Bounded method comparison

Source text and translation

How should a translated religious term remain connected to its documentary source and alternatives?

Documentary witness

Source wording

Preserves the wording attested in a named witness or edition.

Valid claim: This sequence is attested here.

Attributed interpretive rendering

Translation

Makes a source accessible for a purpose and audience.

Valid claim: This translator rendered the source this way under these choices.

Shared comparison axes

  • Passage locator
  • Date and edition
  • Semantic function

Non-equivalences to preserve

  • Target words are not identical semantic containers.
  • A readable translation is not necessarily a critical edition.

Comparison procedure

  1. 1.Bind translation to source.
  2. 2.Annotate consequential terms.
  3. 3.Show alternatives where conclusions change.

Prohibited inference

Do not build cross-tradition equivalence from matching English vocabulary alone.

Connected concepts and sources

Translation and semantic rangeTextual criticism
  1. TEI P5 Chapter 13: Critical Apparatus · Text Encoding Initiative Consortium
  2. Multilingualism and Linguistic Diversity · UNESCO