Scientific translations in France in the classical age. Functions, practices, actors of translations from English, German and Italian

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Andreas Gipper
• Subject Area: European and American Literary and Cultural Studies
• Term: since 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 405046340

The project aims at a detailed study of scientific translations in France in the classical age (17th-18th century). With the emergence of modern natural sciences, national scientific cultures appeared which, under the patronage of the early modern state, rely massively on vernacular languages, thus blasting the old res publica literaria publishing in Latin. Modern technical translation is emerging. The work of the first funding phase of the SPP has shown that scientific translation, like hardly any other field of translation in the early modern era, can actually claim the title of a distinct translation culture in the sense that it develops a practice with its own standards, norms and textual procedures. And more than almost any other translation culture, it proves to be a genuine child of the early modern era and in this way also contributes as a distinguishing foil to the formation of a new self-understanding of literary translation.As the lingua franca on the European continent, French plays a prominent role in this process. Like no other language, French guarantees visibility in the global scientific community. This highly influential process of the development of a practice and method of scientific translation will be comprehensively investigated in the project. For pragmatic reasons, the project concentrated on translations from German and Italian in the first funding phase. In the second funding phase, however, translations from English will be included in the sense of a holistic approach to the relevant field. A systematic investigation of this type of translation and its significance for the scholarly structure of the early modern period has never been undertaken before. This research gap is to be closed in a methodical mix of quantitative procedures and depth drillings. In the second funding phase, the project will place special emphasis on the following tasks and question complexes:1) The structure of the database of translator's prefaces and prosopographic data will be expanded to include translations from English and the translation protocols of the Académie des sciences. 2. among the functions of translation, special attention will be paid in the second funding phase to the area of replication of experiments (as a central scientific function) and its role in the distribution of symbolic capital in the scientific field. 3) The first funding phase has shown the central role played by academies in the early modern era as translation agencies. A separate workshop will be devoted to this area.4. the central role of translation in the formation of a 'European' scientific terminology 5. problems of translational norms in the tension between literature and science 6. translation policy between scientific claims to universality and the interests of national cultures of knowledge

• DFG Programme: Priority Programmes
• Subproject of: SPP 2130: Cultures of Translation in Early Modern Times