nida and Taber (1969) use the goo-bad scale
and add a scale of formality (Fig. 4).

23
 5 4 3 2 1
good bad
strong weak
active passive

technical informal
Figure. 4 Scales of connotative meaning

There is also the problem posed by the near-synonyms such as grace, favour, kindness.
In all this cases, the translator needs to pursue several steps towards identifying the
appropriate target language equivalent: to disambiguate the various possible senses of the source
text term, he has to proceed a comparative sociolinguistic evaluation of the lexical items or a
componential analysis as a means of gaining insights into the similarites and differences (what
concepts have in common and what distinguishes them) between languages. The translator also
locates equivalents on the same level in the target language; it is the case of analysing the basic
meaning components of a word, where the general assumption is that “the meaning of a word is
the sum of a number of elements of meaning which it possesses- semantic distinctive features –
and that these elements are binnary; i.e. marked as present or absent (+ or -)” (Bell 1991: 88) .
The translator has to find the useable equivalent, the correct sense taking into account the co-text
(the other words around it) of the sentence (in R. Bell’s terms a sentence is the idealized form of
an utterance), the “semotactic environment” (Nida cited by Hatim and Munday 2004: 35). So,
the translator has to cope not only with the semantic sense of the words but also with the
“meaning”` of the sentences (as words can not really have meaning other than within the
sentence), the relations between them within a text, as one sentence entails other sentences,
comprise implications, presuppositions, etc. At the same time the translator has to be able to
decide whether what he is about to “transfer” is true or false, possesses a single meaning or is
ambiguous. All of these form the whole of the “meaning” of a text. Having seen the whole
picture, it is the idea or the picture the translator must communicate, and not equivalents of the
actual words.
As we saw in the presentation of Nida’s three stage model of translation, the translator’s
initial task is to analyse and decompose the source structure of the written text into its
components to create the semantic representation (what Newmark calls the “truth”), assign a
communicative value to it – here the mediating concept is essential; these are transferred in the
translation process and then restructured semantically and stylistically into the surface structure
of the target text. “Kernel” is a key term in Nida’s model, just as it was for Chomsky’s initial

24
model, and “are the basic structural elements out of which language builds its elaborate surface
structures” (Nida and Taber in Munday 2001: 39).

1.3. Translation Methods and Strategies

The circular debate around literal “word for word” translation- replacing each individual
word of the source text with its closest equivalent (in Roman times) or “free” –creating fluent
target texts which conveyed the meaning of the original without distorting the target language
(Baker 1997a) dominated much of the translation theory untill well into the twentieth century -
what Newmark (1982) calls the “prelinquistic period of translation”.
This recurring theme was seen by Susan Bassnett, in her book Translation studies (1991)
as “emerging again and again with different degrees of emphasis in accordance with different
concepts of language and communication”. That is why theoreticians in the 1950s and 1960s
began to attempt more systematic writings on translation. What is worth mentioning in what
follows is that this debate disclosed prominent key linguistic issues, such as meaning and
equivalence (their nature, forms, underlying principles), as well as the issue of choice: the
translator may be obliged by some structures or idioms of the target language to render a source
language sequence in a certain way. I shall mention a few definitions of the term equivalence,
“the ultimate goal of the various translation techniques and strategies” (Faucett 2003: 53), since
the purpose of a translation is to achieve maximal equivalence.
As stated earlier, the problem of equivalence has been assigned various definitions over the
time and was tackled by Jakobson (1959/2000) from a semiotic standpoint the old “literal”,
“free” and “faithful” translation were now replaced by Nida (1964a) with “formal equivalence”
source-text oriented and “dynamic” equivalence, a receptor-oriented approach., based on the
“equivalent effect”, which refers to the target text, having the same effect on the target text
reader as the source text reader For Nida, achieving the equivalent response was the success of a
translation. Writing in 1969 in collaboration with Taber, Nida suggest a new focus on
translation, on the response of the receptor, a departure, at base, from the old focus on form and
message. Nida is well known for his definition, or manifesto of what should be the goal of
dynamic equivalence: “Translation consists in reproducing in the receptor language the closest
natural equivalent of the source language message, first in terms of meaning and secondly in
terms on style” (quoted in Faucett 2003)

25
 In his search for dynamic equivalence, Nida is prepared to pursue such steps as build in
redundancy (repeating information which finally produces a dense text) or to alter the sequence
of sentences, where the order on events in the original does not match real time chronology.
Catfort (1965) describes equivalence as a key term, stating that “the central problem of
translation practice is that of finding TL [target-language] translation equivalents. A central
problem of translation theory is that of defining the nature and conditions of translation
equivalence". He goes on and breaks equivalence down into “formal” and “textual”; the former
is a matter of langue and refers to language category occupies the same position in both source
and target language (e.g. when prepositions are translated as prepositions, formal equivalence is
achieved). The latter is a matter of parole and can be achieved through translation shifts, i.e
structure shifts, class shifts, unit shifts and intra-system shifts. Catford opinions that textual
equivalence is achieved when the source and target items are "interchangeable in a given
situation" and “relatable to (at least some of) the same features of substance” , where substance
comprises writing, sound, and the things out there in the world (cited in Faucett 2003: 54-55).
In his works Approaches to Translation (1981) and A textbook of Translation (1988)
Newmark advances the “semantic” and “communicative” approaches to translation. Koller
(1979a) goes on to describe five different types of equivalence: dennotative, connotative, text-
normative, pragmatic, and formal.
Irrespective of the cultural or linguistic aspect involved in a translation, various definitions
on equivalence have been registered; Catford defines translation as “the replacement of textual
material in one language by equivalent textual material in onother language”. In the same vein,
for Savory (1968) translation involves rendering an equivalent of thought that lies behind its
different verbal idioms. For Nida and Taber (1969), “the closest natural equivalent” of the source
language message is a key factor in the translation process. Chesterman (1989) states that
“equivalence is obviously a central concept in translation theory”. Mona Baker sees at different
levels of equivalence, at the level of word, phrase, grammar, text, pragmatics. She also stated that
“equivalence is influenced by a variety of linguistic and cultural factors and is therefore always
relative (cited in Munday 2001:49). Furthermore, Kenny (1997) draws on the circularity of the
definitions of equivalence: “equivalence is supposed to define translation and translation, in turn,
defines equivalence”.
In his book About Translation (my translation), Ricoeur stated that “Translations produces
not only exchanges, but also equivalence; it is amazing how translation actually transfers the
meaning from one language into another, from one culture to another, achieving equivalence, and
not identity. Translation is the phenomenon of equivalence without identity” (Ricoeur 2005:
130).

26
 Equivalence or likeness is what Bantas and Croitoru said to be the same “homology, or the
fundamental resemblance and difference” (1999: 16).
In order to achieve maximal equivalence some translation methods and strategies are
required. Newmark mentions the difference between translation methods and translation
strategies. He writes that, "[w]hile translation methods relate to whole texts, translation
procedures are used for sentences and the smaller units of language" (1988b :81).
Newmark (1991) goes on to refer to the following methods of translation:
 Word-for-word translation: in which the source language word order is translated into
another language by their most common meanings, which can also be out of context at times,
especially in idioms or proverbs.
 Literal translation: here the source language grammatical constructions are converted to
their nearest target language equivalents, However, the lexical words are again translated singly,
out of context.
 Faithful translation: in which the translation attempts to produce the precise contextual
meaning of the original within the constraints of the target language grammatical structures.
 Semantic translation: refers to a 'faithful translation' which takes more account of the
aesthetic value of the source language text.
 Adaptation: it is the freest form of translation, and is used mainly for plays (comedies)
and poetry; the text is rewritten considering the source language culture, the themes, characters,
plots are usually preserved, and the source language culture is converted to the target language
culture
 Free translation: in which the target language text is produced without the style, form, or
content of the original.
 Idiomatic translation: a method which reproduces the 'message' of the original but tends
to distort nuances of meaning at times preferring colloquialisms and idioms that do not exist in
the original.
 Communicative translation: it displays the exact contextual meaning of the original in a
manner where both content and language are readily acceptable and comprehensible to the
readership (1988b: 45-47).
Newmark (ibid., p10-12) notes that there is a continuum between “semantic” and
“communicative” translation. Any translation can be “more, or less semantic—more, or less,
communicative—even a particular section or sentence can be treated more communicatively or
less semantically." Both seek an “equivalent effect”.
Strategy is a term that carries out different meanings; in its broadest sense, it represents the
plan of an action designed to achieve a specific goal. When taking into account the translation

27
strategies, they may reffer to the “translator’s pottentially plans for solving concrete translation
problems in the framework of a concrete translation task” (Krings 1986). In the translation
process, the translators may apply, in Seguinot’s (1989) opinion at least three global strategies:
1. translating without interruption for as long as possible; 2. correcting surface errors
immediately; 3. leaving the monitoring for qualitative or stylistic errors in the text to the revision
stage. It results that, in employing a strategy, the translator makes this in a conscious, strategic
way that distinguishes strategies from other processes that are not planned. Loescher (1991)
defines translation strategy as “potentially conscious procedure for solving a problem faced in
translating a text, or any segment of it”. In contrast, Bell (1998) differentiate between strategies
dealing with the whole text, which are called global, and those concerned with text segments,
which he defines as local. In the words of Jaaskelainen (1999), a strategy consists in “a series of
competencies, a set of steps or proccesses that favour the acquisition, storage, and/or utilization
of information”. He also mentions that strategies heuristic and flexible in nature and that are
among the translator’s objectives. Considering translation in terms of both proccess and product,
Jaakskelainen (2005) divides translation strategies into global and local, where global reffers to
what happens in the process of translation and local refers to what happens at the level of text.
She also mentions product-oriented strategies which involve a basic role of chosing the source
text and then developing a method in order to translate it. On the other hand, process-oriented
strategies she mentions, are “a set of (loosely formulated) rules or principles which a translator
uses to reach the goals determined by the translating situation”.
As far as we could see, a large number of proposed lists and taxonomies have been
accounted in the effort to define the translation process. Thus, Vinay and Darbelnet (1958/2000)
proposed two general translation strategies, ranging from borrowing to adaptation: direct
translation and oblique translation which comprise seven procedures that concerns French-
English translation, or non-translation in the case of borrowing; direct translation covers three:
borrowing (the SL word is transferred directly to the TL), calque (the SL expression or structure
is transferred in a literal translation), and literal translation (word-for-word translation that the
authors prescribe to be the proper translation). Oblique translation, in its turn, includes:
transposition (a change of one part of speech for another without changing the sense),
modulation (only justified when, although a literal, or even transposed, translation results in a
grammatically correct utterance, it is considered awkward), equivalence (a more restricted term,
particularly useful when translating proverbs to describe the same situation by different stylistic
or structural means), and adaptation (implies replacing the cultural word when it does not exist in
the target language). All of these methods can be categorised as cultural-linguistic or linguistic,

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although the purely linguistic operations are more frequently to occur, depending on the text type
in question.
In addition to the seven methods, Vinay and Darbelnet brings into disscusion such concepts
as dilution/concentration and amplification/economy that will be furthered thirty ears later by
Joseph Malone in his book The Science of Linguistics in the Art of Translation(1988). Here he
proposes generic techniques (or “trajections” as he calls them) :
 Matching is a generic proccess for Substitution and Equation ; it takes two forms: i)
alternation between Equation and Substitution for stylistic reasons; ii) replacement by something
that is neither Equation nor Substitution.
 Zigzagging is a gereric term for Divergence and Convergence; it occurs in situations
where the source language has what are called doublets, i.e. two words having the same meaning
but often with a connotational difference.
 Recrescence is the generic term for Amplification and Reduction; it provides
explanation rather than making cultural adaptation as a strategy for bridging anticipated gaps in
the target language.
 Repackaging, the generic term for Diffusion and Concentration and refers the process
of shifting between the two in the course of translating a text; whereas Amplification and
Reduction add or remove information, Diffusion and Condensation express the same information
in longer or shorter form.
 Reordering is a technique tackled by Malone in a short discussion in which he simply
enumerates and exemplifies situations where reordering words sequences is necessary for
comprehension.
Apart from literary, linguistic and cultural theories, translation is also looked at from a
modern, philosophical point of view. Hermeneutics, the theory of interpretation of meaning have
sought out the essence of translation. Steiner (1975/1998) uses the following four metaphors to
list the four-part interpretative strategies in translation:
1. initiative trust – the translator approaches the source text with trust that there is meaning
here; 2. aggresion – the translator takes over or “captures”the foreign text; 3. incorporation
(embodiment) – the text becomes part of the translator’s language; and 4. compensation
(restitution) – the translator restores something to the target text to compensate for what has been
taken away (in Hatim and Mason 2004).
Steiner has been severely criticized by the feminist translation theorists for his male-
dominant language. Despite it’s criticism, Steiner’s approach exerted a great influence on such
modern theorists as Berman and Venuti who, like Steiner do not equal good translation with
fluent domestication.

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 In his numerous case studies on translation, Lawrence Venuti does not provide some
specific strategies, but encompass a wide range of approaches to be adopted and advices the
translators to provide in their prefaces extracts of ST-TT pairs to show the dominant translation
strategy in a given context and culture. Additionally, Venuti (1998) indicates that the translator
has the basic task of carefully choosing the foreign text that is to be translated and to develop a
method to render the translation. As translation strategies, he advocates such concepts as
“domestication” and “foreignization” of which roots are traced back with Schleiermacher’s
preffered translation strategy, where “the translator leaves the writer alone, as much as possible,
and moves the reader towards the author”. The foreignization method, also termed “resistancy”
is a non-fluent or enstranging translation style, which highlights the foreign identity of the source
text and protects it from the dominance of the target culture. Venuti deplores, instead, the
domestication phenomenon because it includes “an ethnocentric reduction of the foreign text to
target-language cultural values” and allies with the Schleiermacher’s second translation strategy
in which the “translator leaves the reader in peace, as much as possible, and moves the author
towards him”. This method entails a transparent, fluent, invisible style in order to minimize the
foreigness on the target text. (in Munday 2001: 146-147).
In his Approaches to translation (1988b), Newmark proposes different translation
strategies, as follows:
 Transference: it is the process of transferring an SL word to a TL text. It includes
transliteration and is the same as what Harvey (2000:5) named “transcription”.
 Naturalization: it adapts the SL word first to the normal pronunciation, then to the normal
morphology of the TL .
 Cultural equivalent: it means replacing a cultural word in the SL with a TL one. however,
“they are not accurate”
 Functional equivalent: it requires the use of a culture-neutral word.
 Descriptive equivalent: in this procedure the meaning of the CBT is explained in several
words.
 Componential analysis: it means “comparing an SL word with a TL word which has a
similar meaning but is not an obvious one-to-one equivalent, by demonstrating first their
common and then their differing sense components”.
 Synonymy: it is a "near TL equivalent." Here economy trumps accuracy.
 Through-translation: it is the literal translation of common collocations, names of
organizations and components of compounds. It can also be called: calque or loan translation.
 Shifts or transpositions: it involves a change in the grammar from SL to TL, for instance,
(i) change from singular to plural, (ii) the change required when a specific SL structure does not

30
exist in the TL, (iii) change of an SL verb to a TL word, change of an SL noun group to a TL
noun and so forth.
 Modulation: it occurs when the translator reproduces the message of the original text in
the TL text in conformity with the current norms of the TL, since the SL and the TL may appear
dissimilar in terms of perspective. (
 Recognized translation: it occurs when the translator “normally uses the official or the
generally accepted translation of any institutional term”.
 Compensation: it occurs when loss of meaning in one part of a sentence is compensated
in another part.
 Paraphrase: in this procedure the meaning of the CBT is explained. Here the explanation
is much more detailed than that of descriptive equivalent.
 Couplets: it occurs when the translator combines two different procedures.
 Notes: notes are additional information in a translation.
Notes can appear in the form of “footnotes” Although some stylists consider a translation
sprinkled with footnotes terrible with regard to appearance, nonetheless, their use can assist the
TT readers to make better judgments of the ST contents. Nida (1964:237-39) advocates the use
of footnotes to fulfill at least the two following functions: (i) to provide supplementary
information, and (ii) to call attention to the original's discrepancies.

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 CHPATER 2 A Theoretical Approach to Text Typology

2.1. Defining the text

For most people, conversation is the most common type of spoken language that they
produce. But people listen to many different kinds of spoken language: television shows,
commercials, radio or television news reports, classroom lectures, political speeches, sermons,
and so on. Written language also plays a very important role in daily life for many people.
Students usually produce many kinds of writing: notes during class sessions, written
assignments, term papers, and possibly numerous text messages and/or e-mail messages. But
similar to spoken language, most people read more than they write. In fact, many people read
even more different kinds of texts than they listen to: newspaper articles, editorials, novels, e-
mail messages, blogs, text messages, letters and ads in the mail, magazine articles, ads in
magazines, textbooks, research articles, and other written assignments or handouts.
It is clearly evident that language does not exist in isolation from its users not they from
the society in which they live and it is equally evident that language, whether as knowledge or as
communication does not consist of individual, isolated sentences. The analysis of language, as a
system of communication goes beyond the norrow focus on sentence (the microlinguistics) into
the text - the pragmatics of the language (the macrolinguistics); the textual “turn” as Hatim and
Mason (2004:67) puts it was gaining momentum throughout the 1970s.
Human language is a complex system, so diversely organized and manifested that the
science of linguistics is naturally a subject to continuous change. The notion of text linguistics, a
sub-discipline of the linguistics is a kind of umbrella that allows the study of the different
disciplines of linguistics more relevant. A linguistics of texts, as a sector of an integrated science
of texts, tries to answer such issues as whether linguistic theories and models are useful to other
disciplines concerned with language, and whether these theories contributes to improving
language-based skills among society. The study of text linguistics- (an interdisciplinary
research), especially the study of the variety of texts (which will be discussed in the following
chapter) that are possible in a language is however unattainable except from a linguistic
perspective and different approaches have been set forth:
 A text grammar (cf. Van Dijk 1972, similar to Chomsky’s transformational
method) aims to establish a model with which texts are studied above the level of the sentence. It
shows how texts are put together so as to convey ideas, facts, messages, and fiction.

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  In contrast text linguistics (cf. de Beaugrande&Dessler 1981, Carstens 1997)
describes how texts are created and understood, what are their defining properties and what
constitutes their textuality or texture.
 Discourse analysis, very much like text grammar is concerned with natural
language use; discourse analysis traditionally entails the analysis of written texts – especially the
“…analysis of utterances as social interaction”” (Schiffrin 1994) , later it would include spoken
language, since speech is the parent of rhetoric (the ancient study of persuasive speaking).
The oldest form of preoccupation with texts can be found back in Ancient Greece and
Rome, in Rhetoric. The traditional outlook of rhetoricians was influenced by their major task of
training public orators. The main areas were usually the following: invention, the discovery of
ideas; disposition, the arrangement of ideas; elocution, the discovery of appropriate expressions
for ideas; and memorization prior to delivery on the actual occasion of speaking. In the Middle
Ages, rhetoric belonged to the “trivium” (three studies) alongside grammar (formal language
patterns, usually Latin and Greek) and logic (construction of arguments and proofs).
Texts have been an object of inquiry for Literary Studies, which have developed linguistic
methods for the description of texts, from the early Russian Formalists (Jakobson, Propp,
Tomasevskij only to mention a few) and The Prague Structuralists to the ascendancy of
transformational grammar ; the aim was to distinguish literary or poetic language from everyday
language with emphasis on certain text types. Scholars attempted to develop a more systematic
and objective study by describing the text production processes and results of an author, or a
group of authors in some time period or setting by revealing some problematic or contestable
senses for texts, assigning values to texts.
Literary studies can also greatly profit from the interdisciplinary science of texts providing
a theoretical framework for literary studies in the broader context of social action and interaction.
The investigation of the use of literary texts is an expanded investigation of literary texts and
literary criticism would become an object of inquiry as well as a means for critics to attest the
presence and meaningness of a particular text.
Texts have also come under the scrutinity of Sociology in that the conversation was
analyzed as a mode of social interaction and the study of social class differences. For example,
studies have been conducted on how people take turns in speaking, how people adapt their
language behaviour in certain group encounters, how speaking conventions are established or
changed, how social dominances emerge in speaking, and so forth.
The science of texts, if we may name it so, has broadened its limits with the study of
conversation: the continual, mutual exchange of a set of relevant texts directed to each other is a
mechanism that revealed major aspects about the standards of textuality.

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 Anthropologists like Vladimir Propp and Claude Levi-Strauss developed a special interest
for texts as they investigate folktales, rituals, myths, and other cultural institutions centered
around specific text types. The anthropological approach to texts was supported by a linguistic
method known as tagmemics, a method which looks beyond the limits of both sentences and
texts towards such complexes as human interaction and provides valuable data about the
disappearing languages in remote places. Its major contribution to the science of texts consists in
acknowledging the relationship between language and the settings of communication.
A science of texts can be instrumental to Translation Studies and De Beaugrande opinions
in this respect that a translated text can only be equivalent with its original in the “experience of
the participants”. He thinks that the translator must not incorporate his/her own experience into
the text as it would lead to the receiver’s nothing to do; the translator must convey instead the
“same kind of experience with the same king of language material, and to expand, reduce, or
modify textual components only as far as necessary to minimize a divergence of experience” (De
Beaugrande 1981). The literary translations illustrates best these considerations as literary and
poetic texts make use of alternative organizations of the world in order to draw on special
processing activities from the receivers. The translator tends to interfere in the textual
organization by making their own processing activities and thus, equivalence of experience is
rendered impossible and the receivers find their mental tasks pre-empted. That is why, in De
Beaugrande’s opinion, a science of texts should assist the translator’s work.
The Czech scholar Levy stated that the translator tends to “intellectualize” the translated
text by making it more logical, by “explicitating the implicit” (quoted from Fawcett 2003:100).
The work of BlumKulka (1986) and Baker (1993) concentrated on the phenomenon of defining
features of translation as text that lead to “explicitation hypothesis” which states that translations
will as a general principle be more explicit than the original text. Baker (1992: 243) also suggest
that the translated texts will simplify and disambiguate, naturalize and normalize in relation to
originals. Toury (1995) has exposed his researching results in one of his “laws of translation”
which refers to the tolerance of some languages for “translationese” (a term coined by Alan Duff
in 1981 with regard to translation mistakes, also called “the third language” ) or “interference”.
As De Beaugrande (1981) puts it translating “ entails above all the actualization of
language, and the traditional linguistic preoccupation with virtual, self-contained systems
impeded the development of translation theory” .
The study of language (linguistics was considered in the 1960s as a separate field based on
purely internal considerations of describing language structures) interacts nowadays with other
language-related disciplines such as: psychology, sociology, philosophy, computer science,
semiotics, cybernetics, education, and literary studies; it signals thus a shift from the restrictive,

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sentential perspective (envisioned by Chomsky and his followers) which held the idea that the
sentences are isolated from the communicative context to a more textual, discoursal approach
( Van Dijk, De Beaugrande& Dressler, Tannen) that focuses on natural occurance and
manifestation of language. Is was in fact a move from an emphasis on abstract forms to the
interest in the utilization proccesses of language.
Different accounts on the notion of sentence as a pivotal element for the language structure
have been registered since classical antiquity and this basic entity has been defined on various
criteria, rather divisiving than unifying, with radically distinct functional implications. In
transformational grammar language is in principle defined as a set of senteces. De
Beaugrande(1980) stated in that the sentence “provides no more that a grammatical format into
which semantic and pragmatic unities must be mapped” and he asserts that the multi-level entity
of language must be the text composed of stretches of text which may or may not be considered
as sentences. The author makes some very important distinctions between text and sentence: the
text is referred to as an actual system (where system is considered to be a unity of mutually
relevant elements or items whose occurance have the function to contribute to the workings of
the whole), while sentences are constituents of a virtual system. The text is an instance of a
human action in which a person manifests his intentions and determines the text receivers to
build various relationships, while the sentence is a distribution of morphemes and symbols.
Furthermore, a text is characterized according to some standards (communicative strategies for
rendering a text) of textuality instead the sentence is a purely grammatical entity ascribed only to
syntax. A text must be relevant in the terms of its actual occurrence, in which as the author
opinions a “constellation of strategies, expectations, and knowledge” actively coexist forming a
wide environment, called context. A computer working only with a grammar or lexicon (both
virtual systems) would not be able to operate reliably, because it could not evaluate the context;
it is equipped with prior knowledge, being able only to decide what concepts and relations will
be preferentially combined in the text world. The relation between the text and its readers (users)
is seen as a progression between the knowledge state (the comprehension of the text), the
emotional state (the psychological factors embedded in mental processing the text), and social
state (people’s social conventions). Texts implies other texts, quite differently than sentences do.
Sentences requires grammatical knowledge from their users, instead texts implies experiental
knowledge of specific actual occurences, the condition, in fact, of intertextuality.
The early inquiries into text organization were essentially descriptive and structurally
based (Pike 1967; Koch 1971, Heger 1976) with occasional expansion of the framework to
include text sequences or situations of occurance. Text was seen as a larger unit than the sentence
and this approach was oriented towards discovering and classifying types of text structure,

