Balbín's Diva Montis Sancti (1665) and its Vernacular Versions as a Type of Early Modern Translations
Abstract
Diva Montis Sancti (1665) is an important work on Marian pilgrimage sites written by Bohuslav Balbín (1621-1688), a major figure of Czech intellectual history. Apart from outlining the cultural and historical contexts and placing the work among similar examples of the genre, the paper compares the Latin text with its translation into Czech (Přepodivná Matka Svatohorská, 1666) by Matěj Václav Štejer (1630-1692) and German (Heiliger Berg, 1668), the author of which remains unknown.
Analyzing the text's form and content, as well as its linguistic aspects, will clarify the particular translation methods employed, thus confirming the hypothesis about the presumed function of the work and intended readership. Both translations can be characterized as paraphrases, intended for less educated readers; in contrast with the historical/patriotic function of the original, which was aimed at educated European elites, the translations accentuate the text's religious and educative functions.
The aim of the paper was to describe various aspects of translation, explore the relationship between Neo-Latin and vernacular literature in Bohemia, and contribute to research that deals with the typology of early modern translations.