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Aug. 30th, 2009 03:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
polutropeI saw The Bacchae in the park the other day. It was - well, not great, but it could have been a lot worse. Insert spiel on how I hate modern dress productions here. But the real point is a question on the translator's use of "censor." The line was, I believe, "Do you ask me to censor my speech?" Now, anyone with the slightest bit of classical training knows that a censor is a Roman official whose job is to see if the senators are getting up to anything fishy with Vestal Virgins or not having enough kids and so forth.
So, should a translator of a Greek play of the 5th century BC¹ avoid using words with such blatantly anachronistic origin? I think it's different from using words from German or French or even Latin, since e.g. "god" is just the modern word for theos. But "censor" can be avoided, and it's a specifically Roman office.
¹Ha ha, guys, Rome was founded in 754 BC. Right²
²And even if it was, the likelihood of Euripides paying attention to the local offices of a bunch of barbarians = 0.
So, should a translator of a Greek play of the 5th century BC¹ avoid using words with such blatantly anachronistic origin? I think it's different from using words from German or French or even Latin, since e.g. "god" is just the modern word for theos. But "censor" can be avoided, and it's a specifically Roman office.
¹Ha ha, guys, Rome was founded in 754 BC. Right²
²And even if it was, the likelihood of Euripides paying attention to the local offices of a bunch of barbarians = 0.