35
assumed to be something given, rather than something construed by the reader and dependent on
context. It was, however, De Beagrande and Dressier’s procedural approach that evolved out of
other views : ‘We end up having classifications with various numbers of categories and degrees
of elaboration, but no clear picture of how texts are utilized in social activity’ (1981, p. 23). By
this approach they mean that “all the levels of a language are to be described in terms of their
utilization” and they (ibid., p.3 ) define text as a “communicative occurance” which meets seven
standards (renamed in 1995 by De Beaugrande as constitutive “principles”) of textuality and are
reffered to as cohesion, coherence, intentionality, acceptability, informativity, contextuality and
intertextuality. Beaugrande proposes that the texts itself be viewed as an actual system, “a set of
elements functioning together”. Several years after R. Bell draws on the text as “a structured
sequence of linguistic expressions forming a unitary whole” (Bell 1991: 162).
Cohesion, the first principle and one of the most interesting aspect of textuality describes
the way in which the components of the surface text, i.e, the words we actually hear and see, “are
mutually connected” (De Beaugrande and Dressler 1981); it depends on grammatical devices to
guarantee text integrity.
There have been set forth different approaches to the notion of cohesion: in terms of
grammatical unit (words) by Crystal (1997), in terms of syntactic unit (sentence) by Matthews
(1997). Halliday and Hasan argued that “the concept of cohesion accounts for the essential
semantic relations whereby any passage of speech or writing is enabled to function as text”
(1976:13). For them it refers to the relation of meaning that (i)exist within text, (ii)gives text
texture and (iii) defines the text as text. They also provide a practical means for describing and
analyzing texts, such as: reference, substitution, ellipsis, conjunction, and lexical cohesion.
It seems that there are two general ways of achieving cohesion: firstly through a set of
grammatical devices such as the sequence of tenses or junctives that organize the text in time,
space and logic, and secondly there is a set of lexico-grammatical devices used to maintain links
of identity between items of semantic information in text.
Coherence, the second principle, as De Beaugrande named it, and the twin of cohesion,
concerns the way in which the components of the textual world, i.e., the disposition of the
cognitive contents which appear together in the text and the links between them, underlie the
surface text. In other words, a text must be fully understood, otherwise a “good” text was not
produced, it has to be a network of meaning relations both within the text and between the text
and the real world to act as the Ariadne 's thread for the reader. The description provided by
Neubert and Shreve (1992) is however very useful in understanding it: “A coherent text has the
underlying logical structure that acts to guide the reader through the text” so that “it sticks

36
together as a unit” (Hatch 1992:209) and creates the “feeling that a text hangs together, that it
makes sense, and is not just a jumble of sentences” (McCarthy 1991:26).
Intentionality and acceptability are generally considered as a “pair” of principles and refer,
in the first case to the text producer’s attitude that the set of occurances should have a cohesive
and coherente fulfilment or to attain a goal according to a specific plan, whilst the second
concerns the receiver’s attitude towards accepting the text as having some use or relevance; this
attitude comes from such factors as text type, social or cultural setting, and the effectiveness of
goals. Both producer and addressee have to adhere to the pragmatic cooperative principle which
states that one has to make the maximum effort to enable a piece of intended communication to
be a success.
Informativity, the fifth standard of textuality is linked to such dichotomies as expected vs.
unexpected or known vs. unknown/certain features of the text. Informativity broadly has to do
with the extent to which the text have a communicative value. Low informativity, says De
Beaugrande may cause boredom, disturbance and even the rejection of the text.
Contextuality focuses on the very important role the context plays in any form of
communication . Trask (1995) opinions that every text – that is everything that is said or written
–displays in some context of use. This means that every situation in which language is used, the
quality and effect of the communication is influenced by the contextual knowledge shared by the
participants. Contextuality intersects thus with such fields as pragmatics which focuses on what
the participants in a discourse intend to accomplish through the use of language and
sociolinguistics that aims to study the relation between language as a human prerogative and the
environment within it develops, the success of the communicative occurance.
Intertextuality is the least linguistic principle of all and refers to the factors which make the
utilization of one text dependent upon knowledge of one or more previously encountered texts.
Intertextuality is believed to be responsible for the evolution of text types as classes of texts with
typical patterns of characteristics. If for example one read a poem, it would be reasonable to
expect to understand it if she/he have read other poems in the past. It is the same thing with a
newspaper article: it is accepted likewise because of the past experience with this type of articles.
If any of these standards is not considered to have been accomplished, the text will not be
therefore communicative, it will be a non-text. All seven standards of textuality have been
implied although not directly expressed in the process of translation and also in the knowledge
and skills the translator possesses which allow him to translate. But there arises immediately a
question: How are proper texts distinguished from non-texts? The answer lies in that for a text to
be a text (i.e. to demonstrate “texture”) must fulfill three conditions, the defining characteristics
of a text:

37
 a) belong to a recognizable genre or register (a condition that departs from the linguistic
system, belonging to the more wide semiotic system of communication), or, in other words to
have a generic structure;
b) possess a theme and carry an information, or to have a textual structure.
c) have internal cohesion (cf. Bell 1991: 150).
In the light of such considerations a text is seen as “a unit which carries the semantic sense
of the proposition (the propositional content and locutionary force of the speech act) through
sentences which are linked by means of cohesion” (ibid., p. 163). Texts are examined in terms of
their communicativeness and meaning, considered in a rather restrictive manner at word- and
sentence-level it is now assigned a semantic sense and a communicative value.
Apart from the constitutive principles, De Beaugrande (1980) introduces further three
regulative principles that control the textual communication: the text efficiency refers to
communicating with a minimum expenditure of effort by the participants, text effectiveness that
refers to its leaving a strong impression upon the participants and the text appropriateness which
is the agreement between its setting and the ways in which the standards of textuality are upheld.
As we could see, text linguistics is a discipline which analyses the linguistic regularities
and constitutive features of the text. The development of the discipline is reflected in the various
definitions of text. If one considers ‘text’ as a sequence of sentences and thereby a unit of the
linguistic system, text linguistics is an expanded sentence grammar and therefore constitutes
discourse grammar. The methods of sentence analysis are transferred to transphrastic analysis
and lead to the composition of text grammatical rules of cohesion. If one understands ‘text’ as a
communicative unit, further features like text function or text theme result from text-grammatical
regularities.
Once we analyze texts from a communicative standpoint, we arrive at a point where some
issues may arise about the functions of the texts.
Text function refers to the dominant communicative function of a text; it is conventionally
determined and is signaled by linguistic or situational features of text type, such as performative
verbs, headlines, and communication media, among others. In addition to speech act
classification, Brinker distinguishes five basic communicative functions as the basis for a
typology of usage texts: information, appeal, obligation, contact, declaration. The notion of text
function has been the basis of various attempts to make translation scientific or objectively
justifiable an one of the pioneers in this work was the German scholar Katharina Reiss, who
stated that wants to avoid a situation in which “the door is open to the caprice of the translator”
(quoted in Faucett 2003: 104)

38
 Text theme refers to the core of a text which carries its communicative function The text
theme develops according to a special text structure which determines the structure of the text .
Some text sorts signal the text theme by using a headline.
Text function and text theme are closely connected to the language functions, or more
relevant what are the functions of a language as a context-sensitive communication system or its
external aspect? I shall outline in what follows the language functions starting from the
traditional model which suggested that language played three major roles:
cognitive, generally seen as a primary function of language which expresses concepts,
ideas, thoughts;
evaluative, thought of as a secondary function which expresses attitudes and values;
affective often considered as a secondary function which expresses emotions and feelings.
The traditional model might, however inherently display the danger of overlap and
consequently, later scholars strive to set up a more complex taxonomies of language functions
and different authors use different terms in this respect. Notably is Jakobson’s model (he was
influenced by Buhler’s organon-model ) who defined six functions of language (Fig.5),
according to which an effective act of verbal communication can be described.
1. Referential function corresponds to the factor of Context and describes a situation,
object or mental state, event and relaationships which constitute the real worl of out experiences.
The descriptive statements of the referential function can consist of both definite descriptions
and deictic words, e.g. “The autumn leaves have all fallen now.”
2. Emotive function (alternatively called "expresive" or "affective") relates to the
Addresser and is best exemplified by interjections and other sound changes that do not alter the
denotative meaning of an utterance but do add information about the Addresser's (speaker's)
internal state of mind, feelings, health, e.g. “ I feel pretty sad” or “Wow, what a view!”
3. Conotative function engages the addressee directly and is best illustrated by vocatives
and imperatives, e.g. “Alex! Come here a minute!”
4. Poetic function. In this case it focuses on "the message for its own sake" (Duranti 1997)
and the selection of elements from the code which draw attention to themselves and, hence, to
the text; the poetic function is not the preserve of the poet alone but is used as well in story-
telling and joke telling, children’s rhymes, football shouts, slogans, etc.
5. Phatic function is language for the sake of interaction and is therefore associated with
the Contact factor. The Phatic Function can be observed in greetings and casual discussions of
the weather, particularly with strangers. It may appear that the phatic is referential but this is true
in the secondary sense that it is difficult to communicate in language without reffering to
something.

39
 6. Metalinguistic function (also called "metalingual" or "reflexive") is the use of language
(what Jakobson calls “Code”) to discuss or describe itself. Dictionaries and grammars have the
most metalinguistic function as, indeed, has the whole of discourse in the discipline of linguistics
itself. There are metalinguistics texts produced by non-linguists in which communicators
frequently check their speech as they go along, especially when they verbalize the search for an
appropriate item: e.g. “Perchaps we should look into opportunities for fu…fu…funding. No
that’s not it. I’ve lost the word. What do you call it when a company gives a student money to do
research? Sponsorship. That’s it. Yes. Sponsorship” (in Bell 1993: 195).

CODE
metalinguistic

CHANNEL
Phatic
ADDRESSER MESSAGE ADDRESSEE
emotive poetic conotative

CONTEXT
referential

Figure. 5 The six factors of an effective verbal communication

All these functions are reperable in all languages, although not to the same degree. The
translator’s job is to know not only the forms available but the correct circumstances in which
they will be used.
The following chapter extends the notion of text into the notion of text processing which
includes the building of a text typology; recognizing and producing appropriate realizations of
different text type are essential topics which need to be tackled by the translator as a translation
can not be adequately carried out without substantial knowledge of the formal and functional
characteristics of the text and of the typological set to which it belongs.
Paz states in his short work on translation that all texts, being part of a literary system
descended from and related to another systems, are “translations of translation of translations”:
“Every text is unique and, at the same time it is the translation of another text. No text is entirely
original because language itself, in its essence, is already a translation (…) Every translation, up
to a certain point, is an invention and as such it constitutes a unique text” ( In Bassnett 2002:46).

40
 2.2. Text Typology

Text Typology is concerned with the identification of the criteria leading to the
classification (typology) of texts (or texts types, text classes, styles, genres). Within a
hierarchical typology, classes of texts can be formed according to text-external and text-internal
criteria.
Depending on the criteria adopted, there are several possibilities of classifying texts (a)
according to the pragmatic criteria of the text function, directions, literary text, rhetorical text,
informational text; (b) according to pragmatic criteria of communicative distance: written and
spoken text, radio broadcasts, letters, conversations; (c) according to the thematic development:
descriptive text, argumentative text, dissertations, narratives, description.
In order to “make sense” of a text, Bell considers that the reader (and the translator) is
confronted with three major problems: (1) what is the text about, (2) what was the writer’s
purpose in producing it and (3) what is its plausible context” (original italics).
One of the seven standards of textuality (which all well-formed texts or their translations)
that we noted in the previous chapter referred to the notion of intertextuality meaning that
individual texts resemble other texts. It is this very resemblance that the translator draws upon in
understanding a text. The key concept in this respect is that “each individual text is a token -a
realization- of some ideal type” (ibid., 202). According to Bell, intertextuality is referred to as the
shared characteristics between a particular text and other texts; the elements which permit the
text-users to recognize, in a new text, features of another texts they have encounter.
Neubert&Shreve (1992) see intertextuality connected to the notion of text-type, and
intertextual distinctions are “first-order text-typological distinctions”. They also make a
distinction between a text-processor (text reader) and the analyst, stating that intertextuality is
based on what the former expects to see in a text and that intertextuality allows the readers to
distinguish scientific text from poems on the basis of their previous experiences with these two
types of text which made them to search for different linguistic markers.
Bell states that the difficulty in processing a text derives not from abstract potentialities of
a language (the virtual system), but from the text itself as an “actual system in which selections
and decisions have already been made” and, this is the reason for a typology of texts “must be
correlated with typologies of discourse actions and situations” (De Beaugrande quoted in Bell:
202). It was suggested thus a formal typology of texts and this immediately calls to mind the
“form vs function” debate or whether we should be concerned with how something is said as
opposed to what is intented.

41
 The formal approach focused on the topic (the semantic sense, the propositional context) of
the text, making use of quantitative measures: frequency of occurances of particular lexical items
or syntactic structures.which were thought able to typify the language of science.
The text linguistic view concerning what is said vs what is intended is acutely signalled by
De Beaugrande: “the word can not be the unit of translation” (quoted from Hatim and Mason
2004:71). His statement resonates with the idea that the text is the minimal unit of
communication and the cognitive content is yielded not by “purely formal features, but rather as
a result of an intense …evaluation of the communicative relevance of formal features” (ibid.,
75).
As an alternative, a series of functional typologies emerged (a few based on the notion of
degrees of translatability) which initiated the Prague school functional stylistics and the
elaboration of the theory of functional styles; the functional approach is present in the works of
Gal’perin (1977) who differentiates five functional styles of English (the publicistic, newspaper,
scientific prose, belles-lettres styles and the style of official documents), and of Crystal and Davy
(1969) who provide an indepth analysis of five “languages” (conversation, unscripted
commentary, religion, newspaper reporting and legal documents). The majority of the functional
typologies were based on the tripartite aspect of language starting from the 1930s with the
psychologist Buhler’s organon theory of language (already mentioned in the previous chapter)
where language is seen as a tool depending on whether the major focus of the text is on: (1)
expressive (2) informative and (3) vocative. The semanticist Stiehler (1970) associated this three
language functions with the realization of three types of human cognition: thinking (or
perceiving), feeling and willing. The linguist Coseriu (1970) sees the three functions in terms of
their relative dominance in linguistic utterances, and thus distinguishes three language forms: a
descriptive, declarative or informative language form. The classification practically correlates the
main objective of a language form to one of the three elements in the communicative process, i.e.
sender – receiver - topic and makes it possible to list text-types under each function.
The work of Reiss (1971) subscribe to the same functional approach and aims initially at
finding a better basis for judging the quality of a translation. She draws on the concept of
equivalence but views the text as a whole rather then the word or sentences as the level at which
communication is achieved. As Reiss states, the text-type will decide the translation strategies:
“If we have done this, then – since the text type co-determines the appropriate translation method
– we can begin by investigating whether the translation has correctly followed the hierarchy of
what must be preserved…” (Reiss quoted in Fawcett 2003:104). It is clearly evident that there
must be a system for deciding what type the text is and she provides her own typology on the
basis of the most well-known classical text typologies: Buhler’s three-way categorization of the

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functions of language, Stiehler’s types of human cognition and Coseriu’s language forms. Reiss
links the three functions to their corresponding situations in which they are used (Table nr. 1 ).

Buhler Stiehler types Coseriu Reiss text

functions of of human cognition language forms types
linguistic signs
Informative thinking, descriptive, informative
(Darstellung) perceiving declarative,
informative
Expressive feeling Expressive, expressive
(Ausdruck) affective,
emotive
Vocative willing vocative, operative
(Appell) imperative

Table nr. 1 Text typology after Reiss (1976)

Reiss also accepts that there will be many intersections and mixed forms but argues that
one function will predominate, a determining factor by which the translated text is judged. The
main features of each text type are summarized as follows:
Informative
- “Plain communication of facts” :information, knowledge, opinions, etc;
The language dimension used to transmit the information is logical or referential, the
“content” or topic must be preserved at all costs, and any “flourishes of style” can undoubtely be
sacrificed to that purpose;
The translator should aim for semantic equivalence and translation method will be “plain
prose”.
The text will is structured primarly on the semantic-syntactic level.
Expressive
- “Creative composition”: the author or “sender” as well as the message are foregrounded;
the author exploits the expressive and associative possibilities of language in order to
communicate his thoughts in an artistic, creative way;
- The translation method must rely on analogous means, following as Reiss puts it an
“author-adapted” translation method to produce the same, or at least a similar effect;
- The text is doubly structured: first on the syntactic-semantic level, and on the level of
artistic organisation.

43
 Operative
- “Inducing behavioural responses” as stimuli to action or reaction on the part of the
reader; the equivalence is achieved if the SL and TL texts have the same persuasive effect;
- The language dimension is appellative used to persuade the reader or receiver of the text
to act in a certain way;
- The translation method will be what Reiss calls “parodistic/adaptive”, meaning that if one
intents to sell a product worldwide, he/she have to adapt the name to local conditions.
- The text is doubly or triply structured: on the semantic –structural level, on the level of
persuasion, and sometimes but not necessarily, on the level of artistic organisation.
Audio-medial that is governed not by the function but by exterior factors such as
medium. It includes films, visual and spoken advertisments which supplements the other
three with visual images, music, etc.
Translation strategies and techniques will be inevitably influenced by the text type and
Reiss dedicates a separate treatment of the operative text types, showing the relation of each text
type to linguistic factors (semantic, lexical, grammatical and stylistic) and to non-linguistic
factors (place, time, situation, receiver, sender, and “affective implications” – humour, irony,
emotion, etc).
Each major text type contains subdivisions into numerous text sorts, such as lyric, play or
novel for the expressive type, text book, report and essay for the informative type, and sermon,
propaganda and advert for the operative or persuasive type.
Reiss’s examples of text varieties and genres (Textsorte) associated with each of the three
types given are presented visually by Chesterman (1989) (Fig. 7). Text varieties have been
defined by Gniffke-Hubrig as “fixed forms of public or private communication” which have
their own history in the language communities as a result to repeatedly sequences of linguistic
occurances-e.g. letter, recipe, sonnet, fairy-tale, etc. (quoted in Munday 2004:185).
Text varieties can also determine different text types: e.g. a letter can take the form of a
private letter about a personal matter and resorts to the informative type, or, a epistolary novel
which is of an expressive type, a beginning letter which belongs to the operative type.
The three text types mentioned in principle all forms of written texts, but we also must take
into consideration that there are also compound types which contain the all three communicative
functions at the same time or in alternate stages and these considerent is best illustrated by a
didactic poem (the information is transmitted in an artistic forms, or a satirical novel (the
behavioural responses are transmitted via an artistic form).
In their book on translation, Hatim and Mason (2004) suggest to apply the classification of
the three basic text types to the assessment of translation (in Reiss’s terms), then it would result

44
that a translation is successful if it: “(1) guarantee direct and full access to the conceptual content
of the SL text in an informative text; (2) transmits a direct impression of the artistic form of the
conceptual content in an expressive text, and (3) produces a text form which will directly elicit
the desired response in an operative text” (ibid., p. 184).
The three basic text types are distinguished one from another taking into consideration
such factors as the intention (or the rhetorical purpose) of the text producer, and the function
which a text performs in actual use, factors (intentionality and acceptability in Beaugrande’s
terminology) that we have already mentioned in the previous chapter.
Anna Trosbor (1997) states that there have been along time two basic criteria according to
which texts are classified:
i) according to purpose, based on communicative functions which suggest that texts are
intended to inform, to express an attitude, to persuade, and to create a debate;
ii) according to type or mode of discourse, where the focus is rhetorical strategies and
thus texts are: descriptive, narrative, expository, argumentative, instrumental.
She also maintains that while communicative purpose is the aim of a text, rhetorical
purpose encompass strategies which constitutes the mode of discourse realized through text
types and that there is, however an interaction between communicative purpose and rhetorical
purpose in that to persuade it is possible to narrate, describe or argue.
Hatim and Mason (1990) considers that text types are “a conceptual framework which
enables us to classify texts in terms of commmunicative intentions serving an overall rhetorical
purpose”.
In contrast to the monofunctional approach advocated by Reiss, Halliday proposed a
multifunctional approach to texts which tries to make a connection between text function, the
categories of systemic linguistics, and those of register analysis. It is believed that most texts
communicate ideas (this gives them an ideational function) and contains within it human
experiences.
Halliday states that when processing a text, it is very important to take into consideration
the context in which the text was produced. The notion of context entails the context of situation-
register (the variations of language use or, in other words, how language is manoeuvred to
convey meaning) and the context of culture – described in terms of genre (the variations of
social context). Both context of situation and culture “are the technical concepts employed to
explain the meaning and function of variation between texts” which “get 'into' text by
influencing the words and structures that text-producers use” (Eggins and Martin, 1997:232-
234).

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 In the Hallidyan terms, the notion of genre is seen as mirroring the conventionalised forms
of social occasions which determine the conventionalised forms of texts. In the same vein, for
Berkenkotter&Huckin (1995) adopt a sociocognitive theory of genres seen as“..repertoires of
typified social responses in reccuring situations used to package speech and make it recognizable
to the exigencies of the situation”. Genre is thus a mocrolevel concept, a communicative act
within a discoursive network. For some scholars (Biber 1989) genres are defined on the basis of
external criteria (newspaper articles), or, on the basis of communicative purpose or linguistic
content or form (Swales 1990, Bhatia 1995). Swales sees genre in terms of socio-rhetorical
context, where the community and communicative purpose are the defining criteria of genre.
Genre is as follows seen as a social action which operates as a mechanism to clarifying what are
the communicative goals.
Hasan and Halliday (1985) opinions that “texts belonging to the same genre can vary in
their structure”. Pure narration, description, exposition and argumentation is hardly to occur. A
particular genre may make use of several modes of presentation.
Register, in Halliday’s view (1978) is thought of as “a useful abstraction linking variations
of language to variations of social context" and breaks it down into three variables, each having
a specific kind of meaning: field, mode, and tenor. These meanings (which form the discourse
semantics of a text) are seen as metafunctions that, in their turn are realized through
lexicogrammatical patterns: transitivity, modality, thematic and information structures and
cohesion (choices of wording and syntactic structure).
According to Halliday, texts form part of communicative situation:
 field refers to “what is happening, to the nature of the social action that is taking
place,” and is associated a ideational meaning covering linguistic content;
 mode concerns “what it is that the participants [of a transaction] are expecting
language to do for them in that situation,” and is associated a textual meaning, involving
medium, channel, and nature of paricipation;
 tenor has to do with who are taking part in the transaction as well as the "nature of
the participants, their status and roles and is associated a interpersonal meaning covering
communicative functions in relation to sender/receiver poles.
These three register variables describe the relationship between language function and
language form, or, otherwise the three variables’s particular values are the outcome of the
linguistic features which are typically associated with a configuration of situational features.
Metafunctions take prior analysis in Halliday’s model as, in a text the lexicogrammatical
patterns reveals how metafunctions are working and how the text “means” (Munday 2001: 90).

