Philosophia Translata: The Development of Latin Philosophical Vocabulary through Translation from Greek

A Case Study Approach

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How Latin philosophical vocabulary developed through the translation of Greek sources, the varieties of translation practices Roman philosophers favoured, and how these practices evolved over time are the overarching themes of this monograph. A first of its kind, this comparative study analyzes the creation of philosophical vocabulary in Lucretius, Cicero, Apuleius, Calcidius, and Boethius. It highlights a Latin literary tradition in which the dominance of Greek philosophical expression was challenged and renovated over time through the individual translation choices of different Latin authors. Included are full glossaries of Latin and Greek philosophical terms with explanatory notes for the reader.
Copyright Year:
2023
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978-90-04-67796-8
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25 Sep 2023
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Published
ISBN:
978-90-04-67793-7
Publication:
28 Sep 2023
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Christopher Dowson completed a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) at the University of Western Australia, where he also graduated with a Master’s degree in Classics. He received his D.Phil. from the University of Oxford in Classical Languages and Literature and held a Theodor Heuss Postdoctoral Fellowship in Germany with the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, undertaking research at the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae at the Bavarian Academy of Sciences, Munich. He has published in the areas of classical studies, law, and philosophy, most recently The Social Networking Function of Cicero’s Prefaces to the Philosophical Works (Philologus, forthcoming 2023).
"Dowson’s monograph is a treasure-trove of material, tracing the development of specific technical vocabulary (such as silva) and morphological tools (such as Boethius’ reliance on the -ivus suffix), yet still able to present the broader narrative involving the translation and didactic strategies of major intellectual figures against the background of the formulation of technical vocabulary in related areas." Carl O'Brien, BMCR 2024.11.08.
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations of Reference Works

Introduction: Scope and Method
 1 Scope of the Study
 2 The ‘Case-Study’ Approach
 3 Philosophical Latin as ‘Technical Vocabulary’?
 4 Re-Interpreting Greek Philosophical Vocabulary in Latin: imitatio and aemulatio
 5 Methodology
 6 Syntactical Aspects

1 A Preliminary Case Study—Poetic Technique and Philosophical ‘Terminology’ in Lucretius
 1 Lucretius’ Egestas Trope and His Remarks on Lexical Innovation
 2 The Limits of Lucretian Lexical Innovation
 3 Lucretius’ Translation of Greek Philosophical Terms
 4 Egestas as a Reality or Trope in Lucretius
 5 Lucretius and Greek Loan-Words and Chapter Summary

2 Cicero and the Birth-Pangs of Latin Philosophical Vocabulary
 1 Cicero’s Intellectual Milieu
 2 Past Scholarship in Ciceronian Philosophical Translation
 3 Cicero’s Philosophical Translations in Practice
 4 The Ciceronian Legacy

3 Translation Techniques in Practice: A Selective Commentary on Cicero’s Timaeus Translation
 1 Ciceronian Translation Methods Analyzed
 2 Lexical Innovation through Translation: Cicero’s Timaeus as Case Study
 3 Chapter Summary

4 Apuleius’ Translations of Greek Philosophical Vocabulary A Case Study of the De Mundo, De Platone et Eius Dogmate, and the Peri Hermeneias
 1 Apuleius’ Approach to the Creation of Philosophical Vocabulary
 2 The De Mundo: a Case Study of Apuleian Translation and Lexical Innovation
 3 Lexical Commentary: Particular Linguistic Features of the De Mundo
 4 Selective Lexical Commentary: De Platone et Eius Dogmate
 5 Apuleius’ Peri Hermeneias
 6 Chapter Summary

5 Calcidius, Cicero, and the Timaeus: A Comparative Case Study
 1 Calcidius as a Reader of Cicero
 2 Comparing Lexical Innovation in Calcidius’ and Cicero’s Translations
 3 Collected Lexical Innovations in Calcidius
 4 Chapter Summary

6 Boethius and the Language of Logic
 1 Boethius’ Translation ‘Theory’?
 2 ‘Originality’ in Boethius’ Translations
 3 Potential Lexical Innovations Collected from Boethius’ Translations of Greek
 4 A Comparison of Victorinus and Boethius’ Translations of the Isagoge
 5 The Use of the Suffix and Greek Loan-Words in Boethius
 6 Chapter Summary

7 Concluding Remarks
 1 The Trope of Latin Lexical egestas and the Influence of aemulatio
 2 A Comparison of Latin ‘Translation Texts’ in the Case Study
 3 Findings Compared with Other Technical Vocabularies
 4 Summing up: Republican-Era Authors
 5 Summing up: Imperial-Era and Late Antique Authors
 6 Scope for Future Research

Appendices: Glossaries of Latin and Greek Philosophical Terms



Appendix 1: Collected Lexical Innovations—Lucretius
Appendix 2: Collected Lexical Innovations—Cicero
Appendix 3: Collected Lexical Innovations—Apuleius
Appendix 4: Collected Lexical Innovations—Calcidius
Appendix 5: Glossary of Lexical Innovations—Boethius
Definitions
Bibliography
Index
This monograph will be a useful reference work for researchers (post-graduates and specialists) of ancient philosophy and Latin and Greek literature. It will also be valuable to anyone with an interest in translation studies, sociolinguistics, and the history of philosophy.
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