Titre : | Ancient Armenian Translations / auteur(s) : Levon TER PETROSIAN - |
Editeur : | St. Vartan Press |
Année : | 1992 |
Imprimeur/Fabricant : | New York |
Description : | 14 x 19,5 cm, 112 pages |
Collection : | |
Notes : | |
Autres auteurs : | |
Sujets : | Armenian ancient translations |
ISBN : | |
Lecture On-line : | non disponible |
Commentaire :Throughout the entire history of Armenian literature, translations from Greek, Syriac, Latin, and Arabic, existing side by side with works written in Armenian, have played a very important role in the development of an original literature and in providing it with a basic source of nourishment. In the Middle Ages, translations were also made on occasion from Georgian, Persian, Old French, Turkish, Ethiopic, Russian, English, Italian and Spanish. The translation movement in Armenia began immediately after the invention of the Armenian alphabet (A.D. 405), at the initiative of Ss. Mesrop Mashtots' and Sahak Part'ew, both of whom took an active part in the undertaking. Translations played a significant role in broadening the scope of the Armenian mind and in enriching the Armenian language. They provide a vivid reflection of the Armenian people's cultural relations with other peoples over the centuries, and especially with their immediate neighbors: the Greeks, the Syrians, as well as the Georgians, the Arabs, the Persians and the nations of Europe. Through translations, Armenian society inherited all the important achievements of ancient philosophy, the natural sciences, Christian theology, medieval literature, and Oriental medicine, which laid a foundation for the development of original ideas. From a historical and cultural standpoint, the differentiation between translations and original works has only a symbolic significance, since in content and structure they represent facets—equally valued—of the same activity. In the Middle Ages there was essentially no conception of any difference between the two classes of works; native and foreign authors were held in equal regard in Armenia. Witnessing to this fact are thousands of Armenian manuscripts in which original works and translations appear indiscriminately side by side. Manuscript compilations [miscellany] containing only works by Armenian authors were rarely seen. As in all Oriental Christian literatures, in Armenia translations proliferated before an original literature was able to develop. In the fifth century, however, a shift away from translations towards an original literature in Armenian occurred so rapidly that it astounds modern scholars. Only a few decades after the beginning of the translation movement, many original works were created by such important Armenian writers as Mashtots', Koriwn, Eznik Koghbats'i, P'awstos Buzand, Agathangelos, Eghishe, Movses Khorenats'i and Ghazar P'arpets'i. The creation of an original literature, however, did not signal the end of translation in Armenia; rather it embraced ever-widening areas, continuing until very recent times. |