46
 Halliday’s model shows a strong interrelation between the surface-level realizations of the
linguistic functions and the sociocultural framework. The genre (the conventional text type that
is associated with a specific communicative function , for example a business letter) is
conditioned by the sociocultural environment and itself determines other elements in the
framework.
Social environment

Genre

REGISTER - field, tenor, mode

DISCOURSE SEMANTICS - Ideational, interpersonal, textual

LEXICOGRAMMAR – transitivity, modality , theme-rheme/cohesion

Figure. 6 The relation of genre and register to language

In their book on translation Hatim and Munday (2004) stated that in the light of the
relevance model (coined by Gutt in the 1990s - arised as a response to the “textual” turn -from
the 1970s - could be exemplified in that one would not seek intended relevance in a novel’s
historical accuracy of detail the way one would in an historical reference book) the term
“textual” is used in a “fairly generic sense, covering quite an assortment of textual products:
eulogies, summaries, novels, comic strips, commentaries, abstracts, text books, hymn books,
historical reference books, etc” (ibid., p. 192). They further opinion that these examples are not
all text types, some are texts proper (summaries, commentaries), others belong to genres
(eulogies, novels, comic strips).
The notion of genre in translation is seen by James (1989) as either an abstract one -the
translation itself may be seen as a genre) - which reflects the overall effect of choices made and
felt to be intrinsic to any act of translation (i.e. the translational sense of genre), or, in a more
concrete sense of genre which involves all kinds of purposeful activities with which a translation
has to do and which revolves around conventionalized communicative events, i.e the linguistic
sense of genre, as in a cooking recipe, the academic abstract. James states that the most coherent
texts are those perceived as instances of genres and the most coherent genres fall into two
classes: the technical text (everyday texts) and the literary texts (the least coherent) which

47
“derive their interest from innovative violation of the expectations held by the reader” (in Hatim
and Munday 2004:194).
Anna Trosbor (1997) believes that the relationship between text types and genres is not
clear-cut and there is a need for distinguishing one from another; while text types may be defined
on the basis of cognitive categories or linguistic criteria, constitutes a closed set with only a
limited number of categories, genres reflect differences in external format and situations of use,
and are defined on the basis of non-linguistic criteria and form an open-ended set.
Biber (1995) also makes the above distinction; he thinks that genre is influenced by
cultural and external criteria, whereas text types can be derived from text themselves,
irrespective of their genre.
Texts have therefore been classified from different criteria, such as Kinneavy’s (1980)
cognitive categorization, in terms of how reality can be viewed; this model offers ways of
conceptualizing, perceiving and portraying the world:
 Narration: our dynamic view on reality that bears continuum changes;
 Evaluation: our dynamic view on reality which have the potential to be different;
 Description: our static view focused on individual experience;
 Classification: focuses on groups. (in Trosbor 1997)
Werlich’s (1976) five text type or modes are also cognitive categories (which will be later
adopted by Hatim and Mason (1990), Biber (1980)- based on linguistic criteria, Albrecht(1995)
and include:
 Description: differentiation and interrelation of perceptions in space;
 Narration: differentiation and interrelation of perceptions in time;
 Exposition: comprehension of general concepts through differentiation by analysis or
synthesis;
 Argumentation: evaluation of relations between concepts through the extraction of
similarities, contrasts, and transformations;
 Instruction: planning of future behaviour with option (advertisments, manuals, recipes) or
without option (legislation, contracts).
De Beaugrande and Dressler (1981) propose seven text types: descriptive, narrative,
argumentative, scientific, didactic, literary and poetic.
The question whether genre is a system underlying register is answered by Anna Trosbor
(1997) who opinions that genres have complementary registers, although communicative success
of a text may require appropriate combinations of genre and register (Couture 1986). She
concludes that register is too broad a notion and that register analysis disregards differences of
genres within the language of a field.
48
 The clear-cut distinction between genre/register and text types is not worldwide accepted.
Some scholars (Gorlach 2004) use the label text-types to indicate instrumental or practical
genres, as opposed to literary genres. Karlgren (2000) use text types and genres interchangeably,
as synonyms, whereas Filgariff and Gerfenstette 2003) use the term text-types without any
further indication on how this label should be interpreted in the context in which they use.

2.3. Narrative texts

Narration, one of four rhetorical modes of discourse along with exposition, argumentation
and description, is considered one of the most common and culture-universal genre. The term
discourse is used to describe the stylistic choices that determine how the narrative text or
performance finally appears to the audience. As with many words in the English language,
narration has more than one meaning.
Fludernik (2007) thinks that when we speak about narrative today, we inevitably associate
it with the literary type of narrative, the novel or the short story. The word narrative, however, is
related to the verb narrate and if we look into The Oxford English Dictionary Online (2007) the
word ”narrative” derives from the Latin verb narrare, "to recount", and is related to the adjective
gnarus, "knowing" or "skilled".
Narrative is all around us, not just in the novels and historical writing and it is associated
primarily with the act of narration. Back in the 1960s, it was Barthes who accounted narrative
for the “first and foremost a prodigious variety of genres”, present in an almost infinite diversity
of forms (spoken and written fixed or moving images, gestures or the ordered mixture of all this
forms) , in every age, in every place, in every society; it starts, as a matter of fact, with the very
history of mankind and it has nothing to do with good or bad literature, narrative is
“international, transhistorical, transcultural: it is simply there, like life itself” (in Bal, 2007: 65).
The narrative text type is based on perception in time and its purpose is to tell a story or to
narrate an event or series of events in a chronological in order to entertain, to gain or maintain
the reader’s attention.. However, narratives can also be written to teach, to inform, to change
attitutes and social opinions. In contrast to the traditional definition of narratives as a “series of
events connected in a temporal and causal way” (),Fludernik thinks that the essence of narrative
is “the communication of anthropocentric experience – the experientiality which is inherent in
human experience – and this means drawing on fixed patterns of behaviour as well as conveying
thoughts and feelings, and depicting perceptions and reflections”(2007: 52).
Summarising the different criteria of classification of narrative, she further introduces her
own definition: a narrative is a “representation of a possible world in a linguistic and/or visual
medium, at whose centre there are one or several protagonists of an anthropomorphic nature who
49
are existentially anchored in a temporal and spatial sense and who (mostly) perform goal-
directed actions (action and plot structure) (ibid., p. 6).
Narrative is therefore closely bound up with the speech act of narrating and hence also
with the figure of a narrator. Thus one could define everything narrated by a narrator as
narrative. There are numerous definitions of narratives, according to the predominant approach
they belong but we will concentrate on the literary genres of the novel and the short story; that is
why we will use the term in a more restricted sense, meaning a linguistic narrative text, or the
representation of a series of events by means of language.
The methods of narrative theory are inspired by modern linguistics, which demonstrates
through a synchronic analysis of the language system (Saussure’s langue) how language material
develops meaningfully from the opposition and combination of basic elements (phonemes,
morphemes, syntagms, etc.). In a similar way, narrative theory tries to trace how ‘sentences turn
into narrative’ (Grabes 1978), or, in other words, how the narrative emerges from the narrative
text, the mere words on the page.
Genette, who played the decisive role in the development of narrative theory focuses
almost entirely on the narrative discourse of the novel. He draws a distinction between the three
meanings of the French word récit (‘narrative’): narration (the narrative act of the narrator),
discours or récit proper (narrative as text or utterance) and histoire (the story the narrator tells in
his/her narrative). The first two levels of narrative can be classed together as the narrative
discourse by putting together the narrative act and its product, thus making a binary distinction
between them and the third level, the story (Fr. Histoire). The story is then that which the
narrative discourse reports, represents or signifies.
We should mention that, for many narratologists, the story level is a kind of langue or
system, whereas the narrative discourse (i.e.the narrative text as we encounter it in the
arrangement of sentences and paragraphs that we are reading) can be interpreted as parole
(manifestation). The temporal reordering we find in the discourse as compared to the order in
which events in the story actually happened can be discussed using linguistic models, especially
syntactical paradigms. A change in the sequence of plot elements (for example, a narrative
beginning in medias res with several flashbacks) can be compared to variations in word order.
In the 1960s and 1970s, for example, an entire school of text linguistics established text
grammars. They tried to divide narrative texts into what they called narremes and analysed these
in various combinations (Van Dijk 1972). Considering how linguistics has served as a paradigm
for narratology, it comes as no surprise that narratologists’ models are primarily structuralist and
dominated by binary oppositions (story vs. discourse, narrator vs. narrate, homodiegetic vs.
heterodiegetic). However, many typologies also rely on triads (Stenzel’s three narrative

50
situations) and the German tradition known as morphology favours organic/biological metaphors
(based on Goethe’s Formenlehre, which presupposes an organic model within which narratives
‘unfold’). On the whole, narrative theory is text-oriented.
Some distinctions are, however, further needed and for this purpose we will draw on Bal’s
(1985/1997) vertical analysis We should mention here about the theory of levels set out by
Benveniste that presupposes two types of relations: distributional (if the relations are situated on
the same level) and integrational (if they are grasped from one level to the next). Keeping with
this theory, Bal proposes a framework of three levels of vertical analysis of the narrative text: as
text, as story, and as fabula. She further refers to such notions as text viewed as “a finite,
structured whole composed of language signs” (the finite feature of the text here means that there
is a first and a last word to be identified in a text) and narrative as a “story that is created in a
constructive format that describes a sequence of fictional or non-fictional events”. Thus, In Bal’s
terms,
 a narrative text is a text in which an agent tells a story in a particular medium;
 a fabula is a series of logically and chronologically related events that are caused or
experienced by actors; a fabula is constituted of a series of events - performed by some actors -
which take place in time and occurs somewhere(a location), forming thus the material or content
that is worked in a story;
 story refers to the way in which the sequence of events (fabula) are presented;
In this equation, as we can see, each term is defined in an analitycal way, in terms of the
next, until we reach the atomic concept of the theory, which are “to cause”, “to experience”,
“state”, “transition” , “actor”, etc.
The text, the story and the fabula are all reffered to as the basic three layers of the narrative
text, and this distinction is, in Bal’s vision the point of departure for the theory of narrative texts.
Bal also asserts that it is by way of the text that the reader has access to the story, of which the
fabula is, in other words, a memorial trace that remains with the reader after completing reading.
A fabula and its elements (events, actors, time, and location) that have been ordered into a story
is still not a text. The narrative text is a story that is told in a medium, meaning that it is
converted into signs. The signs are related or uttered by agents who can not be equalled with the
writer as he rather withdraws and calls upon a fictitious spokesman – an agent - technically
known as the narrator. The text layer represented by the sign system of language is the only
material accesible to the reader who use it in order to establish the structure of the text. When
describing the text layer, it is important to know who is doing the narrating, By narrative
agent/narrator we must understand the linguistic subject, a function and not a person which
expresses itself in the language that constitutes the text. It is logical that what the reader actually

51
sees first is the text, and not the fabula. The fabula is the result of the interpretation and
judgement by the reader, an interpretation that is influenced by both the first encounter with the
text and the development of the story.
A text does not consist solely of narration in the specific sense. In every narrative text,
there are passages that concern something other than events: an opinion about something, for
example, the relating of an aspect which is not directly connected with the events, a description
of a face or of a location, and so forth. It is thus possible to examine what is said in a text, and to
classify it as narrative, descriptive, or argumentative.
There have been, however, different approaches and opinions regarding the study of
narrative theory:
a) Structural approach (derives from Structuralism) focuses on the “story grammar”, that
is the common structure or basic plan of a narrative text; significant in this respect is Labov’s
(1979) study on narrative in “real life” (conversation), the “natural narrative”; Propp’s model
(1928), according to which the Russian folk tales he analysed consisted of thirty-one functions
such as those of the hero, the (magic) helper and the antagonist,
b) Sociological approach which focuses on cultural, historical and political context in
which particular stories are told, by whom and to whom; (exemple!!!)
c) Functional approach which focuses on what effect a particular story has in people’s
life.
The search for universal functions or actions in narrative texts is a type of theoretical or
critical activity regarded as structuralist one and implies that the structure of narrative texts are
made up of different elements in which a change in any element produces changes in the others.
As Hamon states the structure of a narrative text, being a dialectics of correlated classes
(inversions and transformations of elements of content), an oriented vector, calls for predictions
from the reader of a logical type: the opening of a door implies its closing, a departure implies a
return, an order calls for compliance or refusal, and so forth.
Narrative, as William Labov (1972) states follows a series of structural steps forming its
universal template:
a) abstract refers to the point of the story, that is the reason for telling/reading it, e.g. “a
funny thing happened to me”
b) orientation giving information on the time, setting, characters and their roles,
c) complicating action presents a problem which must be overcome by characters in
order to attain their goal,
d) resolution signalls the attainment of the goal,

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 e) evaluation, the point of the story which may contribute to the upkeeping of suspense,
“perchaps the most important element in addition to the basic narrative clause” as Labov states.
Evaluative devices: e.g. “this was terrifying, dangerous, weird, wild, crazy; or amusing,
hilarious and wonderful, that is worth reporting, reading”. Evaluative devices entails: direct
statesments and, much more important, “secondary structures” throughout narrative; responses to
the action presented as part of the story, e.g. I closed my eyes and thought I was going to die;
intensifying devices both of sound and word choice, including repetition; and comparators
“which move away from the line of narrative events to consider unrealized possibilities and
compare them with events that did occur”.
f) coda is a device the narrator uses to bring the story back to the beginning (providing a
moral, summary, relevance, etc.) e.g. “and they all lived happily ever after” or “And that was
that”
Barthes proposes in his Introduction to the structural analyses of narratives (in Bal 2007)
to study narrative structure beyond the sentence, as linguistics has done, and to view it as a
structure of meaning that can be studied on different levels:
 narration (top level) made up of narrative communication (author, narrator, and
'reader') and narrative situation ("the set of protocols according to which the narrative is
'consumed'." (p. 58)), includes different styles of representation, “point of view”, coded signs of
narrative, for example “once upon a time”, etc..
 actions (middle level) is the level of characters which are classified according to
their participation in actions; e.g. “Giving” implies a Donor and a Receiver.
 functions (bottom level) are the smallest unit of narrative and in some cases they
can be shorter than the sentence, even parts of a word; within functions level, there are cardinal
(nuclei) functions which relate to the same level, and catalysers (complemetary ). Indices which
relate across levels branches out into indices that relate to characters, feeling, atmosphere and
informants that identifies, locates in space and time.. Informants and indices can combine freely.
A catalyser implies the existence of a nuclei to which it can connect. Nuclei are bound together
by a relation of solidarity. A sequence is a logical succession of nuclei bound together by a
relation of solidarity. Sequences can be included in other, larger sequences, still on the
'functional' level.
Fludernik (2007) opinions the language of narrative “creates possible worlds: sentences
use words to create characters, incidents, settings in time as well as in space, and put these
various elements into some kind of order.
Although there are numerous variations of the story grammar, to put it in the simplest
manner, there are some typical elements: setting – when and where the story occurs, characters-

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the most important people in the story, initiating event- an action or occurrence that establishes a
problem and/or a goal, conflict/goal – the focal point around which the whole story is organized,
events- one or more attemps by the main character(s) to achieve the goal or solve the problem,
resolution- the outcome of the attempts to achieve the goal or solve the problem.
Space and time can be represented in the fictional world of the narratives by deictic terms
such as I, here, now, and this – the so-called pure deictic terms, indicative pronouns (this, these,
that,those), adverbs of place (here, there, in that place), adverbs of manner (today, tomorrow,
that day, the day after). They are heavily context dependent and bears a subjective experience,
as, for instance what is here for me, may be there for someone else. Examples of deixis are
phrase like here in the large meadows of Siret (Sodoveanu) or on the other side of the world .
Just as the first-person singular pronoun I refers to the narrator, so here signifies that that the
narrator finds himself in the meadows of Siret, Directly deictic, concrete, spatial references that
do not correspond to the real reader’s world serve to intensify the fictionality of the text.

2.4. Descriptive texts

2.4.1. The Nature of Description

As already mentioned in the previous chapter, the four rhetorical mode of discourse are
exposition, argumentation, narration that we have already extensively treated, and description
which is the subject matter of this chapter.
Description in novels, as Fludernik opinions (2007) is another largely unexplored area in
the narratological research. Passages of description have been often regarded as non-descriptive:
nothing happens when the narrator describes a landscape or a character but it is not true in my
opinion because description is actually central at the story level since the fictional world within
the character move can only be created through and by description.
Description was considered by A.J. Greimas and J. Courtes as an independent textual unit
and defined as a “surface structure which opposes the dialogue and narration” or by Reis (1998)
as a “narrative pause” (Mihaela Mancas, Description in the postmodern prose – my translation).
There is a common ground on which literary theorists agreed that inserting a descriptive
sequence in the narrative leads eventually to a reduction of the narrative “speed” and description
is thus regarded as a pause. This is a reason for which writers have tried to oppose this type of
description with a new form, i.e. the dynamic description that would diminish and disguise the
static feature of description. The dynamism was first realized in the form of a simple description
of successive events by means of a series of movement/action verbs which approached the
descriptive structure to the narrative sequency.

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 Bal (1999) argues that in description things are less straightforward and defines
description as a “textual fragment in which features are attributed to objects”. This attribution
represents the descriptive function; we can draw the conclusion that a fragment is descriptive
when this function predominates.
Hamon, one of the most important description theorists argues that description can only be
analyzed upon a distinction between narration and description; he does not limit to the vaguely
traditional terms that a description describes things, a narration describes acts or morphological:
the description makes use of adjectives, the narration, verbs. He things of description as an
autonomous whole, a semantic unit, it is a supplementary to the narrative and can be freely
inserted into the narration.
Hamon defines description in a rather sophisticated manner as “textual unit having the
following properties: it is continuous or discontinuous, a relatively autonomous expansion,
characteristically referential; it is interchangeable with and in certain conditions equivalent to, a
word (a common or proper noun, a name) or a deictic pronoun (him, this, that…)” (qouted in Bal
2007: 310).
References to description can be traced back to rhetoricians for which it was a fundamental
process of amplification whose principal aim was either to praise or blame. Neoclassical authors
as Fointaner views description (in Figures du discours 1969) as it “consists in making an object
visible and in making it known through the details of all the most interesting circumstances…”
(quoted in Bal: 310). Zola, on the other hand, considered the archetypal example of a realistic-
descriptive manner, wants above all to describe, i.e. to transmit information about a society- its
decors, places, landscapes, object. He stated quite straightforwardly that “With me the drama is
secondary” and “The goal to be attained is no longer to tell a story, to string ideas or deeds one
after another, but rather to render each object (…) its colour, its odour, the integrated totality of
its existence” or “ naturalist novelists want to get away from the story … refuse this banality of
narrative for narrative’s sake (qouted in Wolf/ Bernhart 2007: 127).
With Zola (and quite a few novelists) description often exists before narration. These
comments can be placed alongside Flaubert’s remark that “ The narrative is a thing that I find
quite tiresome” (in a letter dated 2 May 1872).
According to Mancaş and Dindelegan (2001) there are some specific elements which
makes the difference between description and narration and which can be synthesized as follows:
a) narration is a temporal structure, while description involves primarily a spatial structure.
The story unfurls in time, is sequential, regardless of the order followed in the narrative;
description, on the contrary, is synchronic, it presents a static picture at base, and for that reason
it has always been connected with Visual Arts, especially painting. In literary history, the

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descriptive texts have been gradually refined, and the description came to be composed of
successive fragments.
b) narration is a sintagmatic structure, while description is primarily paradigmatic. The
sequence of related events suggests a sintagmatic ( de alaturare si inlantuire) relation between the
narrative components. The description is, on the contrary, the result of the choice between a
virtual paradigm defined in some extreme cases, as enumeration/overlapping/list of names of
certain objects (in the broadest sense of the term) or predicates (in the logic and grammatical
sense of attributes of an object).
c) the third differentiating element is the form of the verb. In the modern achievements of
the description, the narrative time is the simple or a compound aspect of the perfect form of a
verb; the description – usually takes a continuum (Present or Gerund).

2.4.2. Linguistic Peculiarities of Descriptive Texts

The descriptive sequences are reperable in a text due to some characteristic features at the
various linguistic levels, such as:
a). description possesses specific grammatical and figurative features (the frequency of the
repeated adjective or verbs in the Present/Gerund: e.g. “The evening shadows were beginning to
gather over the quite little German town “(Collins: 1995:9).
b). a particular rhythm, different from that of narration, originating from both the generally
“listing” status of description and the frequency of elliptical predicate constructions;
c). a specific vocabulary (technique terms, proper names, adjectives, and participle forms
of the verbs);
d). special rhetorical figures (most often comparison and metaphor, but also, metonymy
and synecdoche).
e). the presence of some indefinite or negative pronouns (e.g. all, everything, nothing. “…
everything drew back and grew smaller- Sadoveanu);
f). the iteration of the same units (especially names and adjectives), hence the “effect list”
assigned to description, as well as the pace imposed by the juxtaposition of clauses or phrases
without the use of coordinating or subordinating conjunctions: e.g. It was cold; the snows came;
g) the lexico-semantic level is centered on a “pantonym” (Hamon), the introductory theme
term, the pivotal word which functions as an arhilexem, a unifying semantic term; it points to the
theme/subject/the lexical field/the reason which triggers the description, the lexeme which
generates the vocabulary and is announced at the beginning of description; it remains in memory
as the common denominator for the whole description and sets up a system of expectations
designed to ease (or to harden) the readability of the following description.

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 Description almost always presupposes a theme (pantonym), Fontainer norrows description
to seven semantic classes: topography – description of a place, landscape, etc., cronography –
the description of a period of time or an event, prosopography – the description of the physical
qualities of an individual, etopeea -description of the manners, portrait – the description of both
physical and moral features, the comparison- involves the parallel between two descriptions, in
order to set forth an analogy or an opposition, and the framed description– a detailed
presentation of an action, a phenomenon or event.
From the same thematic point of view, in the motivation of the textual in which the
author/narrator is the one who assumes the description role, realized in terms somehow
objective; on the contrary, in an internal focalization, the character takes over this task of the
description, leading to a subjective feature and a psychological load of description. This
subjective perspective is the result of a concrete and direct perception of nature. As Mancas
(2001) states for the contemporary prose writers the “subjectivization” of description is general
and programmatic declared: "For, one does not describe the past writing about old things, but the
foggy air between him and the past. The way in which my present substance coils up my little
brains beneath the more and more smaller loaves, all bones, cartilage and skin. Tension and
misunderstand within my mind between now, the moment before, and the one ten years ago.
Their interaction, their mixing is the result of one imagery and the thrill of another "(Cărtărescu,
Dazzling, 15)- my translation.
The sphere of the subjective description entail also the actualization of the phatic function
of language. When it appears in its traditional form, this type of description is introduced
through such verbs in the 2nd person: just imagine!, only try to understand!, try to remember!,
etc.
Let us take for example the description of a pack of ducks from our novel by Sadoveanu;
the textual fragment will have a number of sub-themes (the duck, the drake, the flight, feathers,
etc), of qualifying predicates (big, small, gleaming, etc), of verbs (whistles, shudders, turns, etc.).
In Herman’s terms this description presupposes that the author transfers the task of seeing upon
one or more characters and they will be responsible for the following:
1. to look at the object and describe it through their own vision and ability to see, which
implies the open areas, un unhampered freedom of view that gives way for the author’s
unhampered description; The character’s seeing may be the ocassion for aesthetic evaluation of
what he is looking at (beautiful, magnificent, harmonious), or comments on the effect of the sight
on the looker (pleasure, joy, aesthetic enjoyment, etc.). This indeed justify the presence of an
impersonal observer: e.g. “one could see the vast, boundless reed…” . Here the author feels the
need to explain the character’s prolonged gazing at assigning him the feature of an “amateur”,

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“novice” which serves a posteriori as a pretext for his description. The character is “absorbed”,
“fascinated” by what he sees, he extracts himself for a while from the plot, “delaying” the
narrative (the character is no longer a dynamic supporter of the narrative, his use is only as an
introductory sign for description); he is a moving character (walking, visiting, an explorer)
observing a fixed but complex world (landscapes, birds, animals and their habits, etc.). This can
be described schematically bellow:

Character + expression + verb of perception + the object + expression indicating

indicating a beeing a transparent medium
pause described
The introductory sentence of such a description would be:
X {walking along the lake} {caught sight of} (a pack of ducks} {through the limpid air}

N VP VP NP Adv.P of place

2. speak of the object and describe it to someone (the reader) who does not know it well; in
such case we have different types of characters like “beginners”, “apprentices” (it is also our
case: Sadoveanu sets out in his boyhood to find out all the hardships of a hunting), in short
untrained people who interact with other characters who are old in the work ( e.g.Oldman Procor,
a complementary character); In the fictional universe, the information circulates or is transmitted
in the form of pseudo-soliloque or confidences. It is also involved the psychological factor:
“curiosity”, the “joy of learning something new”. This can be described schematically as
follows:
Character + un- or under- + character experienced + expression indicating + object being
experienced talkative speech described
The typical introductory sentence for such a description would be:
X {an apprentice} meets Y {a native} who gives him {a description of} a hunting party.

