Logonyms in Leonardo Bruni's "De Interpretatione recta"

Clara Montella – professor of Translation Theory and History at the L’Orientale University – describes the change that occurred in translation studies between the 14th and the 15th century and the resulting adjustment of translation logonyms

During the Middle Ages, translation terminology was wide open: the logonyms vertere and transferre (Fr. tourner and translater, Engl. turn and translate, Sp. trasladar); the dichotomy Saint Jerome used first in the epistle De Optimo Genere Interpretandi, about ad sententiam and ad verbum translations; the interpres, entailing other functions like vaticination and mediation (interpres avium, interpres somnium, fides interpres, etc.).
The introduction of a new logonym in Leonardo Bruni’s work seems to be a noteworthy choice concerned in a wider cultural design. At the beginning of the 15th century the term traductio appears along with other Latin terms and gradually becomes an hyperonym, spreading out across the Romance languages (Fr. traduire, Ita. tradurre, Sp. traducir) and replacing the term interpretatio that will be largely used for the Holy Scripture and exegesis.
In this perspective, Leonardo Bruni marks a turning point in translation studies – as regards the medieval studies – on account of the philological approach to the classics, a tough metastylistic and metalinguistic attitude and the necessary recognition of authorship.

Azzurra Mancini