32601 - Germanic Philology 2 (2nd cycle)

Learning outcomes

The student has deep knowledge about the fundamental social institutions of the Germanic peoples of the Late-antiquity and Middle Ages.The student possesses the direct knowledge of written sources which he/she reads in the original languages, he/she konws and is able to use the practical methodologies for the analysis and interpretation of the lietary texts through a linguistic and filological education.

Course contents

Translate the silence.The medieval Germanic world in the face of the Gospels.
Germanic culture of late antiquity and Early Middle Ages has to tackle a pressing question: how to translate the texts for Christian liturgy? The Gospels, written during the first century AD, reflect the culture of Asia Minor peoples: words and customs unknown to the Germanic peoples are used. How to translate, for example, 'fig', or the concept of 'sin'? These were questions with which Goth, Anglo-Saxon and Germans medieval translators have set themselves, the same problems of the contemporary translator who must carry a culture into another, dissolving the silences (ie background culture that had not need to be explained) in words that can be understood by the reader. The course will focus on some Gospel passages, chosen as a training ground for the translator. There we will put as translators from the Gothic, Anglo-Saxon and Old High German, trying to answer questions of method, proposing goals to be achieved and, finally, to translate.

Readings/Bibliography

- Alessandro Zironi, Lezioni etimologiche. Scelte lessicali nelle versioni germaniche del Vangelo di Matteo, Padova, Unipress, 2006.

- Eco, Umberto, Dire quasi la stessa cosa, Milano, Bompiani, 2003, pp. 9-195

- Jan DeWaard ; Eugene A. Nida, From one language to another. Functional equivalence in Bible translating, Nashville, Nelson, 1986

- Alessandro Zironi, Dentro Matteo: il rinnegamento di Pietro da Vulfila alla Bibbia di King James, in Riscritture del testo medievale: dialogo tra culture e tradizioni, a cura di M. G. Cammarota, Bergamo, Bergamo UP, 2005, pp. 191-218

- Alessandro Zironi, The evangelic text as translation and interpretative experience: the Germanic languages paradigm, in The Garden of Crossing Paths: The Manipulation of Rewriting of Medieval Texts, ed. by M. Buzzoni - M. Bampi, Venezia, Cafoscarina, 2005, pp.

Texts used in the workshop will be reported during the course.

Students no attending the classes:

To the above-mentioned titles, the no-attending student will add some texts after having consulted the teacher.

Teaching methods

The course will be in the form of workshop. To the theoretical introduction of  translation problems a work on the texts will follow. They will be discussed and translated with the help of dictionaries . Just for the character of workshop attendance is strongly recommended.

Assessment methods

In light of the workshop organization of the course, the assessment will take into account the participation of the students in the classroom on the discussion of the proposed topics. In the examination some textual examples discussed in class (or very similar) will be object of the examination and will be orallydiscussed together with the theoretical knowledge gained . During the interview the methodological and critical skills acquired by the student will be evaluated . The student will be invited to discuss the texts covered during the course and to move within the sources and bibliographical material in order to be able to identify in them the useful information that will enable to illustrate the similarities and cultural areas of the discipline. The achievement of an organic vision of the issues addressed during the classes and their critical use, which demonstrate ownership of a mastery of expression and specific language, will be assessed with marks of excellence. Mechanical and / or mnemonic knowledge of matter, synthesis and analysis of non-articulating and / or correct language but not always appropriate will lead to discrete assessments; training gaps and / or inappropriate language - although in a context of minimal knowledge of the material - will lead to votes that will not exceed the sufficiency. Training gaps, inappropriate language, lack of guidance within the reference materials offered during the course will lead to failed assessments.

Teaching tools

Dictionaries and etymological dictionaries will be used.

Office hours

See the website of Alessandro Zironi