TRACING THE EVOLUTION OF TRANSLATION FROM ANCIENT TEXTS TO MODERN THEORY

The history of translation stretches back to the earliest moments of written human communication. While translation is often viewed today as a technical or literary endeavor, in ancient times it held profound religious, political, and cultural implications. The early practices of translation in ancient civilizations were not merely linguistic exercises; they were acts of power, preservation, and transmission. Translation during the medieval and Renaissance periods was more than a linguistic necessity; it was a conduit for cultural, scientific, philosophical, and religious transformation. As societies evolved and came into contact through conquest, trade, and religious expansion, translation emerged as a key mechanism for the transmission of knowledge across cultural and linguistic boundaries. These periods witnessed a shift from translation as mere conversion of language to translation as a complex cultural act, embedding meaning within historical, ideological, and epistemological contexts. The modern era, roughly from the 17th century onward, witnessed not only the acceleration of translation as a professional and scholarly practice but also the emergence of translation as a theoretical discipline in its own right. Unlike earlier periods where translation was often subordinated to religious or literary imperatives, the modern era saw the formulation of abstract principles, frameworks, and debates that would define the study of translation. Intellectuals began to explore the nature of equivalence, the role of the translator, and the political, cultural, and ethical dimensions of cross-linguistic mediation.