Humor and Translation Mark Herman [email protected] Graecum Est “Graecum est,” wrote medieval comments from viewers that supple- Greek. And, as has been mentioned in monks in Latin in the margins of Greek ment, and occasionally contradict, the this column previously, many Slavic texts they could not translate. “It was information given on the map itself. words for German, such as the Greek to me,” says Casca of Cicero’s For example, German speakers, not Russian немецкий, are related to speech in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, mentioned on the original map, are said words meaning “unable to communi- Act I, Scene 2. And, indeed, anything to call incomprehensibilities Spanish or cate,” such as неметь (to become incomprehensible to an English Chinese. The suggested reason for dumb), and are sometimes used as speaker can be “Greek.” So too, to a speakers of German and other pejoratives for anything foreign. Norwegian, Swedish, Persian, Spanish, European languages calling gobblede- But the ultimate put-down of a lan- or Portu guese speaker. Except that gook “Spanish” is that they once had to guage may be the claim that even Spanish and Portuguese speakers will contend with Spanish-speaking Habs- omniscient God cannot comprehend it. also call utterances they cannot under- burg rulers (Spanish was once the offi- That is why, say some Basques, they stand “Chi nese.” And “Greek” to a cial language of the Bavarian court). swear only in Spanish. And, supposedly Greek is of course not Greek, but And the Germanic languages have during the nineteenth century, some Chinese or Arabic. words for incomprehensible sounds Polish Catholic priests used a similar At least that is the situation that may be related: German kauder- argument to convince Lithuanian peas- according to an online map, probably welsch, Dutch koeter waals, and ants to pray in Polish. · more anecdotal than scientific, English “caterwaul,” though some pointed out to me by Isabel Rincón, believe any relationship between these which may be viewed at http:// words to be merely coincidental. Herman is a librettist and translator. strangemaps.wordpress.com/2009/02/ The English phrase “It is Greek to Submit items for future columns via e-mail 26/362-greek-to-me-mapping-mutual- me” probably does not imply any dis- to [email protected] or via snail incomprehension. That map has been paragement of Greeks or Greece. But mail to Mark Herman, 1409 E Gaylord adapted by Ronnie Apter into the dia- some references to “foreign” lan- Street, Mt. Pleasant, MI 48858-3626. gram on the next page, printed here guages are definitely pejorative. Discussions of the translation of humor with the kind permission of Frank Some are built right into ordinary and examples thereof are preferred, but Jacobs, the creator of the website words. For example, the English word humorous anecdotes about translators, above. In the diagram, arrows point “barbarian” comes from a Greek root translations, and mistranslations are also from a language spoken to the lan- referring to people who do not speak welcome. Include copyright information and permission if relevant. guage or languages regarded by speakers of the first language as the quintessence of incomprehensibility. Below the map on the website are Scam Alert Websites www.star-group.net Federal Bureau of Investigation/ National White Collar National White Crime Center Collar Crime Center The Internet Crime www.nw3c.org Global and Complaint Center collaborative www.ic3.gov terminology management WebTerm 44 The ATA Chronicle n July 2010 Greek To Me: Mapping Mutual Incomprehension The following diagram is an adaptation by Ronnie Apter of an online map found at http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2009/02/26/362-greek- to-me-mapping-mutual-incomprehension. In this diagram, arrows point from a language spoken to the language or languages regarded by speakers of the first language as the quintessence of incomprehensibility. It is printed here with the permission of Frank Jacobs, the creator of the Strange Maps website (http://strangemaps.wordpress.com). Latvian The ATA Chronicle n July 2010 45.