NP VP NP VP NP NP
3. act themeelves on the subject being described: this explains the use of a character who
is moving out of his living place ad meet other people. The description will take the form of a
series of actions exemplifying to some degree of explicitness the features of the persons
performing it, there is a list of technical act (e.g. the loading of the rifle when preparing to hunt,
or the hunting strategies, etc.) where the text runs through the tools and details of the setting to

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be described as the character works on or with it. This can be also described in a typical
introductory sentence that would contain:
An active character + a spectator + a verb of action + the object or scene being described.
The three verbs mentioned above (to see, to speak, to act) are according to Mancaş (2001)
subtle forms of disguising the static feature of a descriptive passage.
A descriptive system, as Hamon puts it, unlike the logical narrative, sets up lexical and
stylistic expectations, where such notions as inclusion, resemblance or contiguity find best their
places. Thus the word “rose” will invoke, by referential contiguity [bouquet, petal, stem, thorn,
garden, etc], or, by lexical derivation [rosier – rose blush, roseraie – rose garden, etc], or by
institutionalized analogies [virginity; candour, purity, etc], or, by phonetic resemblance [arrose-
sprinkle, ose-dare, pose-place]. The elements of a descriptive system involves the linguistic-
semiotic domain (unlike narrative which involves the level of semantics), it is “the
lexicographical consciousness of fiction” (Hamon quoted in Bal 2007:321). A description
implies an actualization of a “latent lexical paradigm” based primarily on the referential
knowledge of the world.
As we have seen, apart from deictics and prepositional phrases of place, descriptions are
means of characterizing characters (C) settings, a landscape, a milieu, which, in Fludernik’s
terms puts flash on “the bare bones of places” (2007: 42). The setting, considered by Hamon a
global introductory theme (IT), includes a series of sub-themes, a vocabulary (V) or
nomenclature as Bal (1999) puts it whose items are in a metonymic relation with the IT, in a sort
of branching metonymy. For example the description of a garden (IT) includes the enumeration
of the flowers, trees, tools, paths, etc. (the so-called sub-themes) which altogether form the
whole of a garden. The inclusive relation from theme to sub-theme is synecdochical and the
relation between sub-theme is contiguous Let us make up a sentence and try to illustrate best this
formula:
At the beginning of the summer time, Alex visited a beatiful garden in Galati;

[PP –time] [C] [V] IT [V[Art+Adj]] NP

The garden displayed various flowers, trees and paths.

Each sub-theme will give in turn rise to predicatives, wheter qualificative when they
indicate a characteristic of the object (“pretty”), or functional when they indicate a function,
action, or possible use: e.g. the flowers were multi-coloured , the tress had thick branches, the
straight paths were ready for exploration.

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 CHAPTER 3 Corpus Analysis, Translation and
Interpretation

3.1. The Corpus Described

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 The corpus consists of a selection of descriptive texts from the novel Ţara de dincolo de
negură/The Land Beyond Mists by Mihail Sadoveanu and my own proposal for their Romanian
translation.
The author’s work introduces us into an amazing geographical and cynegetical universe
and, as we left behind page after page, a general idea emerges: his short stories, novels, sketches
embodies the collection of a nation’s sensitivity whose love for nature is an essential feature.
Nature has exerted a decisive influence on the young man Sadoveanu who used to spend his
early childhood in his mother’s native village, at Cristesti, where he strove to understand the
mysteries of the human beeings’ ancestral occupations: hunting and fishing. From a
compositional point of view, The Land Beyond Mists is structured into seventeen chapters which
comprises different stories characterized by successive renderings from one generation to
another, and from one representation of nature to another. Vegetation, flora, fauna, natural
phenomena are all described by means of a selective memory. The novelist perceives the all
surrounding reality and filters it through his own conscious, hence the artistic description which
takes eventually the form of a confesion, spontaneously remembered. The constitutive elements
of the Sadovenian “poetical geography” as Călinescu (1972) puts it, unfurls in a multitude
variety: from the white frosted meadows of Moldova and the ponds of Danube to the high
mountains, all forms of relief and vegetation in the four changing seasons, at every moment of
the day and night. Sadoveanu devotes also a special place to the authentic Romanian fauna; the
enliven nature from the ground, the countless flying birds in the Siret meadows, the innumerable
aquatic creatures represented in various aspects are all scientific noted with a terminological
abundance. He discerns nature through his own sense: he sees, hears, and feels the landcape, the
acoustic and visual elements are blending in a marvellous chromatic union.
Without further delay I invite you to continue your lecture.

3.2. The Texts Translated

ŢARA DE DINCOLO DE THE LAND BEYOND
NEGURĂ1 MISTS1
(Povestiri de vânătoare) (Hunting Stories)
Despre această Ţară şi despre vânat About this country, hunting and

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şi pescuit fishing

În această carte vorbesc priveliştile It is the views and the people of this
şi oamenii acestui pământ2. Munţii în care land that tell the stories of this book2. The
au împietrit parcă îndrăzneli de gândire mountains which seem to have encrusted
singuratice3; pâclele care acopăr liniştile glimpses of solitary thoughts3; the mist which
văilor; apele care zvonesc cântarea vieţii envelops the stillness of the valleys; the
etern înoite4;codrii 5
care suie râpile şi waters which praise the hymn of an
coboară văgăunile, deschizând luminii poieni eternally renewed life4; the woods5 which fill
şi grămădind întuneric în sihle the steeps and fall into the hollows, giving
nestrăbătute5; satele înşirate pe coline, cu light to clearings and mustering darkness into
bisericile poetice; Dunărea şi Marea; oameni unwalked, thick young forests5; the villages
în costume pitoreşti râzând clipei care trece: which spread out on the hills with their poetic
cartea aceasta e un tribut de pietate Celui churches; the Danube and the Sea; people in
care eliberează necontenit minunile, de la colourful costumes laughing at the moment
mărgăritarul din scoica oceanului până la that fades away; this book is a piety tribute to
zâmbetul delicat al unei fecioare din munţii the One who continuosly lets off wonders,
Bucovinei. from the pearl of the ocean to the delicate
smile of an innocent girl from the Bucovina
mountains.

Fără îndoială că vânatul şi pescuitul Undoubtedly, hunting and fishing are the
sunt cele mai vechi sporturi, cu observaţia că oldest sports, with the observation that they
s-au născut sub presiunea necesităţii şi n-au were born out of necessity and have become
devenit divertisment decât cu timpul. means of entertainment only with time passing.
Pescuitul primitivilor era agerime; vânatul - With the ancients, fishing was skillfullness,
forţă şi rezistenţă. while hunting, force and endurance.

The origin of this hobby6 had always

Începutul acestei pasiuni6 are something dramatical about it. I remember
totdeauna ceva dramatic. Îmi aduc aminte că that I was less than fifteen years old when,
aveam mai puţin de cincisprezece ani când once during spring, I walked gun-armed7
am ieşit7, într-o primăvară, cu puşca7, spre towards the overflows of the Siret River, at

62
revărsările de apă ale Siretului, la Paşcani. Paşcani.

The apprenticeship of those days had all

Ucenicia acelor zile a avut toate the hardships of an unexperienced infant.
greutăţile lipsei de experienţă a unui prunc. However, nothing could stop me: nor the
Totuşi, nimic nu m-a oprit, nici bălţile cu apă thawed puddles, nor the sludges, nor the wild
de dezgheţ, nici nomolurile, nici jocul card’s game from one pond to another, from a
cârdurilor de sălbăticiuni de la o baltă la alta, meadow here, to another from nowhere; nor
de la o luncă de ici, la alta cine ştie unde; nici the frosty water of a little Siret where I went
răceala apei dintr-un sireţel, în care am intrat swimming to pull out my first hunted duck; nor
înot ca să scot prima raţă împuşcată; nici the rainy days, nor the foggy nightfalls, nor the
zilele de ploaie, nici înserările cu ceaţă, nici terrible toil, nor hunger, nothing. The eyes
truda înfricoşată, nici foamea; - nimic. Ochii had to see, nerves had to vibrate: there were
trebuiau să vadă, nervii să tremure: erau the eyes and the nerves of the ancestor hunter.
ochii şi nervii strămoşului vânător. Atît e de It is so very true that man himself can be an
adevărat că omul poate fi el însuşi o putere elementary force.
elementară.
The most pleasant outdoor walks are in
Cele mai agreabile plimbări vânătoreşti autumn while hunting rabbits.
în aer liber sunt toamna, la iepuri. The fields and stubbles have a golden
Ogoarele şi miriştile au o tonalitate hue; the hills and valleys tremble and bow
aurie; dealurile şi văile ondulează şi se gracefully;
înclină graţios; în fundul peisagiilor se Either a pond or a village could be seen
zăreşte un iaz ori un sat; pe o costişă in the distance; silvery rimed thickets
înegresc tufişuri bătute de brumă8. Ai blacken on a hillside8. You have started in the
pornit în strălucirea soarelui de dimineaţă, brightness of the morning sun, searching every
căutând răzor cu răzor, străbătând porumburi boundary path, walking across unharvested
neculese, alăturându-te cu luare-aminte de cornfields, carefully joining the plowing. You
arături. Îţi ţii cânele aproape; stai cu atenţia keep your dog close, fevershly standing by;
încordată; în ochi ţi se răsfrâng toate detaliile your eyes reflect all the land’s features and all
terenului şi toate mişcările vietăţilor mărunte. the small creatures’ bustling. All of a sudden9,
Deodată9, ca şi cum l-ar făta pământul 10, 10
as if delivered by the earth10, the rabbit
sare pe neaşteptate iepurele. jumps out suddenly.

Hardly had we gone along the Danube,

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 Cum am ieşit în lungul Dunării, printre among the large willow meadows, which were
luncile cele mari de sălcii, care se închinau gently submitting to the breeze, when I
lin la suflarea vântului, am înţeles că intrăm realized that we stepped out into another life,
în altă viaţă, ori într-un basm. or into a fairy –tale.

Beyond meadows, there were deep and

Dincolo de lunci erau gârlele afunde şi countless streams, the clayed-fishing ground,
nenumărate, cu închisorile peştelui; the fishermen’s primitive shelters, the islets
cherhanalele de ciamur, otacurile and the floating drift wood eyots11.
primitive ale pescarilor; ostroavele şi In the floating reed islet, a new land
plăviile11. made up of alluvial deposits, reeds, plants and
În plaurul plutitor, adică în pământul all that death gathers and transforms, a new
nou alcătuit din aluviuni, stuhuri, plante şi tot feverish life murmured12. Unknown plants
ce adună şi preface moartea, o viaţă nouă şi glistened in the sun. Blue garlands swarmed up
înfrigurată fremăta12. Plante necunoscute to the reeds’ clusters. Various liana mingled,
scânteiau în soare. Lejnicioare albastre se shaping up curtains. The nightingales were
căţărau spre pămătufurile stuhului. Liane singing at dusk in a tamarisk, sky-like
felurite se amestecau alcătuind draperii. Într- blossomed meadow.
o luncă de tamarix, înflorită ca cerul, cântau
într-un amurg privighetorile.
In the depth of the darkness, behind this
În adâncul umbrei, în dosul acestui brilliant scenery, thousands of birds and
strălucit decor, miile de paseri şi de animale animals leved a loose life. Beneath them, in the
trăiau o viaţă neînfrânată. Şi subt ele, în apa hot water and warm mud, another life13, that
fierbinte şi mâlul cald, altă viaţă13 a of the countless bugs, endless, multiple and
gângăniilor fără număr, fără sfârşit, multiplă fabulous, stemming out from eternity13.
şi fabuloasă, izvorâtă din veşnicie13. The golden eagle yelled high up in the
Pajura ţipa sus în cer, unde curge râul sky, where the great river of the winds was
cel mare al vânturilor. flowing.

Closer to us, swans and cormorants were

Mai aproape de noi pluteau şi vâsleau floating. White spoons rushed over the reed
lebedele şi cormoranii. Lopătari albi se grass. Gracious egrets, winged as if big snow
înşirau pe deasupra trestiilor. Din scorburi flakes were thrilling14 from the old hollows of
bătrâne de sălcii tresăreau egrete graţioase the willows. And ducks, geese, herons,

64
- ca nişte bucăţi de zăpadă înaripată 14. Şi cranes, gulls, snipes of various species… And
raţele, şi gâştele, şi bâtlanii, şi cocorii, şi the strange people whom we met, of another
becaţele şi pescăruşii de felurite neamuri... Şi origin and fate15, not only talked us about all
oamenii bizari cu care aveam raporturi, din sorts of fish, but also of the floating reed islet’s
alt neam şi altă zodie15, ne vorbeau nu animals: the wolf and the wild boar, the otter
numai de felurimile de peşti ale gârlelor şi and the mink.
bălţilor, ci şi de animale ale plăviilor: lup şi
mistreţ, vidră şi nurcă.
And we were listening to even more
Iar urechile noastre ascultau povestiri strange stories than that of Caliniuc’s who had
şi mai ciudate decât aceea a lui Caliniuc, pe been devoured by wolves - otherwise a more
care l-au mâncat lupii, - întâmplare de truthful story than all truths.
altminteri mai adevărată decât toate Lodging beneath the silver outpouring of
adevărurile. a willow, sitting together head to head, we saw
Poposind subt revărsarea argintie a floating bugs16 garnished with a brown crust,
unei sălcii, stând amândoi cap la cap, am red bordered, bathing in a sunbeam16 among
16
văzut gângănii înotătoare îmbrăcate în other bugs, a multitude of innumerable forms.
crustă cafenie tivită cu roş, alungându-se I also heard the frogs singing to the
într-o rază de soare16 printre alte gângănii, people from lacustrian dwellings; passing by
puzderii de nenumărate forme. an islet, I saw a grove of quince, where large
Ş-am auzit şi broaştele care au cântat golden fruits were hanging as if in a fairy tale.
oamenilor din locuinţile lacustre. Şi trecând
pe lângă un ostrov, am văzut o livadă de
gutăi, în care atârnau fructe mari de aur ca-n
poveste. There, in the ponds, people have no
school education17, but they have heard that
Oamenii din bălţi n-au şcoli17, ştiu letters and books were invented elsewhere.
însă că s-au născocit în alte părţi de lume Books and registers are about trials and ill
slove şi cărţi. deeds that they, thank God’s had been spared
În cărţi şi-n condici se scriu biruri şi of until our arrival. These people have several
răutăţi, de care ei, slavă lui Dumnezeu, până churches on the banks – they know little about
la venirea noastră, erau feriţi. Oamenii din God, still they are aware of the power of the
bălţi au câteva bisericuţe, pe grinduri, - wind and water. The boundless sky, the
despre Dumnezeu ştiu totuşi puţin. Cunosc bottomless reed, the twilight shadow, the
însă puterea vântului ş-a valului. rumours of the night, are all ancient powers

65
 Cerul fără margini, stuful fără fund, they are submitted to.
umbra amurgurilor, glasurile nopţii, sunt
puteri străvechi subt care se pleacă. Their innocent and childish eyes
resemble those of the fish, the birds and the
Ochii lor primitivi şi copilăreşti wild creatures, the water, reflecting mankind’s
samănă cu ai peştilor, cu ai paserilor şi ancestry. Man lives on his own in those
fiarelor, samănă cu apa, şi-n ei se străvede places18, like the wild boar and the wolf.
vechimea speciei. Omul în acele meleaguri Oldman Procor watched us as if from
trăieşte pe socoteala lui18, ca şi mistreţul, ca secular ages. Like other Delta’s people, he
şi lupul. knew how to prepare a fish soup, which I'm
Moş Procor ne privea din veacurile sure you have not forgotten.
cele vechi. In a large pot with sour broth or with
Ca şi alţi oameni ai Deltei, bătrânul ştia kvass, several carps of three or four oca are
să pregătească o ciorbă pescărească, pe care boiled. After they are well-done, the cook
sunt sigur că n-ai uitat-o. keeps the soup and throws the fish; he makes
Într-o oală mare, cu borş acru ori cu the soup boil again with few vegetables and
cvas, fierb mai mulţi crapi de câte trei ori much sturgeon or sevruga. When we wondered
patru ocă. După ce-au fiert bine, bucătarul of such a waste, those eyes, as crystal as the
păstrează zama şi zvârle carnea. Şi zama o water, looked at us puzzled.
pune din nou la fiert cu puţine zarzavaturi şi “Well, gentlemen, here19, if we do not
cu mult nisetru ori păstrugă. Când ne-am eat the fish, they will eventually come to eat us
mirat de asemenea risipă, ochii aceia, …”
transparenţi ca apa, ne-au privit cu
nedumerire.
- Apoi aicea19, domnilor, dacă nu-i
mâncăm noi pe peşti, ajung să ne mănânce ei
pe noi... There were rollers flying over patches of
willows, wild pigeons sounding in the
Dumbrăvenci zburau pe deasupra poplars20. At a turning I saw a rabbit, more
pâlcurilor de sălcii, hulubi sălbatici huruiau sand–like coloured than reddish.
în plopi20. And I also saw the fox, slying her
La o cotitură am zărit un iepure mai flaming fur, crossing a path and disappearing
mult de coloarea năsipului decât roşcat. into the thicket osier willow.
Şi am văzut şi vulpea, furişindu-şi
blana de flacără, tăind o cărare şi mistuindu-

66
se în desiş de lozii. Those unknown birds, coming from who
knows what places, floated down, near a clear
Paserile acelea străine, venind din cine waterhole, into a grove edge. We moved
ştie ce limanuri, au plutit ş-au coborât lâng- towards them and watched their delicate forms,
un ochi limpede, într-o margine de against the bright spring light. Then, rising
dumbravă. Ne-am îndreptat cătră ele, - şi le- our eyes21, we suddenly saw at the back
am privit siluetele fine, în lumina puternică a westwards that the landscape had changed. A
primăverii. Apoi, ridicând ochii21, deodată quiet sea revealed itself in the distance, and a
am văzut în fund, cătră asfinţit, peisagiul string of tropical trees ashore, with high
schimbat. truncks, pouring out their branchy tops. Glad
O mare lină apăruse în depărtări - şi la and astonished we went onward, until we
ţărmul ei un şirag de arbori de ţară tropicală, finally understood that we had been charmed
cu trunchiuri nalte şi vârvuri tufoase şi by an illusion.
revărsate. Ne-am îndreptat într-acolo cu
uimire şi plăcere, până ce-am înţeles că
farmecul acela e al unei iluzii. In the Siret meadows, in a place on the
edge of the plain, wandering people had
În luncile Siretului, într-un loc la shown, coming from north, from unknown
marginea câmpiei, se arătaseră oameni places. This happened in the remote past,
pribegi, veniţi de la miazănoapte, din centuries ago, in the world’s primeness22.
depărtări necunoscute. Asta a fost în adânc Men were strong, blue -eyed and tall
trecut, în veacuri vechi şi-n tinereţa lumii22. foreheaded. Women, thin and lithe used to
Bărbaţii erau mari, cu fruntea naltă şi cu ochi fetch water to their huts in clayed-pots, which
albaştri. Femeile, subţiri şi mlădii, aduceau they wore on the top of their head holding
apă la bordeie în ulcioare de lut, pe care le them with their left hand. When winter came,
purtau în creştetul capului, sprijinindu-le cu they would wear woollen coats and sheep or
mâna stângă. În apropierea iernii puneau pe wild animals skins. From the dark places they
ei suman de lână şi piei de fiare ori de oaie. had fled, they had brought little on the backs of
Din locurile întunecoase de unde fugiseră, tamed boars, a few sheep and mighty dogs. But
aduseseră puţină avere pe spinările bourilor most of all they had brought the secret
îmblânziţi. Aduseseră şi puţine oi şi câni craftmanship23 of melting and boiling copper
voinici. Şi mai ales un meşteşug tainic23, de to shape new weapons whose edge flashed in
a topi ş-a fierbe aramă ş-a făuri arme nouă, în the sun. These wanderers mirrored in the
ascuţişul cărora fulgera soarele. Aceşti fugari smooth water of Siret only for a few
se oglindeau în apa lină a Siretului de puţine generations, and they had settled on the

67
generaţii şi aveau puţine aşezări pe pâraie şi- streams and along the river, in durable places
n lungul râului, în locuri tari ca nişte resembling strongholds24. After having
cetăţi24. După cele dintâi ciocniri cu clashed with the natives from the south, they
localnicii de la miazăzi, statorniciseră pace. agreed for peace. The wanderers were not
Pribegii erau puţini, însă aveau arme pe care many, but had weapons whom those living
cei de lângă apele mari nu le cunoşteau. Dar, near big waters did not know. But although
deşi aveau arme nebiruite şi mânii they had invincible weapons and got angry
furtunoase, erau din fire blajini şi paşnici. easily, they were gentle and peaceful by nature.

We step into the pool by 5 o'clock, when

the heat of the summer day diminishes; as we
departed from the Cristeşti village, among
Intrăm pe baltă cătră ora 5, când thickets of rush and reed, I feel like other
căldura zilei de vară începe să se mai times, far, far away from people. I know that
potolească; şi, cum ne-am depărtat de satul the length25 to the right and left hills of Prut
Cristeşti, între păpurişuri şi stufării, mă simt, and to the near villages would not be large; a
ca şi-n alte dăţi, departe, foarte departe de quivering vapour26, a golden thread arose
oameni. Măsura în metri25, cătră dealurile above the waters, by means of which
din dreapta şi din stânga Prutului şi cătră everything is expected to change27.
satele din preajmă, ştiu că n-ar cuprinde un
număr mare; pe ape însă s-a ridicat o aburire
tremurătoare26, un păinjeniş auriu, prin Everything has drawn back and grown
care toate se prevăd schimbate27. smaller28. The familiar noises of the land has
faded away and there, in the entirely new land
Toate s-au tras mai îndărăt şi s-au I have stepped into, I begin to perceive other
micşorat28. sounds and rumors.
S-au stâns şi zgomotele familiare ale With the knee-rifled, I sit up straight and
uscatului; şi-n ţinutul cu totul nou şi altul, în watchful on the sheaf seat. Standing behind
care am intrat, încep să percep alte zvonuri şi me, Oldman Barnea, drove on the boat with a
alte sunete. long bar, some kind of raft pole.
Cu puşca pe genunchi, stau drept şi Oldman Barnea29 looks like an Indian,
atent pe scaunul de maldări de trestie. În and I imagine that such a name can not but
dosul meu, moş Barnea, în picioare, mână reflect that almost olive-brown cheeks, and
luntrea cu prăjina cea lungă care se chiamă those round and eager eyes just like those of
ghionder. waterfowls; he is a ragged, poor Indian and

68
 Moş Barnea29 are înfăţişarea unui bears his arms hard and clumsy, deformed of
indian; şi-mi închipui că la asemenea nume persistent rheumatisms30.
nu se poate să nu răspundă tocmai obrazul He knows the pond up to its very last
acela aproape masliniu şi ochii aceia rotunzi meanders and its all time-history back to the
şi atenţi ca ai paserilor de apă. E un indian noble landowners, who have disappeared long
zdrenţăros şi slab şi-şi poartă greu şi penibil ago….; as for all sorts of fish, birds and beasts,
braţele diformate de reumatisme vechi30. he can count them on his fingers.
Cunoaşte balta până în cele din urmă cotituri,
şi-i ştie istoria până-n vremea unor boieri
mari, care de mult s-au risipit şi s-au stâns.
Iar soiurile de peşti, de păsări şi de dihănii ţi Passing the barrier, the pond suddenly
le poate număra pe degete. comes to life, murmuring in its endless
solitude31. White and yellow water lilies grow
După ce am trecut de hatie, balta randomly on the clear waterholes; large
începe să trăiască şi să freamăte în colonies of tiny plants are floating in the boat’s
singurătatea-i liberă31. La ochiuri limpezi way, crammed into one another as if into a
cresc amestecat crini albi şi nuferi galbeni; piece of felt, rising and disappearing
şi-n drumul luntrii plutesc colonii mari de continuosly beneath the shininess.
plante mărunte grămădite ca o pâslă unele în
altele, care cresc şi mor neistovit subt luciu. Purpled, umbelliferous plants rise from
thickets of rush in the uneven sun, whilst black
coots are passing through. Caught in the thick
Amestecate în păpuriş, se înalţă în reed, curtains of lianas are climbing to the
soarele pieziş umbelifere înflorite violet - şi light. In the deepened paths, there crop up,
printre ele se strecoară lişiţe negre. Prinse de from time to time, willows, flowing in thin
pădurea de stuh, se caţără la lumină draperii spires to the unwavering water. On a broken
de liane. Şi, în funduri de cărări, apar din stalk of reed with its tassel into the water,
când în când sălcii, curgând cu ramuri subţiri silently and motionless as if having flowered
până la apa neclintită. Pe-o trestie ruptă şi there, there appeared a seagull, with a short
aplecată cu canafu-n apă apare, fără zgomot body, large head and powerful beak, with its
32
şi mişcare, ca şi cum ar fi înflorit, un feathers sprinkled with precious glazes .
pescăruş cu trupul scurt, cu cap mare şi plisc
puternic, cu penajul stropit de smalţuri I saw it sometimes in the material

scumpe32. world33, encrusted into a pin, on a female’s hat.

