Translation, the Vernacular Debate, and the Evolution of Literary Writing Style Between Italy and Germany

Prince Ludwig von Anhalt-Köthen and His Translation of Giovan Battista Gelli’s Capricci del Bottaio

Abstract

The aim of the present paper is to shed light on the cultural contact between the Italian and German vernacular debates in the 17th century, and to show how this cultural contact introduced new legitimising arguments in favour of the vernacular in the German-speaking context while also providing a renovating impulse to German literary style. The paper investigates one exemplary case of such cultural contact: Prince Ludwig von Anhalt-Köthen’s Anmutige Gespräch (1619), the translation of Giovan Battista Gelli’s dialogue Capricci del Bottaio (1546). Gelli was an influential member of the Accademia Fiorentina, a 16th century Florentine language academy. In his Capricci, Gelli debates the legitimacy of the Florentine vernacular as a scientific and literary language. Through an analysis of Prince Ludwig’s commentaries to his translation of the Capricci, the paper shows how Prince Ludwig applied Gelli’s arguments in favour of the vernacular to the German context, and how these arguments resonated even years later in the writings of the Fruchtbringende Gesellschaft, a German language academy led by Prince Ludwig from 1617 to 1650. As translation was seen as a form of ‘language work’ both by the Accademia Fiorentina and by the Fruchtbringende Gesellschaft, the most salient linguistic features of Ludwig’s translation is analysed in the paper in order to show how the theoretical discussion on translation was implemented in the translation process. This investigation shows how translating from Italian promoted a more conversational literary style that distanced itself from the pompous, formulaic chancery language that was still seen as exemplary of good language use in 17th century Germany.