Difference between Features of Alfred Translated Language and Standard Old English - Term Paper Example

Difference between features of Alfred translated language and Standard Old English Introduction The great survivor of England Kind Alfred the great ruled the kingdom of Wessex is now known as South-western England (Davis, p613). It was late nineteenth century when the King Alfred took the initiative of doing some translations from Latin to Old English. Due to his valuable and noteworthy work, he has been regarded has a great contributor towards promotion of the national literary traditions. He also translated some books from Latin English (Arngart, p98). Among these book, one was the Pope Gregory’s I’s Liber Pastoral care that the King translated with the assistance of some clerical scholars and language experts. The book was originally written in Latin in the 6th century and its translation done in the nineteenth century is commonly referred as Pastoral Care (Shippy, p347). The book has been regarded as one of the most important religious texts of the early medieval Europe. It basically focuses upon the topic of the duties and responsibilities of a bishop. Pope Gregory actually wrote a manual to guiding manuals for the bishop to explain how they could preach the people. The translated version of this book has often being viewed as being divergent from the standard old English and the critics and linguistic experts often argue that in the prose version of the preface the language used by the King somewhat different from the standard old English. The following essay aims to advocate this viewpoint and strives to highlight the features of the translation that do not seem complying with the standards of old English. In this regard, the essay discussed the specific linguistic features in the preface of the King Alfred’s translation and then moved towards discussion the way it could be regarded different from the standard old English (Davis, p613). Specific Linguistic Features in the Preface of King Alfred's Translation When King Alfred did the translation of the book in the late nineteenth century, he also added a long prose preface. The preface basically intends to address the bishops of the territory to discuss the prevailing situation of the society. In the preface, it is mainly argues that England has been going through a phase of moral as well as cultural decline and thus there is great need of social and education reforms to help regions overcome this downfall. The preface also outlines the program designed for enacting educational reforms in the system. The reform program was based upon the intentions that there will be more translations from Latin to English so that the common men could become able to read and take benefit from the books that the men must know about and read (Arngart, p98). The prose preface has been given prominent importance in the entire effort made by King Alfred. At first, it clarifies to the masses and experts that the king has just initiated a series of translations that would be followed by the translations of many other important texts and books written in Latin. The motive behind this intention was to assure that the young generation of England must be taught in their tongue and they must be adequately familiar with the literary contributions made in Latin (Shippy, p347). The preface also made it clear that King Alfred had firm determinations to put forward certain reforms within the educational system of Wessex so that England could come out from the wave of cultural and educational decline. King expressed his appreciation and likeness for the ancient time harmony and he also compared ancient age with the present time to identify the social decays (Davis, p613). The preface has been regarded as the first as well as most important piece of prose in English that significantly presented the informative account of its era and the values prevailing within the system at that time (Shippy, p348). King decided to translated important Latin texts from Latin to English because he has belief that Latin has became an absolute language and people must have access to the important books in English so that they become able to understand the philosophies and preaching presented in the literary treasure of the ancient times and the wisdom of Latin language could be conveyed to the people using English language (Whitelock, p54). He praised the ancient age but also affirms that Latin language has no more acceptances in England and thus, English should be used as medium to reach and teach the masses (Shippy, p348). The preface has been written using the styles and words that make the linguist experts widely agree that King Alfred actually founded a new English grammatical culture because the translation was done following different path from the traditional patterns (Keyned, p225). This is mainly due to the fact that the King strived to construct a common path where the speakers of English could easily get hold of Latin wisdom. The translation of the preface has been done adopting a varied style that moves from a formal opening to a writ with the addresses’ names that is an important linguist feature apparent with the standard old English style (Patrick, p154). While keeping in view the easy readability of the readers, Kind did different interpretations of certain Latin words (Arngart, , p98). For instance, Manna has been translated as the sweet mean which came down from the heaven; shittim wood is interpreted as tree that never decay; purple has been explained as the royal robe. These examples illustrate that King Alfred has kept the preface closer to the Latin language and in doing so he has overlooked certain standards of old English. There are certain other phrases and words’ interpretations that affirm that King Alfred had attempted to comply with the Latin and old English standards at the same time and the preface is an strive to come up with common path for both of these languages (Whitelock, p54). The difference in the Alfred’s translation of the preface is often justified by the linguistic experts on the basis of the argument that the preface seems to be more dictated rather written by King Alfred himself. Thus, it is a common perception that King is not the principle translator of the preface (Patrick, p154). The work is mainly credited on Alfred’s account but there are no clear evidences that prove that the work in entirely a sole effort of King. Thus, the translation seems greatly influenced from the environment and King’s directions and intentions. The varying style of addressing might also be due to the fact that the preface has been written by team of translators and linguist scholars upon the order of the king and these words were not directly spoken or thought by the King Alfred (Ker, p85). As the King Alfred is not likely to be the principle translator of the work and there is no authentic way to determine the level up to which extent, the King has done the work of vocabulary selection (Gill, p116). The preface also differs from the standards of old English because it clearly reflects the authority and power possessed by the King. The standard old English literature doesn’t actually supports the reflection of self authority and power especially in the translation task. This feature is an important distinct feature that tells the preface of King Alfred translation is not completely of old English standard (Gatch, p34). The authority and power of the King has been realized through the fact that the King has changed certain grammatical rules and came up with a new grammatical culture while doing Latin to English translation work. Moreover, the translation of different proverbs and phrases from Latin to English has been done keeping in view the easiness of the readers and at many places, the standard grammatical rules of old English have been neglected to make the text easier and readable for the general English speakers. At the same time, this negligence of English grammar and other rules is also done to assure that the meanings of the Latin phrases could be remain same (Keyned, p225). Conclusion The entire discussion could be sum up with the conclusion that there are clear differences observed in the linguistic characteristics of the preface of King Alfred translation of Pastoral care. The style of writing the preface, the varying addresses and use of both I and We within the same preface indicate that the preface was not actually written according to the standards of old English but it was an attempt to convey the Latin messages to English readers using an appropriate language, style and selection of words. There are some important reasons also identified behind this difference. It is revealed that King intentionally created this difference to find a common path for two languages Latin and English. He wanted that the wisdom and teaching of Latin literary work could deliver to the youth of England during his age and for this purpose he came up with some different grammatical culture as well as writing style that could help in truly transferring the essence of Latin writing in English language. Work Cited Arngart, Olaf Sigfrid Anderson, ed. 1955. The proverbs of Alfred: Edited with introduction, notes and glossary. Lund: GWK Gleerup Gatch, Milton McC. 1986. King Alfred's version of Augustine's Soliloquia: Some suggestions on its rationale and unity. In Studies in earlier Old English Prose, ed. Paul E. Szarmach, Albany: State UP of New York. Gill, P.S., Swartz, T.B. and Treschow, M. 2007, a stylometric analysis of King Alfred's literary works, Journal of Applied Statistics Keynes, Simon. 1999. The cult of King Alfred the Great. Anglo-Saxon England 28: 225-356 Kathleen Davis. 1988, National writing in the ninth century: a reminder for post colonial thinking about the nation, Journal of Medieval and early modern studies 28:3 fall 1998 Ker, N. R. 1956. The pastoral care: King Alfred's translation of St. Gregory's Regular Pastoralist. Early English manuscripts in facsimile, Rosenkilde and Bagger Nelson, Janet. 1986. 'A king across the sea': Alfred in continental perspective. Transactions of the Royal Historical Society 36: 45-68 Patrick O'Neill. 2001. King Alfred's Old English prose translation of the first fifty Psalms. Medieval Academy Books, 104. The Medieval Academy of America: Cambridge MA Shippey, T.A. 1979, Wealth and Wisdom in King Alfred's Preface to the Old English Pastoral Care, The English Historical Review, Vol. 94, No. 371 (Apr., 1979), pp. 346-355, Oxford University Press Whitelock, Dorothy. 1966. The prose of Alfred's reign. In Continuations and beginnings: studies in Old English literature, ed. E. G. Stanley. London: Nelson Read More