Sterculinum (Ter. Ph. 526). Cómo traducir un insulto en Terencio

Abstract

In the verse 526 of Phormio, one of the six Terence’s plays, the slave Geta direct to Dorio, the pimp, the insult sterculinum. Is the only time that the term appears in Terence’s work (whereas that only does twice in Plautus’s), and denote an unused violence, in a quite away registry from the African’s. At the time of translation, we ask which way to go. Do we keep close to the etymology of the word? Do we permit that the insult loses its violence to be “faithful” to the philological translation or let violence reflect in a new word totally estrange to the original text? And moreover, what impact may have this decision in the comic effect? In the present paper we pretend reflect about these issues given that, as stated Venuti, the translation is a complex process whereby the original text –and the culture in which it was produced- is interpreted, understood and evaluated by the translator, who interacts with the text through their own psychological and cognitive experience, but also through the cultural institutions and social situations in which it works.