The mechanicals’ names in Russian translations of A Midsummer Night’s Dream

• Authors: Alexander Kalashnikov

Title variants

CS

Jména řemeslníků v ruských překladech Snu noci svatojánské

• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

This paper contributes to Shakespearean onomastics by investigating the ways of rendering six names of the mechanicals from A Midsummer Night’s Dream in ten Russian translations. It examines both well-known and little publicized editions of the frequently performed Shakespearean comedy. The research shows that the majority of the names were translated into Russian according to the commentaries provided in the 20th century British annotated editions. Under those interpretations, the mechanicals’ names reflected the occupations or associated qualities. In the analyzed Russian translations, the names were translated in eight, though with occasional inconsistencies in the semantics and register. The translations of Grigoryev, Lozinsky and Soroka showed a trend in applying the adequate equivalents based on the semantics of the occupations.

Keywords

EN

Shakespearean onomastics; A Midsummer Night’s Dream; characteristic names; mechanicals; translation; received interpretation of names

Discipline

• PHILOLOGY_&_LINGUISTICS: PHILOLOGY & LINGUISTICS

• Publisher: Institute of the Czech Language, Czech Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Acta onomastica
• Year: 2020
• Volume: 61
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 61-75
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Alexander Kalashnikov

• Acta onomastica, redakce, Ústav pro jazyk český AV ČR, v.v.i., Letenská 4, 118 51 Praha 1, Czech Republic