Which Verbs for ‘Translate’ Were Used in Middle High German?

Abstract

German medieval literature has been frequently labelled as Übersetzungsliteratur (translated literature), above all the earliest phase, known as Old High German (750-1050). The next phase, Middle High German (1050-1350), was also characterized by a considerable amount of translation, although it is not as well-known as the previous. Now, given these antecedents, the lack of terminological studies of the verbs used by the authors of these translations to refer to the activity of ‘translation’, is noteworthy. On the other hand, these verbs are well documented in other vernacular languages such as English or French. The present paper aims to deal with this issue in relation to High Middle German. In order to do so, I have selected a corpus of translations from Latin, Arabic or romance languages into High Middle German, in which I have documented the verbs used by the different authors (known or anonymous) to refer to the activity of ‘translating’.