Carvais. Robert, Nègre, Valérie, Cluzel, Jean-Sébastien and Hernu-Bélaud, Juliette, eds. (2015): Traduire l’architecture: Texte et image, un passage vers la création? Paris: Picard, 296 p.

The volume contains twenty-one essays, mostly in French, divided into two sections (‘Translating from one language to another,’ and ‘Translation as a creative process’), an introductory chapter and one other in conclusion. The diversity of subjects covered and questions raised means that a relatively detailed description of each paper is needed in reviewing this highly innovative publication, though priority is given here to the issue of translating specialist texts and some of the associated terminology problems. One of the editors, Valérie Nègre, devotes a preparatory chapter to the organisation of the volume and homes in on the theme of betrayal: the old saw of traduttori traditori is not far from the surface here. The introduction clearly sets out the challenges thrown up to the translators/adapters, to their readers and to the scholars who analyse them today, and points out that many of the articles which make up the volume will concentrate on the range of changes wrought by the translator and other intermediaries and their significance in the development of architectural theory. This introduction tells the linguist that for art history in general and the history of architectural theory in particular, the focus had previously been on authors and it is only recently that attention has been focused on the role of such intermediaries as draftsmen, engravers, printers… and translators. The book in hand may thus be seen to be participating in a new movement in the field of the arts, which is significant in itself as a manifestation of specialised translation, which will in turn be the main focus of this review. In the first paper proper, Philippe Bernardi addresses some of the language issues involved in producing legal documents in fifteenth century Provence relating to real estate. Whereas Latin was at this time the default language of the law, and of contracts, the “lay” language – i.e. Provençal – was used for certain functions, in particular to convey technical information concerning building. The focus here is on how the two languages are used, including those instances of translation, and special attention is given to the choice of equivalents, which may be literal translation, approximations or in the case of the Latin text, Latinisations. In this context, the notary is seen as an intermediary, using various discursive techniques to convey both the legal and technical aspects of the contracts involved, and generally translating from Provençal into Latin. The author also points out the role played by plans and drawings in conveying specialised knowledge, which deserves further study. This first chapter is a good example of the aim of this collective work, showing how translation is to be understood in its broadest sense and how it fits into a more general communicative strategy. Pierre Caye, in his essay on Leon Battista Alberti’s use of Latin rather than Italian in his major works on painting, sculpture and more particularly here, architecture, extends the notion of translation to transpositions within one language. He argues that Latin, as an artificial, conventional language, rather than the vernacular, was still during this period the obvious language of arts and crafts. But the Latin used was not the language profoundly influenced by the Greek of Vitruvius, rather that of ancient Rome, when Greek had been absorbed to refer to native realia. The translation referred to is largely the wholesale transformation of the Greek-based terminology into more concrete Latin forms. Once again, by examining the use of both languages and registers in the Renaissance through the prism of translation, the author throws light on the sociolinguistic situation of the time, which in turn informs the choice …