News

The image shows the front of the conference volume's cover in the typical blue color scheme of the Priority Programme 2130 and their book series "Early Modern Translation Cultures". It displays the editors' names and the title, which will be volume 10 of the series. — Cover of the conference volume "In die falsche Richtung? Studien zu frühneuzeitlichen Übersetzungen ins Lateinische", ed. by Julia Heideklang, Jan Shavrin, and Anja Wolkenhauer. Heidelberg, Berlin: J.B. Metzler (to be published in autumn 2025, and per open access).

JUST published!

Julia Heideklang, Jan Shavrin and Anja Wolkenhauer (eds). In die falsche Richtung? Studien zu neuzeitlichen Übersetzungen ins Lateinische, (=Übersetzungskulturen der Frühen Neuzeit / Early Modern Translation Cultures, vol. 10). Heidelberg, Berlin: J. B. Metzler (to be published in August 2025, OA). doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-71231-3

ToC_In die falsche Richtung? Studien zu frühneuzeitlichen Übersetzungen ins Lateinische

Flyer

The usage of Latin profoundly shaped the early modern period as the language of international communication, science, education, and within the church. This not only facilitated a plethora of Latin writings but also translations of ancient, medieval, and early modern texts into the Latin lingua franca. They need yet to be systematically explored. With exemplary case studies, the present volume demonstrates the broad range of these translations from various source languages, such as German, Italian, Arabic, and Ancient Greek, investigating their functions and the actors involved.

New Publications in 2025

Julia Heideklang. “The Latinization of Machiavellian Thought: The Translation of Latin Quotations as a Case Study for Experimental Translation”, in: Beyond the Original, Translation as Experiment, ed. by Marília Jöhnk, p. 39-69, Bielefeld: Transkript (OA).

https://www.transcript-publishing.com/978-3-8376-7125-4/beyond-the-original/?number=978-3-8394-7125-8

Julia Heideklang and Anja Wolkenhauer. “Die Raumkonzepte frühneuzeitlicher Übersetzungen ins Lateinische, diskutiert am Beispiel von Tommaso Campanellas Civitas Solis”, in: Übersetzungsräume - Raumübersetzungen, Tagungsband (= Übersetzungskulturen der Frühen Neuzeit/ Ealry Modern Translation Cultures, 11), ed. Jörg Wesche, Regina Toepfer und Peter Burschel, p. 359-384. Berlin, Heidelberg: J.B. Metzler 2025 (OA), https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-71430-0_15

Julia Heideklang, Jan Shavrin und Anja Wolkenhauer. “‘Versio latina’ e ‘TransLATINg’: Osservazioni basate su due progetti di ricerca in corso sulle traduzioni moderne in latino ”, in: The Italianist 44, 3 (2024): 412-421. (OA) https://doi.org/10.1080/02614340.2025.2504768

Julia Heideklang. “Recreations of Machiavellian Thought in Latin: Il Principe (1513) and its Multiple Translation Processes”, in: The Italianist 44, 3 (2024): 467-484. (OA) https://doi.org/10.1080/02614340.2025.2504771

Julia Heideklang, Moana Toteff and Anja Wolkenhauer. “Versio latina and the Catalogus Versionum Latinarum (CVlat)”, in: Early Modern Translation and the Digital Humanities, (= Übersetzungskulturen der Frühen Neuzeit / Early Modern Translation Cultures, 8) eds. Hilary Brown, Regina Toepfer and Jörg Wesche, p. 41-51. Heidelberg, Berlin: J.B. Metzler 2025 (OA). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-70483-7_3

Talks

07/16/2025

Versio latina: Translating into Latin in the Early Modern Period (All Abstracts) - Special Session at the 19th IANLS Congress, 4-5.30 p.m.

4 - 4.30 p.m.: Julia Heideklang “Latinitate donati, 1450-1800: Actors, Aims, and Functions of Early Modern Translations into Latin” (Handout)

4.30 - 5 p.m.: Jan Shavrin “Theophanes Prokopowicz (1681-1736) eiusque opera de devictis Suecis ab ipso Latine reddita”

5 - 5.30 p.m. Anja Wolkenhauer “The Wrong Direction?”

07/10/2025

Julia Heideklang “Die lateinischen Aesop-Übersetzungen und Fabelsammlungen im Buchdruck in ihrem Wechselspiel mit zeitgenössischen Fabeldichtungen”, Villa Vigoni (Conferenze trilaterali di ricerca), Volkssprachliche Übersetzungen griechischer Werke ins Italienische, Französische und Deutsche im 15. und 16. Jahrhundert II (8-11 July 2025), Como

04/26/2025

Anja Wolkenhauer "Fremdheit als Chance: Die ägyptische Hieroglyphik in der lateinischen Literatur", at the Classics Department, Leipzig University.

