Die lateinische Übersetzungsabteilung der byzantinischen Kaiserkanzlei unter den Komnenen und Angeloi

Der Forschungsschwerpunkt „Byzantinische Diplomatik“ an der Kommission fur Byzantinistik der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften brachte im Rahmen eines mehrjährigen Projektes zur Vorbereitung einer kritischen Ausgabe der im Original oder als Kopie überlieferten Dokumente der Kaiserkanzlei der Komnenen und Angeloi, die in den lateinischen Westen ergingen, sowie zu spezifischen (ubersetzungstechnischen und diplomatischen) Unter-suchungen der entsprechenden Dokumente eine Reihe von neu..

Aspects of variations in Byzantine Greek Documents of the patriarchal chancellery of Constantinople (14th c.)

A unique collection of about 900 Greek documents, issued by the chancellery of the Patriarch of Constantinople in the 14th c., provides insight into the linguistic level at one place in the capital of the Byzantine Empire. So far research focussed nearly exclusively on their historical or juristic interpretation, the big data for historical sociolinguistics - a general desideratum for Byzantine literature (Hinterberger 2015) - were not taken into account, only some text pragmatic aspects and the use of spoken Greek elements in letters sent abroad were addressed in studies and did unfortunately not entail further investigation. This article focusses on a sociolinguistic point of view and outlines two aspects of variations: a) in order to meet the addressee’s linguistic level and b) to “exclude” the addressee from the learned community (see also Hickey 2012). Three case studies exemplify the emphasis that is put on the intentional use of linguistic variations even in a chancellery with more or less rigid forms

Complex translations at the imperial court in Constantinople: The Graeco-Latin imperial treaties with Venice from the Late Byzantine period

The bilingual-Latin-Greek-documents from the Byzantine imperial chancery provide insight into the work on translating texts with many technical terms in Constantinople. A unique source on translation studies are the treaties between the Byzantine emperor and Venice under the Palaiologan dynasty most of which are preserved in original form in the State Archive of Venice. This study outlines the problems these documents pose in their development and critically discusses the commonly held view on original Greek texts and respective Latin translations. Reflecting the process of negotiating a treaty, the translation runs from Latin to Greek at least in some cases. However, the ultimate result, a bilingual contract, depends on several parameters, so the vocabulary, grammar and any prior contracts and repeated phrases or sentences in each document need to be analysed; furthermore, one must determine whether a phrase originally came from Latin or Greek. The bilingual treaty resulting from a very complex process is termed here “complex translation”. This article approaches the problem through two case studies. It will be pivotal for further studies to compare the wording of the treaty items with the preceding ones. To facilitate a diachronic overview, the study ends with two lists of the addressed issues