Wednesday, December 19, 2018

Hmm …

… Under a Watchful Gaze | Commonweal Magazine. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

The English word translate comes from the Latin transferre, to carry across, and Stallings’s best poems continually cross borders, ferrying us from one world to the next and back again.
For what it's worth, here's what the Online Etymology Dictionary has to say:

translate (v.)

early 14c., "to remove from one place to another," also "to turn from one language to another," from Old French translater and directly from Latin translatus "carried over," serving as past participle of transferre "to bring over, carry over" (see transfer), from trans "across, beyond" (see trans-) + lātus"borne, carried" (see oblate (n.)). Related: Translated; translating. A similar notion is behind the Old English word it replaced, awendan, from wendan "to turn, direct" (see wend).

I like the connection oblate.

No comments:

Post a Comment