The travels by land to/from East and the oral translation (centuries XV-XVI)

Abstract

http://dx.doi.org/10.5007/2175-7992.2016v23n1p96

Locating itself at the time of the Portuguese discoveries, this study deals with travel by land in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Firstly, it ofers a short comparison between travels by land and by sea from the same age, establishing an identifying definition for each group. Then, if in the first stage it aimed at identifying travelers, routes, departure and arrival dates, and reasons for travelling, in a second stage it reflects on the implications of travel for the study of oral translation. For doing so, it considers the reports from travels as sources which are essential for the identification of interpreters and languages in contact regarding the considered centuries. From the analysis, the study presents a group of interpreters involved in the travels, especially in those that offer published reports. This article aims, in its way, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the publication of Peregrinação, of Ferdinand Mendes Pinto Pilgrimage (1614-2014).