12/11/2024

Julia Heideklang "Weil die lateinischen Übersetzungen schlecht und unglaubwürdig sind': Zur Bedeutung lateinischer Intermediärübersetzungen oder ihres Fehlens für die botanischen Wissenschaftstexte der Frühen Neuzeit”, Villa Vigoni (Conferenze trilaterali di ricerca), Volkssprachliche Übersetzungen griechischer Werke ins Italienische, Französische und Deutsche im 15. und 16. Jahrhundert I (10-11.12.2024), Como

06/13/2024

Anja Wolkenhauer "Fremdheit als Chance: DIe ägyptische Hieroglyphik in der lateinischen Literatur", at the Department for Romance Studies and Latin Philology at the University of Osnabrück.

02/16/2024

Anja Wolkenhauer "Übersetzungen neuzeitlicher Unterhaltungsliteratur ins Lateinische: Ein monumentales Projekt des deutschen Barockdichters Kaspar von Barth (1587–1658)", at the international and interdisciplinary conference "Semantik und Pragmatik frühneuzeitlicher Übersetzung, Begriff - Metaphern - Topoi" at Heidelberg University (Programmflyer).

The conference has been organized in context of the project „Zur historischen Semantik des Übersetzens in der frühen Neuzeit am Beispiel deutschsprachiger Erzählliteratur. Übersetzen – Wissen – Erzählen“, which is part of DFG Priority Program 2130 „Early Modern Translation Cultures (1450 – 1800)“ statt.

01/18/2024

Julia Heideklang "Translations and Re-Creations of Machiavellian Thought in Latin: Il principe (1513) and its Multiple Translation Processes" (Abstract), at Seminario "transLATINg testi letterari italiani in traduzione latina" (18.-19.01.2024), Sapienza Università di Roma, organized by Francesco Lucioli and supported by the Progetto Grande di Ateneo 2022 (Program).

You can read two short conference reports online, one by the scientific blog "Übersetzungsgeschichte(n)" and the other by "Radio Sapienza."

Poster for the Workshop "Latin Translations of Vernacular Dramas: Sixt Birck in Context"

International Workshop "Latin Translations of Vernacular Dramas: Sixt Birck in Context" 20-21 September 2024

An international workshop will be held from September 20 to 21 at the Classics Department of Eberhard Karls University, based on the collaboration of the DFG project “Versio latina” and Prof. Stefan Elit (Department for German Studies and Comparative Literature Studies, Paderborn). The workshop aims to present a collaborative platform for scholars to explore early modern vernacular drama and their translations, particularly their Latin translations. Materials will be pre-circulated, read together, and discussed. A strong focus will be placed on the self-translations of Sixt Birck (Susanna 1532/1537 and Judith 1539/1539) presented by Stefan Elit and Julia Heideklang. Further confirmed experts are Caterina Blech (Fribourg), Dr. Giuseppe Eugenio Rallo (Palermo/Tübingen), and Prof. Fernando Cioni (Florence).

The final roundtable will summarize the main points of discussion and explore overarching questions, such as the most suitable translatory terms for defining and describing early modern drama and the characterization of translations of early modern vernacular drama into Latin based on different case studies.

More information and the workshop's program will follow shortly here.

The Image presents a joint collage with suggestions from each speaker of the Conference "The Wrong Direction: Early Modern Translations into Latin" — For source documents, full references and permissions consult flyer and poster.

International Conference "The Wrong Direction", 13-15 April 2023

From April 13th to April 15th, the conference "The Wrong Direction" took place!

We thank all participants, and especially our wonderful group of speakers, for the insightful talks and the vivid discussions! Find more information on the conference's concept and programm as well as the conference report here.

Science to Public

Science Blog "Übersetzungsgeschichte(n). Einblicke in die Übersetzungsforschung zur Frühen Neuzeit"

The interdisciplinary science blog Übersetzungsgeschichte(n). Einblicke in die Übersetzungsforschung der Frühen Neuzeit aims to make current research more accessible to a broader public. We strive to provide our readers with brief insights into early modern translation cultures, as well as into the day-to-day research and its challenges undertaken by historians of translation. The category artifacts uses objects as starting points for short explorations of translation processes; it shows the contingencies, rivalries, amusing incidents, and translation choices. Anecdotes focus on methodological questions drawn and made tangible by employing a short example from the vast array of early modern translation processes. In our interviews, we want to make the researchers themselves visible, showing different career paths and positions, research decisions, and processes of academic collaboration.

We will update the blog monthly, either with posts written by the blog team (Garda Elsherif, Enrica Fantino, Julia Heideklang, Jana Sauter-Späth) or by guest contributors.

The blog also provides an RSS feed to stay up to date with the latest additions.

The very first articles are now online! Curious? Start reading at https://traductio.hypotheses.org/