However, here he is alive and free in his reign,

69
 L-am văzut uneori şi-n lumea flapping in the sundown around the surface of
oamenilor33, imobilizat într-un bold, pe-o the water.
pălărie feminină. Aici însă e viu şi liber, în
domnia lui, şi flutură din aripioare, într-o We have moved further on, more in the
dungă de soare, la faţa bălţii. depth, from where the strong duck quacklings
erupts, behind walls of reeds. Ephemeral, of a
Am ajuns departe, tot mai în fund, bright bluish, they take on the shiny water
34
unde izbucnesc, după ziduri de trestii, the shade of a tiny airplane . In the clear
măcăituri puternice de raţe. Efemere de un pond, among the roots, I see little bugs
strălucit siniliu trezesc pe luciu umbra unui swarming in the underground world.
aeroplan minuscul34. Şi-n balta limpede, Gray birds, small as a peanut, are
între rădăcini, văd mişunând gângăniile climbing a liana string with their thin
mărunte din lumea de dedesubt. Păsărele threadlike pincers. Other unknown birds,
cenuşii, mici cât o alună, se caţără pe un screech, call, and chirp among the willows. I
firişor de liană cu lăbuţe subţirele de aţă. Alte hear the magpie’s outbursting in the willows
paseri, cu nume necunoscute, cârâie, chiamă from the barrier. There are sea eagles spinning
şi ţârâie între trestii. Aud râsul ţărcii în over us and their wings and feathers shine
sălciile de pe hatie. Deasupră-ne se învârt glassy, in delicate painting when floating
hultani de baltă – şi penajul aripilor luceşte between me and the sun .
transparent, în zugrăveli delicate, când
plutesc între mine şi soare. I would like to ask Oldman Barnea
where we are, but I give up. I know that we are
in a remote and unknown place and I am

Aş vrea să întreb pe Barnea unde ne content with that, as if I were in a world of

aflăm; dar tac. Ştiu că suntem în loc străin şi other latitudes, the Africa shores, the Nile
depărtat - şi-s mulţămit. Ca şi cum aş fi într-o marshes, or elsewhere ...
lume a altor latitudini; la ţărmul Africei, în
The sun was close to dusk. A golden sun,
bălţile Nilului, ori aiurea...
enlarged and distorted by the steamy marsh.
We were barely floating and the row was
heard as a soft rustling on the boat’s side. The
Soarele era aproape de asfinţit. Un
pond’s glaze was startling, ripling up to the
soare de aur mărit şi diformat de aburii bălţii.
reeds35.
Pluteam abia simţit şi vâsla avea un şopot
Life and death were blending in that
moale în laturea luntrii. Marmura bălţii
realm of waters and mud, a countless and
tresărea înfiorându-se până la trestii 35.

70
Viaţa şi moartea se amestecau în hotarul endless life, and imminent death. Creation and
acela de ape şi mâl, viaţa nenumărată şi change were ceaselessly consuming, in a
nesfârşită şi moartea de fiecare clipă. Creaţia divine indifference.
şi transformarea se succedau fără răgaz şi c-o
indiferenţă dumnezeiască. The round and red, as boiling copper
sunset was glowing on the plain water; flocks
of ducks were either smoothly floating, or
36
În luciul cel mare bătea asfinţitul plin spreading broken rainbows , feebly gliding
şi roşu ca arama în fierbere. Şi cârduri de raţe on the crystal water.
pluteau lin, ori împrăştiau curcubeie They were the swiftest and most terrible
sfărâmate36, navigând delicat în zona birds in that remote place; they were the birds
strălucită. coming from the sky, with a stormy noise; they
Erau cele mai iuţi şi mai năprasnice come from afar: from midnight, from the
zburătoare ale acelei singurătăţi. Erau Arctic waters, where man has not yet shown
paserile care vin din cer cu zgomot de vijelie; himself, or from the holy Nile Delta. They
care vin de departe: din miezul nopţii, din were the flying birds that had soared on warm
apele arctice, unde n-a apărut încă omul, ori wind, over the pyramids and the ancient Egypt
din delta Nilului sfânt. Erau zburătoare care- tombs and they have came from venerated
37
au plutit pe vânt cald deasupra piramidelor şi species .
mormintelor vechiului Egipet şi coboară din
generaţii care au fost adorate37. Neither I, nor the Indian did know that
the big drake, on our side of the shiny water is
a sacred bird, from a warm country, with blue
Nici eu, nici indianul nu ştiam că feathers and grey, amethyst eyes. The drake
răţoiul cel mare, din marginea de cătră noi a was gently curling his head, stately floating
luciului, e o pasere sfântă din ţara de la and his call was soft and silky as twilight.
miazăzi - cu pene de azur şi ochi de ametiste When he felt the boat and saw the enemy, he
38
fumurii. Îşi ondula lin capul, plutind măreţ, şi shuddered, broke the pond flapping his
glasul lui era moale şi catifelat ca amurgul. curved wings, and stretched his neck up to the
Când simţi barca şi zări duşmanii, tresări cu reed’s clusters.
putere sfărmând balta38 şi bătu din aripi
încovoiate, cu gâtul întins spre pămătufurile When he called, the ducks launched into
trestiilor. the sky as if a storm had started. The rifle
broke the silence and filled the air with smoke
La chemarea glasului lui, raţele bălţii and the smell of brimstone. The God of Egypt

71
săltară şi ele spre cer, într-un început de crushed into the pond, embracing the
vijelie. Puşca sfărmă singurătatea şi umplu reflection of his bloody body39.
de fum şi de miros de pucioasă
împrejurimea. Zeul de la Egipet căzu cu
zgomot în baltă, îmbrăţişându-şi cu aripile The course of life and the heaven did not
imaginea sângerată39. stop but for a moment. The sun passed into
darkness and the pond seemed deserted. We
Mersul lucrurilor şi crugul cerului nu were on a realm where life and death had the
se tulbură decât o clipă. Soarele căzu în same right, and crimes remained unpunished.
asfinţit şi balta păru pustie. Eram într-un loc
unde moartea şi viaţa au acelaşi drept şi We are floating eastward; there, the
crimele rămân nepedepsite. shadows suddenly begin to dissolve and
disappear40.
Plutim spre răsărit. Într-acolo, dintr-o The stars grow dim, and through the
dată umbrele prind a se destrăma, ş-a feeble light, I see the spectre of the first flight
arde40. of ducks passing in a short whir of wings,
Stelele pălesc, şi subt coloarea slăbită a changing screechings and soft whistles.
cerului zăresc năluca celui dintâi cârd de Pairs of big ducks spring out of the black
raţe. Trec într-o vâjâire scurtă de aripi, stems of plants, hit the water by shooting out,
schimbând cârcâituri şi fluierături moi. one after another, the duck with rough
Ne sar şi nouă, dintre cotoare negre de quackings and the drake with a soft hiss of
plante de apă, părechi de raţe mari. Bat apa slow vibrations.
zbucnind în sus una după alta, raţa cu
măcăituri aspre, răţoiul cu huruitu-i moale cu The daylight has not broken yet41;
vibraţii rare. instinctively, the arms grasp the rifle, but drop
it again on the knees. Having crossed a long
Lumina încă nu s-a deschis41; braţele and narrow path through reeds, I can see the
ridică instinctiv arma ş-o lasă iar pe glow of a clearing. The rushing dawns flush
genunchi. it pink, speeding to us42 through the reed’s
Apoi, după ce străbatem o cărare lungă bars. The day has suddenly and unexpectedly
şi îngustă printre trestii, simţesc înainte spread over the yellow surroundings, the
luciul unui luminiş. Îl rumenesc zorile deserted pond with the last year’s grass dried
revărsate, înflorind spre noi42 prin gratiile beneath the ice.
stuhului. S-a arătat deodată şi pe nesimţite
ziua peste întinderile blonde, peste balta

72
pustie, cu verdeaţa anului trecut moartă subt The wind had stopped and the sun
gheţuri. sprinkled for a few moments on the horizon. A
streak of mists and clouds43 fell then over,
Vântul a stat şi pe zarea răsăritului and the brightness around me tightened.
fulgeră câteva clipe soarele. O geană de Suddenly, a gray, cold and dreary tone laid
neguri şi nouri43 se lasă după aceea asupra-i, over the solitude.
şi lucirile din juru-mi şi dinainte-mi se stâng.
Peste singurătăţi a nins deodată o tonalitate From the distant natural levee deposits,
sură, tristă şi rece. there comes to me, from time to time, the
flight’s tumult44. The ducks rise in angles,
De pe depărtate grinduri de la margine floating over the water; the increasing pack,
vine, din când în când, spre mine, larma ducks of all species are intersecting from all
soborurilor44. Unghiuri de gâliţe se înalţă, sides. The sky over our corner of the world has
plutind sus pe deasupra apelor. Se started bustling. The morning parade unfurls in
încrucişează în toate părţile convoiurile much hurry and fervour towards hidden
accelerate de raţe de toate neamurile. Cerul thickets as if they were late.
colţului nostru de lume deodată s-a umplut
de mişcare. Pasajul de dimineaţă se face c-o
grabă şi c-o hărnicie nespusă; spre desimi
tăinuite, ca şi cum toată lumea ar fi în The March sunlight filled in the air.
întârziere. From the top of a bank ridge, I was
watching, from all sides, the vast, boundless
Lumina soarelui de martie umplea reeds and waters. On that first warm afternoon,
văzduhul. Priveam de pe grind stuhuri şi bălţi the wind had fallen on the ponds and an empty
fără de margine şi fără de ţărm, cât silence reigned from the sky. I could hear45
cuprindeau ochii în toate părţile zării. În only the Sea murmuring, feebly as a thrill,
după amiaza aceea, cea dintâi caldă, căzuse from the misty East
şi vântul în bălţi şi stăpânea din cer o linişte
de pustie. Se auzea45 numai foarte slab, ca un It was a time of peace for all the pond
fior, din ceaţa răsăritului, zvonul Mării. creatures. Countless geese were resting on the
bank ridges and creeks. Nor ducks, nor
Era un ceas de pace şi pentru noroadele lapwings, nor cormorants or spoons passed
bălţii. Pe grinduri şi gârle, gâştele fără de through my blue vault.
număr se hodineau. Nu tăiau arcul meu de
albastru nici raţe, nici nagâţi, nici cormorani,

73
nici lopătari. The islands and floating reed islets
were alived with all species of unknown46,
newly arrived birds46; it was a time of
Ostroavele şi plăviile stăteau pline de stagnation, when everything seemed to expect
neamurile de zburătoare străine46 sosite de a great event.
curând; însă era un ceas al neclintirii, când
totul aştepta parcă un eveniment însemnat. It was the first hour of absolete silence,
on the first sun’s day. All around I felt the
pulse of the underworld life. The waters were
Cel dintâi ceas de linişte deplină, în cea thawing down to the bottomed mud, where
dintâi zi a soarelui. Simţii în preajma mea the plants’ seeds were sprouting up 47.
pulsaţia vieţii profunde. Se încălzeau apele Colonies of small weeds were moving at the
până la mâlul cel negru, şi tresăreau în fund edge of the reed. Among primeval duckweeds
seminţele plantelor47. Coloniile de buruieni and creepers, there were aliving turtles. They
mărunte se mişcau la marginea stuhului. Şi were relentessly floating and moving in joining
printre lintiţe şi liane vechi foiau broaştele crust, among the rottenness and remnants of
ţestoase. Pluteau şi se mişcau fără încetare the swollen and foamed pond by fresh waters
cap lângă cap şi ţest lângă ţest, între and new sun.
putreziciunile şi reziduurile bălţii umflate şi
înspumate de ape proaspete şi soare nou. I pulled myself back home, as from the
front of a dreadful army and closed my eyes to
drive away the apocalyptic vision. I stood just
M-am retras spre casă, ca din faţa unei like that, alone and voiceless in the sun, when
armii înfricoşate; ş-am închis ochii ca s- suddenly, in that very moment, as if signaled
alung vedenia apocaliptică. Am rămas aşa from eternity, the pond burst out: it was the
singur în soare şi-n tăcere, până ce deodată, frogs’ terrible croaking; They had started up
într-acea clipă, ca şi cum ar fi vibrat în in a split second48, threatening the sky. And
veşnicie un semn, izbucni balta formidabil. they prolonged their untiring calling to the
Răcnetul broaştelor. Se deşteptau într-o four winds49, continually increasing,
scânteiere de secundă48, ameninţând cerul. overlapping and filling voids above and
Şi-şi prelungiră chemarea fără sfârşit în toate sideways.
vânturile49, crescând necontenit,
suprapunându-se şi umplând golurile de Oldman Procor was talking about
deasupra şi din lături. Timofti, passing every now and then his coaly,
gnarled fingers through his thick hair; and

74
 Procor bătrânul vorbea despre Timofti Vasia pulled out from the clayed- stove, a
vârându-şi din când în când degetele-i negre kettle, a burnt tinny vessel, some wooden
şi cârligate în părui-i stufos; iar Vasia scotea spoons and two willow plates50. As if all this
de după soba de ciamur un ceaun, o tingire hovel’s fortune had been his, Vasia carried it
afumată de tinichea, nişte linguri de lemn on his arms, looked at us with an unripe smile,
şi două treucuţi de salcie50. Ca şi cum gentle and blue eyes, and went out to the river
zestrea aceasta a cocioabei ar fi fost a lui, o to wash the treasure.
încărcă pe braţe, ne privi cu zâmbet-i tânăr şi
cu ochii lui albaştri şi buni, şi ieşi ca s-o Except for a few rush mats covering the
spele la gârlă. narrow benches with piles of reed and rush
as headrest51, there was nothing to be found in
Afară de câteva rogojini aşternute pe that low room,. The clayish walls, cracked and
lăiţile înguste cu maldări de papură şi dried up were unblanched.
ţipirig drept căpătăi51, nu se mai găsea The thatched roof tight to the crooked
nimic în încăperea joasă. Păreţii cu lipitura rafters, was placed right over us and there was
crăpată şi coşcovă erau nevăruiţi. a smell of smoke and moisty air.
Acoperişul de stuf, legat de căpriori
strâmbi, era aşezat de-a dreptul peste noi şi There was something so primitive and
mirosea a fum ş-a umezeală. wild - there, among unbordered reeds and
ponds, in those remote places, where we got
Era ceva aşa de primitiv şi de sălbatic, through such meandering ways, both on water
între stufuri şi bălţi nemărginite, în locuri aşa and on inland, that I turned to Oldman Procor
de depărtate, unde răzbisem pe căi de apă şi as to an ancestor coming out from centuries
de uscat aşa de întortocheate, încât mă and I felt such a true joy that I did no longer
înturnai spre Procor mişcat, ca înspre un belong to the people of my time.
strămoş sosit din veacuri, şi simţeam în mine
o bucurie adevărată că nu mai sunt între Autumn started and finished in drought.
oamenii vremii mele. The spiderwebs, caught in the houses’ loops
and eaves were smoothly waving; the cloudy
Toamna începuse şi se isprăvise în sky and the foggy horizon unfolded, day by
secetă. Unduiau lin funigeii prinşi de day, in the same gentle repose. The north
cheutorile şi streşinile caselor; cerul alburiu winds stirred up by the end of September52,
şi zările în ceaţă se desfăşurau, zile după zile, after the alchion bird took her cubs out in the
în aceeaşi tihnă blîndă. După ce şi-a scos solitude of the sea. In the twilight, beneath the
paserea alchion puii în singurătatea mării, leaden clouds, endless flights of crows could

75
cătră sfîrşitul lui răpciune, s-au trezit din be seen, cawing and screaming; and once they
miazănoapte vînturile52. Şi-ntr-un amurg, had flied over the mountains, fusing with
au început a se zări pe sub nourii plumburii darkness, it started pouring snow flakes. In the
cîrduri nesfîrşite de ciori, cîrîind şi ţipînd; şi morning it stopped snowing. The first soft
după ce-au trecut spre munte, amestecîndu-se snow rested over the unwavering fir wood, and
cu întunericul, prinse a curge puf de omăt. the paths were covered only with a thin
Cătră dimineaţă, ninsoarea stătu. Cel dintîi layer53; there could be heard no sound,
omăt moale sta pe brădetul neclintit mountain and forest seemed lifeless.
deasupra, şi pe cărări era numai un pospai
subţire53. Nu s-auzea nici un sunet; munte şi Suddenly, in that cloudy, bleak day
codru parcă muriseră. which showed itself through the snowed needle
leaves and veiling as in a mist the archways
Deodată, în ziua tristă şi fără soare care beneath, a shadow was slipping in. It was the
se prefigura prin cetinile înzăpădite şi dusk. A new sound aroused in the mountain as
învăluia ca într-o negură bolţile de dedesupt, a tremor, like a calling: it was the sound of a
se strecura un val de umbră. Era amurgul. Ca horn. The horn died away in a gentle tremor
un tremur, ca o chemare, un sunet nou se [...] it could be heard again for a moment, and
deşteptă în munte: un glas de corn. Cornul se quieted down in a flash of moment.
stînse într-o dulce tremurare…O clipă se
ridică iar, - şi-ndată tăcu. The December afternoon was gloomy
and the snowy landscape drowned under a
damp mist which seemed to move together
with us, hiding surprising unknown places.
După-amiaza de decemvrie era
posomorâtă şi peisagiul alb, înecat subt o
pâclă umedă, părea că se mişcă odată cu noi, We were climbing a hill through a deep
ascunzând îndărătu-i necunoscuturi ravine of firs stoned-like, old, and deep rooted
surprinzătoare. firs. We were making our way to the airy night,
and the ding dongs echoed back54 towards the
Urcam la deal printr-o râpă adâncă de valleys, like some nameless birds.
brazi. Brazi încremeniţi, bătrâni şi We stopped much later; those nameless
scufundaţi. Treceam cu negura cătră noaptea birds fell over the glade spruce with the wings
de sus, - şi sunetele clopotelor se întorceau gathered. A fairy little house, solitary at the
îndărăt54, cătră văi, ca nişte paseri fără edge of this world, cast two light signs on us,
nume. as if surprised55.

76
 Târziu, ne oprirăm. Paserile
necunoscute căzură pe molizii poienii, cu
aripile strânse. Ş-o căsuţă din poveşti, The gentle twilight wind had dropped,
singură la hotarul lumii acesteia, ne privi driving the mists away, and the black forest
mirată cu doi ochi de lumină55. appeared to me ethereal beneath the white
winter light. We no onger knew the way we
Vântişorul asfinţitului trecuse, mânând had followed, the people we had left in the
negurile, - şi codrul negru îmi apăru ca-ntr-o valleys were from another age. We ourselves
feerie, subt luna albă de iarnă. Drumul pe had passed from the opaque mist to a stillness
care sosisem nu-l mai ştiam, lumea pe care o of snow and silver. The air was biting cold, and
lăsasem în văi era a altui veac. Noi înşine the new and smooth snow did not crunch under
trecuserăm din pâcla opacă, printr-o minune our feet.
de vis, într-o tăcere de zăpadă şi de argint.
Aerul neclintit era rece, însă neaua nouă şi Bending out, we went through shadowy
moale nu scârţâia subt paşi. galleries, stepped out into the light and then
back into the shadow; and in that unchanged,
we made our way to another clearing, to high
Trecurăm, aplecându-ne, prin galerii de stacks of hay. Silently, we tucked ourselves
umbră, ieşirăm iar în lumină şi trecurăm iar up in the scent of dried flowers56 and stopped
în umbră, şi fără ca vremea să se clintească, watching from above a long steep in the thin
răzbăturăm la altă poiană, la stoguri nalte de wood.
fân. Tăcuţi, ne făcurăm cuibare în mirosul
subţire de flori uscate56, şi rămăsei privind A silvery and purple glimmering was
asupra unui povârniş lung în pădurea rară. vibrating among the aged trunks, over the
snow, flowing through branches up to the
moon’s sphere. In the heart of the valley, from
Printre trunchiurile bătrâne, deasupra the rock of a blizzard creek, as if stirring ice
omătului, se înfiora o lucire fumurie şi neddles, a sparkling water sprang and soon
violetă care curgea în sus printre crengi, cătră weakened down in a crystal brook hole. On the
văzduhul lunii. În fundul văii, din peştera other side, the scanty forest rose again slowly
unui pârău viscolit, izvora, frământând ace, o to remote places.
apă vie, care se domolea îndată într-un ochi
luciu de topliţă. It had ceased to snow and the air had
Dincolo, pădurea rară urca iarăşi lin, în cleared up to the stars. Fear and silence reigned
depărtări. over the wild animals territory. The snow was

77
 fresh and clean all over and the coppice had
Ninsoarea stătuse. Văzduhul se înălţase incredibly whitened57. The gritty precipices,
iar pînă la stele. Şi împărăţia sălbătăciunilor deep and devious startled up from their white
era plină de frică şi de tacere. Omătul era nou charm.
şi curat pretutindeni şi tufişurile înfloriseră
fantastic57. Rîpele cele pietroase, adînci şi A slavonian lives there, in a hidden glade
întortochiate tresăriră din farmecul lor alb. - a kind of wild man, with his wife, daughters
and sons. He has sheep and white cattles.
In summer time, his house becomes a
Vieţuieşte acolo, într-o poiană ascunsă, round hut of fir stubs tied at the top, from
un huţan, un fel de om sălbatic, cu nevasta, where the smoke runs out and one can see the
fetele şi feciorii. Are oi şi vite albe. sky. In winter time he draws to a pit dug
Casa lui, în vremea verii, e o colibă deeply under the rocks. There, close to the
rotundă de trunchişori de brad împreunaţi la walls, all kinds of benches, woollen blankets
vârf. Pe-acolo prin vârf, iese fumul şi se vede and sheepskin coats58, and in the backward-
cerul. Iar în vremea iernii se trage într-un barrels brimming of cheese. And the cattles
bordei adânc săpat subt stâncă. Acolo pe stay near here, in another hut and the sheep in
lângă păreţii acelui bordei, numai lăiţi, a fold, under a winter stable. And this
poclăzi şi cojoace58, şi-n fund putini householder wears peasant red breeches and a
înfundate cu brânză. Şi vitele-i stau în alt fur fox hat as all slavonians, and women dress
bordei, alăturea; şi oile în ţarc şi subt perdea. in homespun skirts, just like ours.
Ş-acel gospodar poartă ca toţi huţanii nădragi
roşi şi căciulă de vulpe. Iar femeile catrinţe, At a railway station and a late night train,
ca ş-a noastre. the two squireens from Racovi Valley - old
acquaintances of my companion - were waiting
for us. They were glad to see us getting off the
În gară, la un tren târziu de noapte, ne train with rifles and furs. They were short in
aşteptau doi cunoscuţi vechi ai tovarăşului stature and chubby, well fed and great wine
meu, doi răzeşi din valea Racovei. S-au lovers. However, the rosy cheeks and their
bucurat foarte când ne-au văzut coborând, cu keen eyes showed signs of being still young59,
puştile şi blănurile. even if their beards and mustaches, shortly
Erau doi oameni scunzi şi rotofei, bine razed, glistened like snow.
hrăniţi şi iubitori mari de vin. Obrajii rumeni They were walking nimbly, ahead of us
şi ochii ageri dovedeau încă tinereţă59, deşi with their tall yuft boots, leaden coined hats
bărbile şi mustăţile, tuşinate scurt, luceau ca and short wollen, fox furred coats.

