Dutch as an intermediary language for translations into German in the 17th and 18th century

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Ute Karoline Boonen
• Subject Area: Individual Linguistics, Historical Linguistics ; Applied Linguistics, Computational Linguistics
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 546570866

Indirect translations were an important form of linguistic transfer between languages, countries and cultures in Europe during the Early Modern period. In terms of the writings translated into German, it is primarily the four languages French, Latin, Dutch and Italian that make up around 90% of all indirect translations as intermediary languages. The importance of Dutch as an intermediary language has been neglected by researchers to date, although the Netherlands is often considered the "bookshop of the world" for the Early Modern period. A thorough investigation into the mediating role of Dutch is an important research desideratum, as there is still a research gap with regard to both overviews and in-depth studies on the quantitative and qualitative significance of indirect translations for this period, especially those via Dutch. The project analyses the role of Dutch as a mediating language in Early Modern Europe. It focuses on the actors involved and their networks in book and text production as well as on the Dutch Republic as a space of transfer for literature and other writings in the 17th and early 18th century. Drawing on a variety of databases, this project conducts a comprehensive quantitative survey of all indirect translations from Dutch into German. The ensuing analysis more specifically considers indirect translations of English source texts into German via Dutch. This in-depth inquiry into the relation between the three languages allows for determining the role of Dutch in the Early Modern knowledge transfer and its relation to other intermediary languages such as French, Latin, and Italian. Subsequently, selected writings are investigated qualitatively with the help of detailed peri- and epitext analyses and by comparing interlingual translation practices. This provides insights into the translators' motivation as well as the production and distribution of the translations. To this end, the project examines pertinent actors (including institutions such as official bodies or publishers, as well as individuals such as translators or printers) and relevant spaces (e.g. printing locations or centers) to reproduce the transfer routes via relevant networks. The project thus aims to produce a detailed inventory of indirect translations from English via Dutch into German published in the 17th and early 18th century. This makes it possible to determine the significance of Dutch as an intermediary language in this period.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Netherlands, Switzerland
• Cooperation Partners: Dr. Andreas Krogull; Professorin Dr. Nicoline van der Sijs