Mona Baker & Gabriela Saldanha. Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies (2nd edition)

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believerstohavedirectaccesstothewordofGod.Intheearlyphasesofthe

ReformationaDutchversionderivedfromLuther’sGermanBiblewas

commonlyused.Fromthe1560sonwardsthesocalled‘TwoAces’Biblewas

widelyread.Thiswasahybridproduct,inwhichtheOldTestamentwasbased

onLutherandtheNewTestamenthadbeentranslatedonverydifferent

principlesfromtheoriginalGreek.Astandardversiondidnotcomeaboutuntil

theseventeenthcentury,whentheDutchStatesGeneralcommissionedan

entirelynewtranslationwhichwastobecarriedoutalonglinessimilartothe

EnglishAuthorizedVersion,i.e.preparedbyacollective,andasclosetothe

sourcetextsastherecipientlanguagewouldpermit.TheDutch‘StatesBible’

appearedin1637.Itwashugelyinfluentialasalinguisticandculturalpointof

reference,andremainedthestandardDutchBibleuntilthetwentiethcentury.

Bythetimethe‘StatesBible’appeared,theEightyYears’Warhadrunmostof

itscourse,theDutchRepublichadgainedindependence,andthepolitical,

economicandculturalcentreoftheLowCountrieshadshifteddecisivelyfrom

thesoutherntothenorthernNetherlands,andtoHollandinparticular.

AmsterdamhadreplacedAntwerpasthenewpublishingcapital.Asupra

regionalDutchstandardlanguagewasgraduallytakingshape,aprocessto

whichthe‘StatesBible’contributedsignificantly.Theprosperityofthenew

state,andthepowerofaselfconsciousandhighlyliteratemerchantclassinit,

meantthatthedemandfortranslationscouldonlyincrease.Inthefirstdecades

oftheseventeenthcenturyDutchculturecontinuedthedeliberatelearning

processassociatedwiththevernacularRenaissanceofthesixteenthcentury,but

soonimitationturnedintoemulation.ThemercantilebaseoftheDutcheconomy

andthecreationofaseabornecommercialempirefosteredanactiveinterestin

practicalknowledgeandinthingsforeign.Moreover,inthepoliticallyand

ideologicallytolerantclimateoftheDutchRepublic,thesciencesandmodern

philosophyflourished,andsincebynomeansalltheburghersofHollandread

LatinorFrench,translationswerecalledfor.

Theproductionoftheseventeenthcentury‘archtranslator’JanHendriksz

Glazemaker(1619/20–82)canillustratethiswiderangingintellectualhunger.

Glazemaker,whofrequentedtheintellectualelitedespitehismodestsocial

background,workedmostlyfromLatinandFrench,occasionallyalsofrom

GermanandItalian.Inallhistranslations,whichrantooversixtytitles,hewrote

aconsciouslypuristDutch.Hisprofessionalismiseverywhereapparent,andhe

frequentlycriticizedoldertranslationsforinaccuracies,pridinghimselfon

consultingexistingversionsinotherlanguagesaswell.Atthestartofhiscareer,

in1643,hetranslatedaLatintext(JohnBarclay’sArgenis)viatheFrench;he

returnedtoitin1680,nowrenderingitdirectlyfromLatin.OriginalsinGreek,

PortugueseorEnglish,however,hetranslatedviaLatinorFrenchintermediate

versions.Glazemaker’searlyworkrangedwidely,andencompassedmostly

history,didacticworksandtravelbooks.In1658hebroughtouttheQur’ānin

Dutch,workingfromtheFrenchversionbytheorientalistAndréduRyer

(1647).Whiletranslationsliketheseprobablysatisfiedthegeneralintellectual

curiosityofhisoutwardlookingaudience,theintensephilosophicaldebatesof

thelatterhalfoftheseventeenthcenturywererelayedtoDutchreaderswithout

sufficientknowledgeofforeignlanguagesinalongseriesoftranslationsof

virtuallythecompleteworksofMontaigne,DescartesandSpinoza.Manyof

Descartes’LatinworkshadbeentranslatedintoFrench,andhisFrenchworks

intoLatin;Glazemakerusedbothversionswheneverpossible,consulting

mathematicians,musicologistsandotherspecialistsastheneedarose.Hewas

undoubtedlythefirstprofessionaltranslatorinDutch.

ThemainliterarytranslatoroftheperiodwasarguablyJoostvandenVondel

(1587–1679),generallyregardedalsoasthegreatestpoetandplaywrightofhis

age.Hisworkasatranslatorillustratessomeoftheliterarypreoccupationsof

thetimeandthecloseinteractionbetweentranslationandoriginalwriting.With

hismodestbackgroundandlimitedschooling,Vondelwenttogreatlengthsto

learnfirstLatinandthenGreek,ashisideasaboutliteraturematured.Earlyon,

inthe1620s,whenhewaswritingDutchtragediesintheSenecanvein,he

translatedtwoofSeneca’splays.Followingthetranslationin1635oftheNeo

LatinplaySophompaneasbyhiscompatriotHugoGrotius,Vondelwrotetwo

furtherplaysconcerning