78
şi omătul. Umblau sprinteni înaintea noastră,
cu ciubotele lor nalte de iuft, cu căciulile Two horsed- breasts60 were waiting on
brumării ţuguiete şi-n scurtele de şiac the shint pathway, behind the station. The
căptuşite cu vulpe. sleighs were smoothly and briskly gliding on
the plain way and the surroundings were
Două săniuţi cu câte doi cai60 aşteptau flashing purplish beneath the full moon. In the
în dosul gării, pe calea lucie. Săniile cu distance we could see brown groves and silver
oplene lunecau uşor şi iuţi pe drumul lin şi binds of frozen water beyond.
împrejurimile scăpărau vioriu subt luna
plină. Se desluşeau departe crânguri cafenii This journey in warm furs, late in the
şi după ele table argintii de apă îngheţată. night throughout the waste lands of Vaslui
seemed to me the most important and most
pleasant episode of our hunting game.
Drumul acesta în blăni calde şi la un Beneath the crystal heavenly vault, in the
ceas târziu de noapte prin singurătăţile cold and clear air, we were flying to an
vasluiene îmi pare episodul cel mai de unknown land.
căpetenie şi mai plăcut al vânătorii noastre.
Subt bolta de cristal naltă până la stele, în I woke up in cheerful voices. The horses
aerul curat şi rece, navigam spre un ţărm breathed steam beneath a black eave; sledges
necunoscut. lay near, and two foreign gents, younger than
our companions, came out through a large
Mă deşteptai între glasuri vesele. Caii opened door. The dawn light reflected on their
răsuflau aburi subt o streşină neagră; săniile cheeks. From the old shack they went out, a
se alăturaseră, şi pe-o uşă mare deschisă fresh corn flour flavour reached my nostrils.
ieşeau doi răzeşi străini, mai tineri decât Thereupon, I could also hear the water
tovarăşii noştri. murmuring. The stones vibrated and the
Lucirea zorilor le bătea în obraji. Din hopper resounded.
şandramaua de unde ieşiseră, pătrunse până
la mine miros de făină proaspătă de păpuşoi. The day I speak about, it was sunny and
Îndată îmi zvoni în urechi şi freamătul apei. a gently warm in the Repedea meadows, the
Huruiau pietrele şi bătea teica. first true mild day in that late and changing
spring. The wind was whistling from time to
In ziua de care vorbesc, am găsit soare time in the branches, over the forest.
în poienile de la Repedea ş-o căldura lină,
cea dintăi zi în adevăr blandă în această

79
târzie şi schimbătoare primăvară. Din cînd în Puddles of water glittered61 in
cînd suna vîntul în crengi pe deasupra meanderings of narrow valleys, in cold and
pădurii. black puddles from the deepest ravines. Loads
of snow still survived in the backsides. The
Sticleau ochiuri de apă61 în drooped leaves, well layered and dense under
încovoieturi de vălcele şi tăuri reci şi negre the weight of winter snow were gleaming in
în funduri de rîpi. Pe la dosuri stăruiau încă the sun, in a faded, undated blood color, as the
grămezi de omăt. Frunzişul mort, bine ţesut grass sprouts did not nettled and flowers did
şi bătut sub greutatea zăpezilor iernii, lucea not break it. In the light-flooded sides, there
în stropiturile de soare într-o coloare de sînge cropped up arrays of violets, like some sky
vechi şi stîns. Înca nu-l înţepaseră colţii ierbii flakes.
şi nu-l spărseseră florile.
Dar, pe la feţe inundate de lumină, The forest still testified the sufferings
zăream pîlcuri de viorele, ca nişte fulgi de from winter, albeit it was the mid of April.
62
cer. Here and there, dark cellars opened. In the
black mires the dragons of blizzards and
Deşi eram la jumătatea lui april, storms that had passed over the country in
pădurea încă mărturisea suferinţa iernii. 62Pe February seemed to have abandoned their eggs
alocuri deschidea hrube de întuneric. În and dens. Broken and torn beeches and poplars
tăurile negre parcă rămăsese cuibarele şi attested past battles.
ouăle părăsite ale balaurilor viscolelor şi The forest still carried within it a sort of
furtunilor, care au trecut peste lumea noastră bleakness and weakness. Here in the depths,
in luna lui faur. Fagi şi plopi rupţi şi dărmaţi there were no flapping wings, no chirping
mărturiseau bătăliile trecute. callings. It was all silence and stillness.
Pădurea păstra încă în cuprinsul ei o
mîhnire ş-o oboseală. Aici, în adîncuri, nu It was indeed a squirrel, a ball of reddish
fîlfîiau zboruri, nu ţîrîiau glasuri. Era fur, with its bristly tail brought back to the
neclintire şi tăcere. ears, with a tiny head where two little eyes
shimmered as two grains of rain or tears.
Era într-adevăr o veveriţă, un ghem de
blăniţă de coloarea flăcării, cu coada stufoasă
63
adusă pe spinare spre urechi, c-un căpuşor On hearing our cries, she moved
minuscul în care licăreau ochişorii, ca doua suddenly and ran to the other side of the trunk
boabe de ploaie ori de lacrimi. to hide from our sight. Then, the squirrel
appeared higher, on another branch. We kept

80
 63
La exclamaţiile noastre se mişcă silence, but she was still watchful. She
brusc şi trecu în partea cealaltă a trunchiului, slipped up on a thin branch and then, falling
ca să se ascundă de privirile noastre. Apoi off, passed on an old beech. No doubt that she
apăru mai sus, pe altă creangă. Tăcurăm. Ea had jumped high from a low branch without
64
era însă tot neîncrezătoare. Se furişa pe o any effort, as if its flare fur had loosen
ramură subţire, apoi, desprinzîndu-se de therefrom, rising up gently.
acolo, trecu pe-un fag mai bătrîn. Făcuse o
săritură fără îndoială, de pe o creangă joasă,
64
în inălţime; însă fără nici o sforţare, ca şi There, in the old beech tree, she stopped
cum puful ei de flacără se desprinsese de for a moment spying on us, so as we could
aici şi plutise în sus. notice its white tie; then she disappeared on the
opposite side, where she could not see us,
Acolo, în fagul cel bătrîn, se opri puţin assuming, with her shred of understanding that
cercetîndu-ne, atît cît puturăm să-i observăm neither of us could see her.
cravata albă; apoi dispăru iar în partea opusă.
De-acolo nu ne vedea ea, şi-şi închipuia, cu The winter crystal orb was there, in the
grăunciorul ei de înţelegere, că n-o vedem black pool and she was up - a tiny flame of
nici noi. life. She was still afraid of the enemy, as if
she remembered the disaster and great battle;
Globul iernii era jos, în tăul negru; şi she still suspected a threat, at that moment
ea era sus, flacără măruntă a vieţii. Se temea when the sun was playing in the branches. She
încă de duşman; rămăsese încă o clipa în ea was like a leaf, closely tight to the old beech
65
amintirea dezastrului şi a marei bătălii; trunk, listening to a clock’s feeble ticking
bănuia încă o primejdie acum cînd cînta marking the time. But it was only her little
soarele în crengi; şi stătea neclintită ca o offspring heart, a heart of the forest and of
frunză, lipită strîns de trunchiul fagului spring as well.
bătrîn, şi, cu urechea grămădită în scoarţă,
65
asculta un ceasornic care bătea acolo
mărunţel, măsurînd timpul. Nu era însă The wolf is a very intelligent wild animal
decît inimioara ei de puişor al fagului, al and takes courage as long as needed. Those
pădurii, şi-al primăverii. who consider him a coward, make the mistake
of assigning him a human feature. What kind
Lupul e sălbătăciune deosebit de of bravery can the wolf show when he is
inteligentă şi are curaj în măsura necesităţii. surrounded by pursuers and the place to which
Acei care-l socotesc laş, fac greşeala de a-i he is chased is mined with rifles? Once he feels

81
atribui o psihologie umană. Ce fel de bravură he can escape back or sideways he has not for
poate arăta lupul cînd e încercuit de hăitaşi şi a moment doubts and he often saves himself in
cînd locul spre care se simte mînat e împănat this way. They can sense the danger perfectly
de puşti? Îndată ce simte că poate scăpa and their eyes burn with despair, very much
înapoi ori în lături, nu stă nici o clipă la like we do. In the same way, the man becomes
îndoială, şi chiar se salvează destul de des în what that poor animal is, struggling in the
acest chip. Îşi dau seama desăvîrşit de thickets, throbbing, cocking his ears and
primejdie şi în privirile lor arde o disperare sniffing at every rifle clap from the hunters
care seamănă foarte mult cu a noastră. Într-o line.
situaţie identică omul devine şi el ceea ce e
acel biet animal care se frămîntă in hăţişuri,
care tresare, ciuleşte urechile şi adulmecă de The wolf’s ability turns out, for
66
cîte ori izbucnesc detunături de puşcă pe example, in the way he takes a pig from a
linia vînătorilor. Romanian peasant courtyard. He slips along
so that the dogs do not even scent him; he finds
Inteligenţa lupului se dovedeşte, de the hole in the fence or the stile which he will
66
pildă, în felul cum fură el porcul din have to overleap. He steals in, seeking for the
ograda românului. Vine astfel încît nici nu-l gruntling and takes it very quickly. He holds it
simt cîinii. Recunoaşte spărtura în gard ori by an ear with his fangs, carrying it to his
pîrlazul pe unde va trebui să treacă. Intră şi hiding place. The gruntling grunts once or
caută godacul şi-l duce foarte repede cu sine. twice, but then shuts up and surrenders, fleeing
Îl ţine de o ureche cu colţii şi-l bate dinapoi with his new master.
cu coada, ducîndu-l spre sălaşul său. Porcul
coviţă o dată ori de două ori, pe urmă tace şi The way these wild animals hunt is also
se supune, fugind alături de noul lui stăpîn. skillful. They do not hunt differently from
men, but need much more ability, as they do
not have rifles. Some wolves circle and deviate
67
Tot inteligent e felul cum vînează the game - rabbits or deer - others lie in
aceste fiare. Nu vînează altfel decît oamenii, ambush. As the chased animals are driven
însă le trebuie mai multă dibăcie, pentru că here, they hurl against them and knock them
n-au arme de foc. Unii lupi înconjură şi abat down. One single fang thrust and they tear
vînatul - iepuri ori căprioare – şi 67alţii stau their carotid or break their neck.
în ţiitori; cum ajung în preajma acestora
animalele alungate, ei se azvîrl împotrivă şi The forest branched out around, gently
le doboară. C-o singură lovitură de colţ le lighted. It was an old forest, a mixture of oak

82
deschid carotida ori le rup grumazul. and beech. There were densities of trees woven
with climbing plants in the ravines. The snow
Pădurea se întindea dulce luminată în had covered the paths. It was a hard winter
jurul meu. Pădure bătrînă. De fag amestecat snow, but that day was not so cold.
cu stejar. În rîpi, desimi de arbuşti ţesuţi cu
plante agăţătoare. Omătul astupase potecile. The sun went down quite hastily
Era un omăt de iarnă tare; însă ziua nu fusese westward.
prea friguroasă. High, beyond the bare ears of the forest’s
oaks and beeches, 68the sky was overarching
Soarele cobora destul de grabnic spre as an icy and glassy green. When the sun
asfinţit în dreapta mea. Sus, dincolo de started shaping in a scratched jar form
spicele goale ale gorunilor şi fagilor scattered in the branches of hedges, I began
codrului, 68cerul se boltea înalt de un verde feeling the sunset coldness rising from the
ca sticla şi ca ghiaţa. Cînd soarele începu să surrrounding ravines. At a certain moment, 69I
aibă o înfăţişare de jar scrijelat şi risipit în felt the presence of a fearful silence around
crengile tufărişurilor, am început a simţi că me.
iese în juru-mi, din rîpele din preajma, frigul It was a silence that would have been
69
înserării. La un moment dat, am avut entitled to assign a more dramatic epithet. It
conştiinţa unei tăceri înfricoşate în jurul was a silence that rose from the frozen depths
meu. Era o tăcere căreia s-ar fi cuvenit să-i of the ground to the rocks and trees. It was the
asociez un epitet mai dramatic. Era o tăcere silence of the end of time.
care se ridica din adîncul amorţit al
pămîntului în stînci şi în copaci. Era tăcerea This September morning is quiet and
de la sfîrşitul timpurilor. smooth, no breath of wind is felt. The lake
shines like a mirror. The steams, as light as the
air are drifting away, pierced by the first
Dimineaţa de septemvrie e calmă şi gleams, dispersing in various and misleading
lină, fără adiere de vînt. Lacu-i luciu ca o forms. It settles on clusters and for a while
oglindă. Aburi uşori plutesc, străpunşi de closes throughly the horizon to the other world,
primele lumini, risipindu-se în forme variate giving the illusion of a mysterious and perfect
70
şi înşelătoare. Se urcă pe pămătufuri şi închid recall. The ancient hunter’s alert eye
cîtva timp desăvîrşit orizontul spre lumea distinguished with his heart throbbing, three
cealaltă – dînd iluzia unei retrageri or four swans, solemnly gliding. The mirage,
70
misterioase şi desăvîrşite. În lumina increasing the distance and their size made
ochiului, vînătorul de altă dată deosebea, them look like ancient galliots arrived from a

83
cu inima bătînd, trei ori patru lebede, care mysterious country in the waters of Cristeşti.
pluteau solemn. Mirajul, sporind depărtarea The ancient hunter watched them for a long
şi volumul, le făcea să semene cu nişte time, without stirring them, as one of the
galiote antice sosite din ţara tainei în apele de sacred wonders of nature.
la Cristeşti. Vînătorul cel vechi le privea
îndelung, fără să le tulbure – ca pe una din The hunter wanders across fields,
minunile sacre ale naturii. valleys, forests, and mountains, winding paths,
steps on unwalked thickets and then out in the
hot sun, on arid uplands - he walks alone, only
Vînătorul străbate cîmpuri, văi, codri şi with a few companions, beneath the sky within
munţi, intră pe cărări cotite, în desimi the four winds; he endures drought, heat, pains,
nestrăbatute, iese în soare arzător pe podişuri insomnia, search for the game and is often
sterpe – umblă singur şi cu puţini tovarăşi deceived and disillusioned in his expectations:
sub cer şi-ntre zări; sufere seceta, arşiţa, it is a battle of tiredness, cuteness, artfulness,
truda, nesomnul, urmăreşte vînatul şi de cele but after all what is most cherished is a halt
mai multe ori e înşelat şi biruit în nădejdile with the friends, in a grove skirt near a spring,
lui: e o luptă de oboseală, de isteţime, de in the summer day softness - or, in a lost
viclenie, şi-n definitiv preţios e popasul cu cottage in the woods, in winter evenings, with
prietenii în blîndeţea zilei de vară, la un corn stories, memories, a glass of wine and the
de dumbrava, în preajma unui izvor, - sau, în ballads of a pair of dark and half wild fiddlers.
serile de iarna, într-o căsuţă pierdută între
codri, cu poveşti, amintiri, un pahar de vin şi The dog takes a place equal to men in the

baladele unei părechi de lăutari negri şi pe hunters’ companionships, halts and stories. The
jumatate sălbatici. August and September hunts are true novels in
which the setters are heroes. They are for the
real hunter, a new and permanent opportunity

Cînele ocupă în tovărăşiile, în to observe the proof of smartness and devotion

popasurile, în povestirile vînatorilor un loc of this ancient ally of the visible world’s
egal cu al oamenilor. Vînătorile de august şi conqueror. Sometimes, the hunter gets to
septembrie devin adevărate romane, în care communicate with his mate through words,
prepelicarii sunt eroi. Prepelicarul e, pentru signs and feelings. One could endlessly talk
vînătorul adevărat, un prilej necontenit nou about its surprising adventures.
de a observa manifestările inteligenţii şi Besides, every hunter praises his hero

devotamentului de la acest străvechi aliat al and one must know that every hunter is
cuceritorului lumii vizibile. Uneori, vînătorul endowed with a natural gift but also with the

84
 ajunge să comunice cu soţul său prin cuvînt, privilege of imagination.
semn şi sentiment. Despre isprăvile lui
surprinzătoare se vorbeşte fără sfîrşit. De
altminteri fiecare vînător îşi cîntă eroul său;
şi trebuie să se ştie că fiecare vînător are un
deosebit dar şi privilegiu al imaginaţiei

3.3. Interpretation of the Translational Equivalents

Translating The Land Beyond Mists proved to be extremely challenging. The complexity of
the texts, the cultural specificity, the archaic and regional words, the impossibility of finding
equivalence for those terms in English language and culture are some of the aspects that made
the translation difficult, almost impossible at times.
On the morphological level of the texts, a high degree of occurrence had the nouns and the
adjectives; while the nouns are truly pivotal elements, the adjectives convey the nuances. Such
nouns as liman, singurătate, împărăţie were rendered more often than not considering the
context as they carried an affective feature denoting hidden, secret even Edenic places. Other
times I had to take into consideration the semantic and pragmatic dimension of the text as, for
example the noun pădure was rendered by both wood and by forest, iaz was rendered by pond as
they are both a body of still water, smaller in size than a lake and artificially created; such nouns
as sihlă→ thick young forest and plăvie→floating reed islets were rendered by means of
functional equivalence, i.e. adding certain details to make the text comprehensible for the TL
reader. They are joined by verbs with phonetic symbolism, able to suggest various auditory,
tactile and visual (pe o costişă inegresc tufişuri→on a hillside silvery rimed thickets blackens on
a hillside) representions, used either in the Past Tense or in the historic Present. The author does
not simply introduce in his texts mimetic words (onomatopoeia) but he resorts to verbs to which
he associates specific determiners, eg. pajura ţipa în sus→ the golden eagle yelled up in the sky,
alte paseri(…) cârâie, chiamă şi ţârâie→ other birds screetch, call, and cirp, aud râsul ţârcii→
I hear the magpie’s outbursting. This interchangeability results finally in a harmonious
combination of melancholy and dynamism.
The inner rhytm of the phrase turns into a support for poetical structures, marked
graphically by comma or semicolon point: La ochiuri limpezi cresc amestecat crini albi şi nuferi
galbeni; şi-n drumul luntrii plutesc colonii mari de plante mărunte(…) care cresc şi mor
neistovit subt luciu→White and yellow lilies grow randomly on the clear waterholes; large
colonies of tiny plants (…) rising and disappearing continuously beneath the shineness.

85
 To understand these aspects better I have chosen a few examples of proposed translated
forms, trying to justify my decisions and choices. Before displaying those examples, along with
the inherent explanations, I have to make one final amendment: each proposed translation is
from my point of view, relative and subjective and can be amenable to criticism.

1
“Ţara de dincolo de negură→ The Land Beyond Mists”. The Romanian noun ţară
was not rendered by its literally equivalent, i.e country as it would have been ill-matched.
Instead, I chose to keep with the author’s intention to foreground the territory distinguished by
its people, culture, language, geography, etc.; land seemed to best match the semantic and
stylistic dimension of the ST as it rather points to a realm that produces or gives the impression
of dimness or obscurity, situated somewhere in the author’s memory and shrouded in mists, in
the plural as the suffix –s is used in the present context to mark the stylistic domension of the
title, rendered symbolically.
2
“În această carte vorbesc priveliştile şi oamenii acestui pământ→ It is the views and
the people of this land that tell the stories of this book.” In keeping with the different patterns
of word-order and focalization in the SL and the TL, I chose to alter the syntactic structure of this
introductory sentence in order to preserve the author’s intentions regarding the element in focus.
It is a case of recasting in which I chose to translate the original ST by modifying the order of
the units in the TT and to place ahead the introductory theme, i.e. the views and the people of
this land. For this purpose I used the emphatic pronoun it which anticipates “the views and the
people”. The Romanian noun pamant was rendered into English by choosing not its
denominative variant i.e material din care este alcatuita partea solida a globului terestru
(Breban 1992: 742) which would have been translated as earth, ground, soil but by its
connotative meaning, i.e. teritoriu, regiune, tinut. That is why the noun land was preferred as it
becomes a mass noun including the people of a nation, district. region (Webster 2009).
3
“Munţii în care au împietrit parcă îndrăzneli de gândire singuratice→ The
mountains which seem to have encrusted glimpses of solitary thoughts”. I kept in my
translation the word order of the ST and the only words which I considered to deserve much
attention were the verb au împietrit and the noun îndrăzneli. My final choise was the analytical
structure instead of the more synthetic equivalent, i.e. the verb to encrust which means “to
cover or to coat with or as if with a crust”, e.g. The manuscript is bound in gold and silvery and
encrusted with jewels (dictionary.cambridge on line) as it matches the semantic dimension of
the original. Another variant was however possible: “the mountains which seem to have
stoned…” but I considered it inadequate because of the feature [+CONCRETE] of the verb to
stone, meaning to furnish, fit, pave, or line with stones (the freedictionary.com on line). As for

86
the noun îndrăzneli which means atitudine sau purtare îndrăzneaţă; curaj, cutezanţă,
îndrăznire, equivalents such as boldness, courage, daring would have been ill-matched, that is
why I have opted for a dynamic equivalence and glimpses seemed to match perfectly in the co-
text, as it implies a quick idea or understanding of what something is like (e.g. This biography
offers a few glimpses of his life before he became famous). The word glimpses collocates thus
with solitary thoughts as both induce the idea of intermittence, of a pulsating flow.
4
“apele care zvonesc cântarea vieţii etern înoite→ the waters which praise the hymn
of an eternally renewed life”. The word-for-word translation would have been totally
inappropriate: “the waters which murmur the song of an eternally renewed life” As we can see in
the examples above, including also the present one, material things are endowed with human
features: this book talks about the views and the people… the mountains encrust… the waters
praise…. As I have already discussed the first two examples I will refer in what follows to the
third. The verb a zvoni involves a [ +HUMAN] feature and can be used as both a transitive verb
in which case it means a raspandi un zvon (Breban 1992: 1147) and an intransitive verb when
referring to an inanimate object, such as water, wind in which case it means a susura, a murmura
(ibid.), meanings which however do not collocate with “cântarea”. The verb to praise and the
noun hymn (and not to sing) seem to fit better in the co-text in concordance with the stylistic
and dynamic effect intended by the author.
5
“codrii …grămădind întuneric în sihle nestrăbătute”→ the woods …mustering
darkness into unwalked, thick young forests”. As the author‘s intention was to foreground the
inanimate subject, he assigned the forest with a human feature expressed by the archaic form
grămădi deprived of the preformative prefix –in, placed usually before the stem of the word.
The verb grămădi could not be translated by the literally correspondents to gather, to heap, to
crowd, to pile up, since these variants would require a [+CONCRETE] Direct Object, which is
not the case here (the [+ABSTRACT] feature of the noun darkness). My final choice to use the
transitive verb to muster, usually used with preposition + into was made according to the
requirements of the text. The word sihle, the plural form of the noun sihlă means pădure deasă,
formată din copaci tineri (Breban 1992: 948) and is a culture specific term which I found
appropriate to translate it preserving the same meaning through a functional equivalent , i.e.
thick young forests.
6
“Începutul acestei pasiuni →The origin of this hobby”. A case of non-equivalence. The
noun origin was preferred for the Romanian noun inceputul instead of the English synonyms
inception, source, root as it involves the fact of originating; rise or derivation. The Romanian
noun pasiuni was not literally rendered by passion, as it may have been expected, but by the
noun hobby whose semantic field is more comprehensive as it points to the an activity or

87
interest pursued outside one's regular occupation and engaged in primarily for pleasure (the
freedictionary.com on line) which is the case in the ST where the stress is laid on hunting and
fishing seen as the most agreable sports. Moreover the use of the noun passion would have had
the semantic feature [+ ROMANTIC/SENSUAL NATURE] which is not the case here; passion
is a deep, overwhelming emotion: "There is not a passion so strongly rooted in the human heart
as envy" (Richard Brinsley Sheridan).
7
“am ieşit…cu puşca→ I walked gun-armed”. The Romanian cu puşca was not
rendered by holding a gun, as the noun gun would normally imply, but by the English specific
compound-adjective, an association of a noun gun + the adjective armed, gun-armed, a variant
that consisted in reduction which has as a result concision and economy of the TT.
8
“pe o costişă înegresc tufişuri bătute de brumă→ silvery rimed thickets blacken on a
hillside”. A case of equivalence. I tried to recreate the source text rendering the same meaning;
that is why I translated the Romanian înegresc with blacken in order to recreate in a dynamic
way, the visual imagery of the ST. The noun costişă formed by the noun coastă + the suffix - işă
which means in the Romanian “Porţiune de teren cu suprafaţă înclinată faţă de un plan
orizontal; povârniş; pantă; versant” (DEX 1998 online) was rendered by the compound noun
hillside which means “The side or slope of a hill, situated between the foot and the summit”
(Webster 2009). I also added the derivational suffix –ed to the root – word rime thus changing a
noun into an adjective.
9
“Deodată→ All of a sudden”. I preferred this idiom as it emphasizes “the quickness of
an occurence for which there has been no preparation or gradual approach, without warning”
(the freedictionary.com on line), brusc (back-translation). The same online reference also
mentions the form all at once, but I dropped this variant that also expresses simultaneity and it
does not match the semantic and pragmatic dimension of the context.
10
“ca şi cum l-ar făta pământul → as if delivered by the earth”. A case of non-
equivalence. The Romanian transitive verb is usually used in connection with mammals and
means to give birth to offsprings but also to humans as in She delivered a baby girl this morning.
In its informal use it has also a pejorative meaning and it is not the case here. I used the verb to
deliver in connection with the abstract noun earth as it matches the semantic and stylistic
dimension and recreates the author’s dynamic vision in the narrative.
11
“cherhanalele de ciamur, otacurile primitive ale pescarilor; ostroavele şi plăviile→
the clayed-fishing ground, the fishermen’s primitive shacks, the islets and the floating drift
wood eyots”. In translating this sequence, I put the compensation method into application, i.e.
adding specific words thus providing nominal groups in order to attenuate the loss in the TT and
at the same time to render the meaning intented in the original ST. They are all Romanian

