Our study tries to precise the signification of words which were used to speak about sound in technical, scientific or practical texts since these words were apprehended only through literary source in ancient and modern dictionaries. This paper deals with lexical choices made by Jean Martin in his translation of De Architectura of Vitruvius, which is the first French translation (1547). This translation has been followed by several other translations (including those by Claude Perrault, Charles Maufras, Catherine Saliou). We focused on three terms: loquence and barbotement, which are products of an interpretation of Vitruvius’ text, and resonance, which, in Martin’s meaning, is a product of a semantic change.
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