https://books.google.ro/books?id=pvcwBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA454&lpg=PA454&dq=Traduire+les+%C2%ABeffets+d%E2%80%99%C3%A9vocation%C2%BB+des+cultur%C3%A8mes:+une+aporie?&source=bl&ots=DvUQ-lZ8wK&sig=VzyuM4EHSPxegWhpsJYiy8ELWHI&hl=fr&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiQmcbSu-jNAhXFC8AKHV7yACQQ6AEINTAE#v=onepage&q=Traduire%20les%20%C2%ABeffets%20d%E2%80%99%C3%A9vocation%C2%BB%20des%20cultur%C3%A8mes%3A%20une%20aporie%3F&f=falseDefining proper names (Pn) has been an issue since antiquity, as the thesis regarding the duality of language extends to them. In Cratylos, Plato concurs with Socrates’ opinion on this topic that has an undiminished vitality:
Soc. The word onoma seems to be a compressed sentence, signifying on ou zetema (being for which there is a search); as is still more obvious in onomaston (notable), which states in so many words that real existence is that for which there is a seeking (on ou masma); aletheia is also an agglomeration of theia ale (divine wandering), implying the divine motion of existence; pseudos (falsehood) is the opposite of motion; here is another ill name given by the legislator to stagnation and forced inaction, which he compares to sleep (eudein); but the original meaning of the word is disguised by the addition of ps; on and ousia are ion with an i broken off; this agrees with the true principle, for being (on) is also moving (ion), and the same may be said of not being, which is likewise called not going (oukion or ouki on = ouk ion). (Plato, Cratylus)
Wishing to draw attention to a certain translational prejudice, this article deals with aspects of the translation of semantic Pn in literary works; particularly those that refer to literary characters and to the titles of literary works, which themselves are proper names, belonging to the category of ergonyms. According to this, the interlingual transfer of Pn is a process that does not strain the translator, as they these are rendered by reporting or transcoding (Ballard 2001, Delisle 2003). The portrayal of the legitimate extension of the non-translation, specific to the non-semantic Pn – from the category of semantic and literary Pn (ergonyms, anthroponyms, toponyms etc.) has allowed the identification of the risks of distorting the ST and TT, the informing, the connection and the communication, but also of deviating from the meaning, objective or effect intended by the author.
The literary onomastics and the quadridimentional nature of the proper names (semantic, sociolinguistic, graphic and phonetic), the place given to proper names in different paratexts, and the cultural references require, sometimes, paratextual explanations or “re-active” translational creations. Thus, the (in)translatability of literary proper names, created by writers, approaches not only different levels of translational analysis, but also the matter of proper name semantics (descriptive, modified, mixt etc.).
Onomastic taxonomy (anthroponyms: patronyms, forenames; toponyms: oronyms, odonyms etc., pragmonyms, ergonyms) proves the complexity of the phenomenon known as “proper name” (Tomescu 1998). Moreover, its substance makes it impossible to ignore its quadridimentional nature: semantic, sociolinguistic, graphic and phonetic, especially since the signs – macro-, micro-, mesogeneric and specific (Herbert 1996: 43) – that particularise the analysed semantic Pn (literary, anthroponyms, bynames, ergonyms) can be updated simultaneously or consecutively, thus increasing the difficulty to generalise a prototypic behaviour.