88
culture-specific terms, moreover they are archaisms from Sadoveanu’s period and region
(Moldova), out of use nowadays. Cherhana is a special building on a water bank, for processing
and temporary storage of fish, ciamur is a material composed of clay mixed with chopped straws
used in plastering or building the Romanian houses in the 19th Century. In order to render
cherhanalele de ciamur I employed an English specific construction clayed-fishing ground,
changing the noun clay into an adjective by adding the suffix –ed. The noun ground was
preffered as it indicates an area of land designated for a particular purpose (merriam-webster
dictionary online) and collocates with cherhana: “a special building(…)”. Otac is a hut that
serves as a temporary shelter for fishermen during work. Ostrov denotes a small island, often
floating in a river formed by the accumulation of earth, sand or mud, usually covered with
vegetation. The noun plăvie - a floating little island made up of rooten reeds, grass, rhizomes,
roots of trees, all mixed with mud- was translated through a functional equivalent floating drift
wood eyots, a nominal group which conveys the same meaning of the original ST.
12
“o viaţă nouă şi înfrigurată fremăta→a new feverish life murmured”. The Romanian
adjective înfrigurată formed by the preposition în +the noun friguri + the suffix -at was not
rendered into the TT by its denotative meaning, i.e. care tremură de frig, pătruns de frig, but by
taking up its figurative meaning, i.e. cuprins de nerăbdare, de emoţie, de zel; febril although this
feature is assigned to an abstract noun viaţă (a metonymic term, a whole which stands for its
parts: plants, birds, animals )and not to a human being. That is why I preferred to employ the
adjective feverish as its second meaning is marked by intense agitation, emotion, or activity in
order to preserve the same dynamic equivalence of the ST. The verb a fremăta, usually used in
connection with leaves, trees, waves, etc., means a palpita , a pulsa, a vibra, a zvacni (DEX
1998 on line) was translated by murmured that is, to make a low, indistinct, continuous sound
or succession of sounds (the freedictionary online).
13
“altă viaţă … izvorâtă din veşnicie→another life…stemming out from eternity”. The
Romanian participle form of the verb izvorâtă was translated on the basis of its second,
figurative meaning, i.e. a lua naștere, a-şi avea sursa; a proveni, a se trage. In this context, I
employed the same figurative meaning in English as according to Leviţchi the noun stem can be
used in its figurative sense as fel, neam, linie de descendenţă. (Leviţchi 1993: 256). Applying
transposition/shift, I changed the grammatical category, adding at the same time the adverb out
to indicate the direction away from inside, conveying thus the same meaning as the original.
14
“tresăreau egrete graţioase→ca nişte bucăţi de zăpadă înaripată →Gracious egrets,
winged as if big snow flakes were thrilling”. This is a situation where I preferred to recreate
the original text in order to make it more expressive. I translated winged as if big snow flakes
with a metaphoric charge and not literal –as if winged snow flakes. As the author resorts to a

89
comparison between egrets and snow flakes which both have the same feature, of flying/floating
in the air, it was also my intention to keep the proportion and visual imagery between egrets and
snow flakes and for this purpose I introduced by explicitation a detail for clarification, the
adjective big. The Romanian verb tresări a face o mişcare bruscă, involuntară , provocată de o
emoţie puternică şi neaşteptată (Breban 1992: 1070) was rendered into English not by the most
common synonyms: to start (a începe, a zvâcni) to quiver (a tremura), to shudder (de teamă),
etc. Instead, the verb to thrill seemed more appropriate as it means to experience a sudden,
sharp excitement (merriam-webster online).
15
“din alt neam şi altă zodie→ of another origin and fate”. In this case the first meaning
of the Romanian noun neam was not rendered on historical grounds in which case it refers to a
union of gens and tribes in the primitive time. Out of all the equivalent idioms in the TL: nation
a relatively large group of people organized under a single, usually independent government,
lineage the descendants of a common ancestor considered to be the founder of the line, species
(Biology) A fundamental category of taxonomic classification, ranking below a genus or
subgenus and consisting of related organisms capable of interbreeding origin was finally chosen
as it refers to ancestry : “We cannot escape our origins, however hard we try (James Baldwin) –
quoted from the freedictionary.com) matching the semantic content of the original. Similarly the
Romanian noun zodie is defined by extension as destin, soartă, ursită (Breban 1992: 1145).
16
“gângănii înotătoare alungându-se într-o rază de soare→ floating bugs bathing in a
sunbeam”. The Romanian reflexive alungându-se is not used here in its denotative meaning,
situation in which it implies to chase away somebody. My personal opinion is that the context it
belongs to emanates a lenient, carefree atmosphere in which the inanimate bugs are living. The
verb suggests in my opinion a freely move back and forth or up and down in the air, as branches
in the wind . My first choice was floating bugs waving in a sunbeam, but it would have been
redundant as floating means to move lightly, or freely across a surface or through air, water, so I
dropped this version and I opted for bathing which transmits the same unrestrained atmosphere,
especially in connection with the noun sunbeam.
17
“Oamenii din bălţi n-au şcoli→ People in the ponds have no school education”. Since
the main meanings of the Romanian noun şcoală (1. instituţie de învăţământ în care se predau
elementele de bază ale principalelor discipline; 2. localul în care este instalată o instituţie de
învăţământ , cf. Breban 1992: 1017) are usually associated with the administrative function, my
final choice was school education, whose semantic field is more comprehensive, being more
appropriate for the connotative meaning of the noun, i.e. the process of being educated formally,
especially education constituting a planned series of courses over a number of years (the
freedictionary online).

90
 18
“Omul în acele meleaguri trăieşte pe socoteala lui→ Man lives on his own in those
places”. It is a case of equivalence at the idiomatic level, containing culture specific elements:
the Romanian idiom was rendered by an equivalent idiom in the TT, preserving the semantic
content from the ST.
19
“Apoi aicea→Well…here” used here as a sentence connector, an expression used to
preface a remark, gain time, etc., Well, I don’t think I will come at the party, justified in this
context by the Romanian popular adverb apoi (poi, păi).
20
“hulubi sălbatici huruiau în plopi→ wild pigeons sounding in the poplars”. A case of
equivalence. The Romanian imitative verb a hurui has a special reference about pigeons that
emit the species characteristic sounds.
21
“ridicând ochii→ rising our eyes” I chose the literal translation because to rise one’s
eyes (e.g. She rised her eyes.) better corresponds to ridica ochii/a privi în sus; neither the
variants with the phrasal verbs looking up (freedictionary on line) i.e to search for and find, as
in a reference book, or looking out, that is to employ one’s sight in a given direction or on a give
object (e.g. look out on the window) which implies to be a closed area and look from there, or to
be watchful, careful (e.g. Look out! There is a bus coming).
22
“tinereţa lumii→in the world’s primeness”. The literally translation of the Romanian
noun tinereţe would be youtfulness, the early period in the life of an animate being (Webster
2009), a case in which it does not collocate with the abstract noun world; out of a long series of
possible synonyms including springtime, greenness, bloom age, I kept the impersonal
primeness which means first or early in time, order, or sequence; original (the
freedictionary.com online), matching thus the semantic content of the original.
23
“meşteşug tainic→a secret craftsmanship”. The Romanian meşteşug i.e. deprindere
practică de a efectua (în ascuns) un lucru cu îndemânare și cu pricepere ; artă (Breban 1992:
612) was rendered by craftsmanship considering that the wandering people whom the author
describes are coppers and cooperage is a craft requiring dexterity, manual skills. Artisan would
have been another variant but it is used to refer to one that produces something (as cheese or
wine) in limited quantities often using traditional methods (meriam-webster.com online) but
artisanship sounds rather awckard. Worker is instead a modern variant referring to people who
work in different industrial fields and it would’t suit the semantic dimension of the ST.
24
“locuri tari ca nişte cetăţi→durable places resembling strongholds” as it matches the
semantic dimension of the original better: the Romanian adjective tari refers here not to an
object having a tough consistency, but it rather refers, by extension to being durable, lasting,
fortified places (as some strongholds).

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 25
“Măsura în metri→the length”. I preferred this variant and not the measure in meters,
or the cultural equivalent yards which nonetheless equals 0,91 meters and would have not fully
express the semantic content of the original metri. I dropped the mentioned variant and I kept
the noun length which means a linear extent or measurement of something from end to end,
usually being the longest dimension or, for something fixed, the longest horizontal dimension
(freedictionary. com online) taking into account the co-text ( Măsura în metri, cătră dealurile
din dreapta …şi cătră satele… ) matching thus the semantic and pragmatic dimension of the ST.
26
“o aburire tremurătoare→ a quivering vapour”. A case of equivalence. The
Romanian noun aburire i.e acţiunea de a (se) aburi şi rezultatul ei: abur, pâclă uşoară (DEX
1998 online), was rendered by vapour, particles of moisture or other substance suspended in air
and visible as clouds, smoke, etc (merriam-webster online) as it matches the semantic and
stylistic dimension of the original. The adjective tremurătoare was rendered by the same
grammatical category, the adjective quivering to shake with a slight, rapid, tremulous
movement (And, over each quivering form, The curtain, a funeral pall, Comes down with the
rush of a storm, And the angels, all pallid and wan, Uprising, unveiling, affirm That the play is
the tragedy, "Man," And its hero the Conqueror Worm. Poems by Edgar Allan Poe).
27
“prin care toate se prevăd schimbate → by means of which everything is expected to
change”. A case of non-equivalence. The Romanian relative pronoun care preceded by the
preposition prin expresses an instrumental raport, the means, the process of completing an
action; with the use or help of… This construction was rendered through transposition by the
idiom by means of (used with the noun in the plural) and its primary meaning is a method, a
course of action, or an instrument by which an act can be accomplished or an end achieved
(Webster 2009). The passive-reflexive structure se prevăd schimbate was rendered by the verb
to expect to in the past tense which relates to the idea of looking ahead to something in the
future, a likely occurrence or appearance of something which collocates with to change.
28
“Toate s-au tras mai îndărăt şi s-au micşorat→ Everything has drawn back and
grown smaller”. The Romanian indefinite pronoun toate is referred by the author as all things
which, taken together, form a whole; its function in description is to encompass items from the
same semantic category and to summarize/globalize the whole discourse. I rendered it by the
pronoun everything that means all things or all about a group of things; The adverb mai from
s-au tras mai îndărăt in the original serves as an intensifier and the entire verbal structure was
rendered by the phrasal verb to draw back that means to retreat. Similarly the reflexive verb s-
au micşorat was rendered by the verb grow followed by the adjective small in the comparative
degree (+suffix –er), that means to decrease in size.

92
 29
“Mos Barnea→ Oldman Barnea”, a polite term used in Romanian culture as an
appellative by somebody much younger to address to an aged man when taking in consideration
his experience along time. It could be also used as a noun phrase, as in old man Barnea, but I
preferred the syntagm Oldman in order to render the aspect of authority which it implies. It is a
culture specific element and it could be not translated into the TL by a similar construction.
30
“reumatisme vechi→ persistent rheumatism” because persistent i.e. existing or
remaining in the same state for an indefinetly long time, ( e.g. a persistent infection) displayes
the feature [+DURATION] and collocates with the noun rheumatism, instead of old
rheumatism , where old is a more general term.
31
“…să freamăte în singurătatea-i liberă→ murmuring in its endless solitude”. The
verb a fremăta is used to refer to trees, leaves, and means a produce un zgomot uşor și înăbuşit,
mişcându-se încet (sub actiunea vântului, ploii etc.) (DEX 1998 on line) was rendered by the
verb murmur, to make a low, indistinct, continuous sound followed by the movement of the lips
without producing an articulate speech (Webster 2009), as in “murmuring waves”, “murmuring
stream” (Henry Fielding), “murmuring brook” (Jane Austen). To keep the stylistic dimension
and the dynamism of the ST, I used it by extension to refer to inanimate object (the pond).
32
“cu penajul stropit de smalţuri scumpe→ with its feathers sprinkled with precious
glazes”. I chose the verb to sprinkle (“to scatter or disperse a liquid, a powder, etc. in tiny
particles or droplets over something”: to sprinkle sugar on a cake, to sprinkle water on plants-
the freedictionary online) as it collocates with smalţuri, masă sticloasă (…) cu care se
acoperă suprafața obiectelor de ceramică sau de metal pentru a le face impermeabile, a le feri
de oxidare sau a le înfrumuseţa (DEX 1998 online) which is characterized by [+SMALL
PARTICLES], [+CONCRETE] . This variant I consider to suit best the semantic dimension of
the original ST.
33
“lumea oamenilor →material world”. A philosophical concept according to which the
people’s world is primarily composed of or relates to physical, secular, temporal interests
(e.g.“material possessions” “material wealth” “material comforts”) as opposed to mental or
spiritual substance (“most ponderous and substantial things”- Shakespeare).
34
“trezesc pe luciu umbra unui aeroplan minuscul→ take on the shiny water the
shade of a tiny airplane”. As we can see, the Romanian verb trezesc is not here used in its
denotative meaning, that is to wake up, but considering the co-text and the context where it
appears, I preferred the English phrasal verb to take (on used to indicate position) shade that is
to take on a distinctive form (the freedictionary online) which seems to best match the semantic
and stylistic dimension of the original ST.. The noun luciu, care răsfrânge razele de lumină
(DEX 1998 online), denotes an area of comparative darkness resulting from the blocking of light

93
rays, was rendered explicitly by the nominal group shiny water as an intention to convey a
better cohesion of the analyzed structure.
35
“Marmura bălţii tresărea înfiorându-se până la trestii”→The pond’s glaze was
startling, rippling up to the reeds. In translating this structure I chose to preserve the material
feature of the noun marmură which I underlined in what follows, rocă calcaroasă dură,
( …)care, prin şlefuire, capătă aspect lucios şi neted (DEX 1998 on line) and, in order to convey
the same stylistic effect intented by the author I rendered it by the adjective glaze that is a shiny,
glossy surface (“The quick-silvery glaze on the rivers and pools vanished.”–Thomas Hardy).
Both verbs tresărea and înfiorându-se expressed by means of Imperfect display in their
denotative meaning the feature [+HUMAN] and I had to adapt them to collocate with the noun
baltă; the former was thus rendered by startling that is a quick, involuntary movement and the
latter by rippling + preposition up (indicating the direction to a mentioned place: până la trestii
- a prepositional phrase) meaning to form or display little undulations or waves on the surface,
as disturbed water does; to flow with such undulations or waves on the surface (the
freedictionary on line).
36 “
împrăştiau curcubeie sfărâmate →spreading broken rainbows”. Out of a series of
synonyms to scatter, to disperse, to dissipate, to dispel, to spread, I preferred the latter, the
verb to spread, “to distribute over a greater or relatively great area of space or time: the milk
spread all over the floor) that display the feature [+GREAT AREA]. All these verbs mean to
cause a mass or aggregate to separate and go in different directions. Their semantic content
differ, however, as to scatter refers to loose or haphazard distribution of components ( e.g.
scattering confetti from the upper windows). Disperse implies the complete breaking up of the
mass or aggregate: (e.g. the police dispersed the crowd.) Dissipate suggests a reduction to
nothing (e.g. the dark clouds finally dissipated). None of them matches the semantic dimension
of the context.
37
“coboară din generaţii care au fost adorate →they have came from venerated
species”. A case of non-equivalence: the Romanian attributive clause care au fost adorate was
rendered by the nominal group venerated species (species, as it is about birds and not the literal
generation, used in connection with humans) as the word-for-word translation they have came
from species which have been venerated would sound redundant. Considering the whole
structure, I chose to render the verb coboară by come from: they come from a good family in
order to render the same meaning, that is to descend.
38 “
tresări cu putere sfărmând balta →he shuddered, broke the pond”. I chose to render
the whole Romanian verbal structure by two action verbs shuddered, broke consecutively in
order to express the same dynamism of the ST. Considering the co-text (the author describes the

94
drake’s fear when seeing the hunters) I chose the verb shudder as it means to shake or tremble
suddenly and violently, as from horror, fear, etc. I used the verb to break as, among its
numerous definitions, it means to part or pierce the surface of (merriam-webster online), e.g.
a dolphin breaking the water. Another variant, to smash - to break (something) into pieces
suddenly, noisily, and violently (the freedictionary online) does not collocate with the noun
pond because it is not a material object which can be broken into pieces as in . Similarly to hit
could not be used as its first meaning is “to strike with a missile, a weapon, or the like; deal a
blow or blows“(…) , having the semantic feature [+VOLUNTARY].
39 “
îmbrăţişându-şi cu aripile imaginea sângerată→ embracing the reflection of his
bloody body”. The first Romanian sequence îmbrăţişându-şi cu aripile was rendered by a
simple verb, dropping the indirect object cu aripile as a word-for-word translation such as
embracing with its wings(…) would have sound redundant and lead to confusion because to
embrace denotes an act of holding close with the arms, usually as an expression of affection
(the freedictionary online). I chose the noun reflection for rendering the Romanian imaginea
as it reffers to the image of something as reflected by a mirror (or other reflective material) e.g.
"Meg studied her reflection in the mirror".
40
“dintr-o dată umbrele prind a se destrăma, ş-a arde → the shadows suddenly start
to dissolve and disappear”. I used the English specific construction made up of the transitive
verb to start followed by infinitival coordinated clauses: to dissolve and disappear in order to
express the idea of a beginning, in a temporal, spatial, or evaluative sense rendered in the ST by
means of the Infinitive (prind) associated with the reflexive a se destrăma, ş-a arde. Start and
begin are usually used interchangeably, but begin commonly has human or other agents who
start an activity.
41 “
Lumina încă nu s-a deschis→The daylight has not broken yet”. I did not chose to
render the clause from the ST by being introduced by a prepositional group, i.e. at daybreak the
light had not opened yet (a rather misleading construction) as it would miss the author’s
intended emphasis on that moment when the daylight makes all visible and, especially on the
“action” that was to unfurl.
42
“Îl rumenesc zorile revărsate, înflorind spre noi (despre luciul unui luminis)→The
rushing dawns flush it pink, speeding to us”. A case of explicitation. I introduced further
details in order to make the TT more comprehensible. The first meaning of the Romanian verb a
rumeni refers to people, îmbujorat la faţă or to fruits or food, care a devenit roşiatic (sub
acţiunea soarelui sau a focului - Breban 1992:902). Consequently, I kept this feature and
rendered the structure îl rumenesc zorile by flush (it) pink which carries the same mataphorical
charge, i.e. to glow, especially with a reddish color (the freedictionary on line). The dynamism

95
expressed by the adjective revărsate was expressed by the adjective rushing which implies
movement, performed in a swift manner, or in a hurry (e.g. Soon she heard a rushing sound, and
a big wave rose suddenly. - Andrew Lang), preserving thus the semantic and stylistic effect of
the ST. The Gerund form of the Romanian verb înflorind was intended in the TT to convey the
same meaning, obtainable not by literally renderings such as blossom(ing) or bloom(ing) usually
common with flowers which have imprinted a slow rhythm, but by a more strong adjective, as
speeding which did not affect the semantic dimension of the original.
43
“O geană de neguri şi nouri→ A streak of mists and clouds” . The Romanian noun
geană signifies in its connotative meaning dungă, fâşie îngustă de lumină; fâşie de deal, de nor
etc. luminată and was rendered by the noun phrase streak + preposition on (which marks the
feature constituted by, containing, or characterized by) mists and clouds which means a line,
mark, smear, or band differentiated by color or texture from its surroundings or a ray or flash of
light (merriam-webster online) as in: the first streaks of dawn.
44
“larma soborurilor →the flight’s tumult”. The English equivalent of the noun sobor
is the noun synod primarily used in constructions which concern a religious council or an
assembly of church officials; an ecclesiastical council convened to discuss ecclesiastical
matters. Considering the context it is used, I could not render it literally; instead I preserved its
semantic feature, an assembly or gathering and transferred it in the TT by means of the mass
noun flight which denotes a number of birds considered collectively; a flight is a flock of birds
in flight. The noun flock could have been used as it refers to any congregation of wild or
domesticated birds, but I dropped this variant as it rather refers to birds especially on ground.
The noun larma from the ST which means zarvă, gălăgie was rendered by tumult which
denotes a disordered state, a tempestuous uprising that matches the semantic dimension of the
original noun.
45 “
Se auzea→ I could hear”. A case of non- equivalence. The meaning of the passive
structure from the ST was rendered by an active one; other variants such as I tried to see
maintaining the voice would not match the co-text or one could see which is very formal and
sounds rather as a definition.
46
“ostroavele şi plăviile stăteau pline de neamurile de zburătoare străine→ The islet
and floating reed islets were enlivened with all species of unknown birds”. As I have already
reffered to such terms as ostroavele şi plăviile in my interpretation marked11 , I will refer in what
follows to the Romanian expression a sta plin de which was rendered by the verb enliven +
preposition with - used in this context as a function word to indicate an accompanying detail or
condition - which altogether have a figurative meaning, i.e. filled with, or active with (people or)
creatures.

