Abstract

That the Latin word translatio translates the Greek word metaphora is not a coincidence. Translatio designates two interrelated instances of linguistic “transportation,” one phenomenological and conceptual, the other idiomatic, hermeneutic and intercultural. The person who calls an unsavoury man a swine may be said to ”trans-late,” ”trans-fer,” or carry over a set of perceived characteristics – for example, the inarticulate grunts and filthiness of the animal rolling in mud – from one realm (that of the animal) to another (that of man). In the other kind of translation, the translator carries a literary work over from one linguistic and cultural setting to another. Let us fuse the two meanings of translatio and inquire into the Aristotelian concept of metaphoraitself. Does it translate into a linguistic, cultural and conceptual setting as different as that of early China? If it does, then under which conditions and circumstances?