96
 47
“tresăreau (…) seminţele plantelor → plants’ seeds were sprouting up” because a
tresări displays the semantic features [+HUMAN], [+ INVOLUNTARY] and a literally
translation would have been inappropriate. I chose the intransitive verb sprout (usually followed
by the preposition up) in order to keep the same dynamism to begin to grow or develop and to
collocate with seeds.
48 “
Se deşteptau într-o scânteiere de secundă (despre răcnetul broaştelor) →They had
started up in a split second”. The reflexive construction in the ST se deşteptau especially used
in figurative constructions which concern feelings, desires, ideas a se ivi, a apărea; a se stârni, a
se dezlănțui was rendered in the TL by an intransitive verb to start up which matches the
semantic dimension of the original, i.e. to spring or jump suddenly from a position or place (the
freedictionary online). The Romanian noun phrase scânteiere de secundă was rendered
considering first of all the figurative meaning of the noun scânteie, părticică neînsemnata din
ceva; fărâmă by the noun split second , a very short time (as the time it takes the eye to blink or
to heart to beat); an instant; a flash (merriam-webster online) conveying thus the same
meaning and dynamism of the original.
49
“în toate vânturile→ to the four winds”. A case of amplification. I used this strategy in
order to emphasize the dynamic rhythm of the text.. In the Romanian language an expression like
din cele patru vînturi means din toate părţile (Breban 1992: 1125). The noun wind, especially
in its plural form signifies a movement of air coming from one of the four cardinal points of the
compass, matching thus the semantic dimension of the ST.
50
“soba de ciamur, un ceaun, o tingire afumată de tinichea, nişte linguri de lemn şi
două treucuţi de salcie →the clayed -stove, a kettle, a burnt tinny vessel, some wooden
spoons and two willow plates”. A case of functional equivalence. I translated the Romanian
regionalisms or out of use words with a word/structure with the same meaning, i.e. neautralizing
or generalising a specificity of the SL by using a culture free-element. As I have already reffered
to the Romanian ciamur in my interpretation marked 11, I will refer in what follows only to the
words that posed (for me at least) some problems. The lack of an equivalent in the TL
determined me to use a more generalizing term, namely the adjective clay (+ suffix –ed)
followed by the noun stove. I rendered tingire afumată de tinichea, (tingire is a deep kitchen
vessel of copper or bronze used for cooking; afumată means in this context burnt – arsă and
not smoke-dried bief - despre alimente; tinichea is a thin sheet or plate of steel having many
uses, or, in a pejorative sense a metal of inferior quality, de tinichea – tinny ) by a burnt tinny
vessel as I have already detailed in the round brackets this specific nominal group. Moreover, I
rendered treucuţi de salcie, a word out of use in the present by willow plate, as plate denotes a

97
shallow dish in which food is served or from which it is eaten (Webster 2009) because of the
lack of an equivalent in the TL.
51 “
cu maldări de papură şi ţipirig drept căpătăi→with sheaves of reed and rush as
headrest”. The Romanian noun maldări means 1. grămadă de tulpini de plante, de nuiele, de
crengi, etc (alcătuind un mănunchi sau un snop)ş 2. grămadă de fân, de paie, de iarbă cosită: Se
aşezaseră pe maldărul de fîn proaspăt (Camil Petrescu). Out of a long series of synonms heap,
pile, bundle, sheaf, the last one sheaf seems to best fit the semantic dimension of the original,
as it means a bundle of cut stalks of grain or similar plants bound with straw or twine. Papură,
stuf, trestie, rogoz, are all aquatic herbaceous plants which grows on the riverbanks or in
marshy waters (I could only make the difference by dividing them according to the scientific
denomination: papură (Bot. Typha angustifolia), stuf (Phragmites communis), ţipirig is in fact
the popular name for pipirig (Scarpus lacustris) and also a regionalism for rogoz (Bolbochoenus
maritimus), trestie (Phragmites australis). Papură was thus rendered by reed which is a tall
reedlike marsh plant with straplike leaves and flowers in long brown sausage-shaped spikes:
family Typhaceae; ţipirig was similarly rendered by rush any annual or perennial growing in
wet places and typically having grasslike cylindrical leaves and small green or brown flowers.
Many species are used to make baskets. The Romanian noun căpătăi + preposition drept
(expressesing finality) means parte a patului sau a oricărui alt obiect, pe care se pune capul; p.
ext. pernă sau alt obiect pe care se pune capul (DEX 1998 on line)was rendered by the noun
headrest, matching thus the semantic dimension of the original.
52 “
cătră sfîrşitul lui răpciune, s-au trezit din miazănoapte vînturile→the north winds
stirred up by the end of September”. A case of recasting as I modified the order of the units of
the ST in order to conform to the syntactic constraints of the TT. Moreover, the popular
răpciune, a culture specific idiom signifies the month September, rendered literally in the TT.
Similarly, the noun miazănoapte (comes from Latin, mediam noctem) signifies a cardinal point
situated in the North part of the continent and was translated as such. As for the reflexive noun
a se trezi, meaning a prinde viaţă, it was rendered by the verb stirred up matching the
semantic dimension of the original (despre vanturi: a se stârni – back translation).
53 “
un pospai subţire→ a thin layer “. The Romanian redundant construction made up of
the noun pospai that refers to o pulbere fină, strat subţire (de zăpadă) care se depune pe ceva
(Breban 1992: 800) and the adjective subţire was rendered by the nominal group thin layer
(where layer denotes a single thickness of a material covering a surface or forming an overlying
part or segment- Webster 2009) which seem to suit the semantic dimension of the noun pospai.
A layer already presupposes a single thickness and, to be more explicit I introduced the adjective

98
thin as it can be used as follows: a thin layer- a layer of dust on the windowsill, or thick as in the
cake has four layer, depending on the context it is used.
54 “
sunetele clopotelor se întorceau îndărăt→the ding dongs echoed back”. I chose to
render the noun phrase sunetele clopotelor by the onomatopeic compound noun ding dongs
because it seems more adequate in terms of style and semantics than the too formal variant with
sound whose meaning concerns primarily General Physics, or as modifier: sound bells but it
would be a semantic loss, or sounding bells which denotes rather a particular instance, quality,
or type of sound. Another variant with the noun noise as in the noise of the bells would have
been inappropriate because noise means a sound of any type, especially unintelligible or
dissonant. The reflexive structure se întorceau + the adverb îndărăt which means în spate, în
urmă, înapoi, was rendered by the intransitive verb echoed marked as [+REPETITIVE]
implying a previous sound of the bells at least once.
55
“ne privi mirată cu doi ochi de lumină →cast two light signs on us, as if surprised”.
The verb a privi in this context could not be translated by the literal correspondents to look, to
watch, to view, since these variants display a [+HUMAN] feature, which is not the case here.
Instead, I made use of the transitive verb to cast which means to throw off or away followed by
the Direct Object two light signs for doi ochi de lumina, as sign is the most general term (and
not the literal eyes) considering the context which denotes an outward indication of the existence
or presence of something not immediately evident. The Romanian adjective mirată was recreated
in the TT by means of the conjuction as if which expresses modality in this context, having the
meaning de parcă, ca şi cum, ca şi când (ar fi fost mirată) – back translation followed by the
adjective surprised which has the feature being unexpected or unsual and best suits the semantic
dimension of the ST.
56
“ne făcurăm cuibare în mirosul subţire de flori → we tucked ourselves up into the
scent of dried flowers”. The Romanian structure ne făcurăm cuibare was rendered considering
the co-text (stoguri nalte de fân) by the phrasal verb tucked into ( + adverb up which indicates
in or to upright position) that conveys the same semantic content of the figurative culcuş from
the ST, i.e. to put into a confining space (the freedictionary online).
57
“tufişurile înfloriseră fantastic→the coppice had incredibly whitened”. I rendered
coppice ( and not bushes, shrubs, underwood) for tufiş as it means desiş de arbuşti; tufărie
(Breban 1992: 1078) and collocates with coppice, that is a thicket or dense growth of small
trees or bushes. The intransitive verb a înflori could not be rendered by its denotative meaning
that is a face, a da flori; a se acoperi de flori; considering the context it rather means to get the
appearance of a flower, to become like strewn with flowers (merriam-webster online) and that
is why I chose the verb whiten in order the render the same visual imagery.

99
 58
“numai lăiţi, poclăzi şi cojoace→all kinds of benches, woolen blankets and
sheepskin coats”. A case of functional equivalence. I translated the Romanian specific nouns so
as to convey the same meaning. The Romanian noun lăiţă (in the plural lăiţi) is used in the ST as
a contracted form of laviţă which is a kind of bench consisting of a wide plank fixed on poles
along a wall in the homes of the Romanian peasants (Webster 2009); pocladă (in the plural
poclăzi) is a piece of fleecy fabric of wool, usually unpainted, used as a blanket under the
horse’s saddle, a covering or bedding (the freedictionary online); cojoc is a long, peasant
winter coat, made of sheepskin (Webster 2009). I employed these culture-free equivalents
because of the lack of formal equivalents and to make the TT more comprehensible to the
readers.
59
“dovedeau încă tinereţă→showed signs of being still young”. A case of compensation.
The Romanian noun tinereţă was rendered by three words in the TT, signs of being (still)
young; the transitive verb to show matches the semantic dimension of a dovedi which means in
this context a arata, a demonstra, etc.
60
“două săniuţi cu câte doi cai→Two horsed-sleighs”. A case of reduction which results
in concision and economy of the TT. I dropped the distributional pronoun cu câte in the ST and
rendered the whole structure by the cardinal numeral two which means something having two
parts, units, or members and a specific construction, adjective+noun: horsed-sleighs which
denotes a light vehicle mounted on runners and having one or more seats, usually drawn by a
horse over snow or ice (the freedictionary online) that matches the semantic and pragmatic
content of the original.
61
“Sticleau ochiuri de apă→Puddles of water glittered”. The Romanian polysemantic
noun ochi include such constructions as ochi de apa which means porţiune circulară de
substanţă, de loc acoperită cu apă, zăpadă, etc. (Breban 1992: 694) rendered by the noun
puddle that is a small body of standing water (rainwater) or other liquid, e.g. there were
puddles of water in the road after the rain (Webster 2009) conveying thus the same content of
the ST.
62
“Pe alocuri deschidea hrube de întuneric→Here and there, dark cellars opened”.
The Romanian adverb alocuri is usually preceded by the preposition pe having the meaning în
unele locuri, pe ici pe acolo was rentered by an adverb, here and there which conveys the same
meaning, i.e. in or to various places; first this place and then tha, e.g. He worked here and there
but never for long in one town. The noun hruba which denotes cavitate subterană servind
pentru depozitarea și păstrarea produselor alimentare sau ca loc de trecere was rendered by
cellar considering the co-text (the description of the forest) and context (hruba could not be
rendered by a literal translation such as underground cave/hole/pit as it would not collocate

100
with forest); instead I preserved the semantic feature and I used it by extension choosing the
noun cellar that is a room or enclosed space used for storage, usually beneath the ground or
under a building in order to match the semantic and stylistic dimension of the ST.
63
“La exclamaţiile noastre→ On hearing our cries”. A case of non-equivalence. The
temporal structure from the ST la exclamaţiile was translated by on hearing where the
preposition on is used to indicate a particular occasion or circumstance (la auzul – back
translation). The noun exclamaţie which means cuvânt, propoziție sau frază rostită cu un ton
ridicat (și prelungit), pentru a exprima o stare afectivă puternică; strigăt, exclamare (DEX 1998
on line) was not rendered literally by exclamation because it would have been a semantic gain
since it denotes an abrupt, emphatic, or excited cry of utterance; interjection; moreover it is not
marked in the ST graphically as such. Instead, considering the context (a hunting game), I chose
the noun in the plural cries, which carries the same semantic charge [+EMOTION] meaning a
loud utterance of an emotion (the freedictionary.com on line).
64
“ca şi cum puful ei de flacără se desprinsese de aici şi plutise în sus →as if its flared
fur had loosed therefrom, rising up gently”. The structure from ST carries within it a
metaphorical charge; ca şi cum from the ST expressing similarity with the meaning parcă was
rendered by as if which coveys the same meaning, i.e. in the same way. The noun phrase puful ei
de flacără was rendered considering the co-text (the squirrel is un ghem de blăniţă) by the
more appropriate flared fur (and not feather pene, down-de păsări, fuzz-pe fructe, etc.). I chose
to translate the reflexive structure se desprinsese employing the verb to loose which conveys the
same meaning, that is a free movement. The adverb de aici was rendered according to the time
sequence (the use of Past Perfect as the relationship of anteriority is obvious) and to the stylistic
dimension of the ST by the archaic therefrom which means from that place, time, thing I added
the adjective gently – a case of compensation as it collocates with plutise, matching the
semantic dimension of the ST.
65
“asculta un ceasornic care bătea acolo mărunţel→listening to a clock’s feeble
ticking”. It is a case of non-equivalence. The Romanian attributive clause was rendered by
means of a possessive structure which results in concision and economy of the text because such
a literally translation as listening to a clock which was ticking weakly there would have been
inappropriate in the TT. The adjective mărunţel was rendered by feeble, characterized by
lacking strength or vigor in order to preserve the stylistic effect conveyed by the diminutive form
of the ST. Thus, it could be said that the TT equivalent was not affected by any semantic loss.
66
“din ograda românului→from a Romanian peasant courtyard”. A case of
explicitation. The insertion of the noun peasant in the TT was made as it matches the co-text in

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terms of meaning, as the literal variant from a Romanian courtyard would have been a
semantic loss.
67
“alţii stau în ţiitori→others lie in ambush. A case of equivalence on the morphological
level. The noun ţiitoare in the ST that refers to a place where wild animals are driven for the
hunter to hunt them was rendered by ambush which carries the same meaning, i.e. the act of
lying in wait to attack by surprise.
68
“cerul se boltea înalt de un verde ca sticla şi ca ghiaţa→the sky was overarching as
an icy and glassy green”. The reflexive structure se boltea + adverb of manner înalt means a
se deschide în formă de boltă was rendered by the verb overarching where the particle over,
usually used as a preposition to indicate a position above or higher than conveys the same
meaning from the ST. The adjectives icy and glassy were rendered by means of the suffix –y,
formed from the nouns sticla and ghiaţa in the ST. It is a case of transposition.
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“am avut conştiinţa unei tăceri înfricoşate în jurul meu →I felt the presence of a
fearful silence around me”. Since the main meanings of conscience (1. motivation deriving
logically from ethical or moral principles that govern a person's thoughts and actions 2. the
sense of right and wrong that governs a person's thoughts and actions; 3 a feeling of guilt or
anxiety, cf the freedictionary on line) are usually associated with the realm of reason, my final
choice was the verb feel (in the Past Tense) that means to be conscious of a specified kind or
quality of physical, mental, or emotional state whose semantic field is more comprehensive,
which is not specifically marked as [+RATIONAL], thus being more appropriate for the
emotional connotation in the co-text (fearful silence).
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“În lumina ochiului, vînătorul de altă dată deosebea→The ancient hunter’s alert
eye distinguished”. A case of recasting. I chose to alter the word-order in order to preserve the
author’s intentions regarding the element in focus. Therefore the focus in the ST placed on the
noun phrase vînătorul de altă dată was rendered by placing it in front position for emphasis, as
the subject of the complex sentence that follows; at the same time it facilitates the reduction of
the appositive elements in lumina ochiului a structure which I dropped in favour of the more
comprehensive adjective alert that means vigilantly attentive; watchful and matches the
semantic dimension of the ST which was rendered subsequently by the possessive structure the
ancient hunter’s alert eye. I employed also transposition as the adverbial phrase de altă dată
was rendered by the adjective ancient (cel dinainte, de odinioara, de pe vremuri- back
translation). The transitive verb deosebea means a identifica după anumite semne caracteristice
(de altele de acelaşi fel); a distinge; a discerne; a desluşi (DEX 1998 online) was rendered by
the verb distinguished , thus matching better the co-text.

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 CONCLUSIONS

Our research proved to be extremely challenging but at the same time rewarding.
Translating The Land Beyond Mists was not just a literary and cultural test. It was, without fear

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of exaggerating, an initiation into the Romanian authentic space, and, from this point of view a
quest for personal and national identity.
We believe our translation to be an accurate one in the attempt to achieve the translational
equivalents that arise from the characteristics of Romanian descriptive texts, surpassing thus the
inherent barriers. The language of the ST, symbolic, almost cryptic at times, proved to be
flexible. The archaic and regional words, having symbolic and metaphorical charge were
translated from one culture to another without losing their semantic and stylistic features. The
translation methods and strategies were consequently applied to best suit the sentential word
order and the lexical categories frequently occurring in this type of texts.
I have combined two concepts, i.e. the free translation and faithfull translation, because I
consider translation a creative process which should not be centered on one method of translation
but combine them in order to obtain a succesful translastion. That is why I used dynamic
equivalence in order to convey the meaning intended by the authors of the texts and also
functional equivalence when I wanted to render the same semantic feature or when I have dealt
with Romanian authentic terms which can be found in a high proportion; thus connotative words
dominate the text, while denotative can be found in a smaller number. This is related to the fact
that I have dealt with descriptive texts whose main function is to describe people, objects,
landscapes; as a result the thematic, spatial, and temporal details predominate within the
narrative discourse, with a few complex grammatical structures.
In the end, we can only express the hope that our research will at least be a subject to
positive criticism, a source for futures approaches to the literary work of Mihail Sadoveanu and,
why not, for future translations of The Land Beyond Mists.

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 GLOSSARY
A ROMANIAN-ENGLISH BILLINGUAL GLOSSARY
OF VERNACULAR TERMS
Baltă (apă de ploaie adunată într-o adâncitură) → puddle (a small body of standing water,
especially rainwater having its own vegetation).
Brădet (pădure de brazi; desiş de brazi)→fir wood
Canaf (Element ornamental, constând dintr-un mănunchi de fire legate sau împletite, cu
care se împodobesc diferite obiecte; ciucure)→ tassel
Catrinţă (Obiect de îmbrăcăminte din portul naţional al femeilor românce, care serveşte ca
fustă sau ca şorţ) → homespun skirt
Cârd (Grup mare de animale mamifere, de păsări, de peşti de acelaşi fel, care se află
împreună)→ flock (birds on ground) and flight (birds in flight)
Ceamur (Material de construcţie alcătuit din lut frământat cu paie (sau pleavă) și folosit ca
element de legătură la tencuitul pereţilor)→ clayed stove
Cherhana (Construcţie specială pe malul unei ape, destinată prelucrării şi depozitării
temporare a peştelui)→fishing ground
Dumbrăveancă (pasăre migratoare cu pene albastre-verzui care traieste prin dumbravi)
→roller (a kind of bird, having bright blue wings, stocky bodies, and hooked bills that tumble
or rolls in flight)
FUNIGEL (la plural funigei- fir al unui anumit soi de păianjeni mici, care se vede plutind
în aer în zilele senine de toamnă) →spiderweb
Ghionder (prăjină care serveşte pentru a pune în mişcare o ambarcaţie mică, împingând cu
ea în fundul apelor puţin adânci) →raft pole
Grind (mică ridicătură de teren de formă alungită, care rezultă din depunerile aluvionare
ale unei ape curgătoare sau ale mării)→natural levee deposit or top of a bank ridge, used
interchangeably
Hatie (Reg. îngrămădire de nuiele, pietre, bolovani etc. executată pentru a amenaja cursul
unei ape sau pentru a stăvili revărsarea ei)→ barrier
Hăţis (loc plin cu mărăcini, cu arbuşti spinoşi etc., desiş greu de străbătut; pădure mică
foarte deasă, cu mulţi lăstari tineri şi arbuşti; sihlă) → thickets
Huţan (locuitor slav de la izvoarele Siretului şi Ceremuşului)→ slavonian
Hrubă (Galerie subterană servind ca loc de trecere sau pentru depozitarea și păstrarea
produselor alimentare) → cellar
Iaz (lac artificial format prin stăvilirea cu baraj de pământ sau prin abaterea unui curs de
apă →pond (A still body of water smaller than a lake, often artificially created)

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 Lejnicioară → blue garland
Laiţă (sau laviţă bancă fixată afară (a poarta caselor ţărăneşti) →bench
Lintiţă (Specie de alge verzi plutitoare care formează straturi întinse pe suprafața apelor
stătătoare)→duckweeds
Lişiţă (Pasăre de baltă, migratoare, de talie medie)→coot
Maldăr (Grămadă de tulpini, de plante secerate, de nuiele, de crengi etc. legate la un loc)
→sheaf
Mănunchi (Cantitate de fire de grâu, de iarbă etc. care poate fi cuprinsă cu mâna;; legătură
de mai multe obiecte de acelaşi fel, strânse laolaltă)→ bundle
Negură (Ceaţă densă care se formează îndeosebi dimineaţa şi seara, reducând mult
vizibilitatea; negureală. Întuneric, beznă; obscuritate) →mists
Otac (Reg. colibă care serveşte ca adăpost provizoriu pescarilor, ciobanilor sau
muncitorilor agricoli în timpul lucrului) → shelter
Ostrov (insulă mică, adesea plutitoare, formată într-o apă curgătoare, prin acumulare de
pământ, nisip sau nămol, acoperită de obicei cu vegetaţie) → island
Păpuriş (Loc acoperit cu papură; desiș de papură)→ rush thicket.
Păclă (Ceaţă deasă care apare de obicei dimineaţa şi seara; negură)→ mist, fog
Pipirig (sau ţipirig, Plantă erbacee cu tulpina înaltă netedă, având frunze lungi ţepoase şi
flori mici brune dispuse în inflorescenţă la vârf) →rush
Plăvie (Insulă plutitoare alcătuită din plaur-stuf, ierburi, rizomi, rădăcini de arbori, crengi
și nămol) →floating reed islet
Pocladă (Reg. Ţesătură de casă miţoasă, de obicei din lână nevopsită, întrebuinţată ca
pătură sub şaua calului, ca învelitoare sau ca aşternut → woollen blanckets
Pospai (pulbere albă, strat subțire, mai ales de zăpadă care acoperă un obiect) →thin layer
Pămătuf (Mănunchi făcut din fire de păr, din pene, din fâşii de pânză etc. prinse de un
Răzor (Fâşie îngustă de pământ nelucrat, care desparte localităţi sau terenuri de pământ;
hotar; hat)→boundary path
Rogojină (obiect împletit din rogoz sau din papură, care se aşterne pe jos sau se foloseşte
în scopuri decorative) → rush mat.
Saivan (Reg. Adăpost de iarnă pentru oi sau pentru vite; perdea) →winter stable
Stuh, stuf (Plantă erbacee acvatică cu tulpina erectă, înaltă, inflexibilă, cu frunze
lanceolate, foarte lungi și cu flori grupate în panicule, folosită, mai ales, ca material de
construcție)→ reed
Sihlă (Pădure deasă de copaci tineri; hăţiş) → thick young forest
Stufărie (Loc unde este adunat mult stuf; desiş de stuf)→ thickets of reed

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 Şiac (Postav aspru de lână de culoare închisă, ţesut de obicei în casă, din care se fac haine
ţărăneşti şi rase călugăreşti) → woollen coats
Şandrama (Reg. Încăpere de scânduri, făcută de obicei în spatele casei şi care serveşte
pentru păstrarea uneltelor, pentru adăpostirea vitelor etc., şopron.) →shack
Teică (Cutie mobilă de lemn în care cad grăunţele din coşul morii înainte de a trece între
pietre) →hopper
Tău (apă stătătoare puţin adâncă; baltă) →puddle
Tingire (înv. vas de bucătărie de aramă sau fontă asemănător cu ceaunul, folosit pentru
pregătirea mâncării) →vessel.
Tinichea (placă sau foaie subţire de tablă de oţel de calitate inferioară având diverse
întrebuinţări) → tinny .
Treicuţi (de salcie) → willow plates
Topliţă (Reg. Izvor, ochi de apă care nu îngheaţă iarna; braţ izolat al unui râu; apă
stătătoare) → brook hole
Tuşina (părul, barba, mustăţile, iarba etc. A tăia uniform scurtând şi dând un aspect
îngrijit.) →raze
Ţiitoare (Loc pe unde trec animale sălbatice și unde vânătorii stau de pândă)→ambush

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY

A. Books, Articles, Studies on Translation:

-Books:
1. Baker, Mona (1999) In Other Words: A Coursebook on Translation, London - Routledge
2. Bell, Robert (1991) Translation and Translating: Theory Practice, London - Longman
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Linguistics, Oxford -University Press
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and Interpreters, Manchester - St. Jerome
7. Laviosa, Sara (2002) Corpus-based Translation Studies: Theory, findings, applications,
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8. Leviţchi, Leon (2000) Manualul Traducătorului, Bucureşti - Teora (My Translation)
9. Munday, John (2000) Introducing Translation Studies, London - Routledge
10. Newmark, Peter (1988) A Textbook of Translation, New York - Prentice Hall
11. Nida, Eugene (2003) Toward a Science of Translation, Leiden – Brill
12. Ricoeur, Paul, Despre traducere, Editura Polirom, Iaşi, 2005
13. Venuti, Laurence (2000) The Translation Studies Reader, London – Routledge
-Articles
1. Abdellah, Antar (2002) Translation Journal: What Every Novice Translator Should
Know
2. Aveling, Harry (2002) The Art of Translation: ‘Mistakes’ in Translation-A Functionalist
3. Azizinezhad, Massoud (2006) Translation Journal: Is Translation Teachable?
4. Croitoru, Elena (2006) Translation and Meaning-A Cultural-Cognitive Approach
(University of Galati – Romanian Journal of English)
5. Dima, Gabriela (2009) Theorising about Translation through Parallel Corpora (in
Proceedings to the Conference on British and American Studies, 7th edition)
6. Leonardi, Vanessa (2000) Translation Journal: Equivalence in translation-Between
Myth and Reality
7. Newmark, Peter (2007) A New Theory on Translation (Univeristy of Brno)

B. Web References
1. http://accurapid.com/journal/
2. http://www.britannica.com/

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 3.http://books.google.ro/books/Schleiermacher-on-the-different-method-of -translation

C. Corpora
1. Sadoveanu, Mihail (1980), Ţara de dincolo de negură, Editura Minerva

D. Dictionaries
1. Leviţchi, Leon, Bantaş Andrei (1993), Dicţionar englez-român, Editura Teora, Bucureşti
2. Bulgăr, Gh., (1996)Dicţionar de sinonime, Editura Palmyra, Bucureşti
3. Webster’s Dictionary and Thesaurus (2009), Kindle Edition
4..Merriam-WebsterOnlineEnglishDictionary(http://www.merriam webster.com/dictionary)
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6. DEX Online (http://dexonline.ro/)
7. Leviţchi, Leon, Bantaş Andrei (1981), Dicţionar frazeologic Român-Englez, Editura
ştiinţifică şi enciclopedică, Bucureşti

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