Text semiosis of ethnophytonymy and the problem of its cultural adaptation in translation (a case study of I.S. Turgenev's works)

The article focuses on cultural translatability of ethnophytosis, i.e. plant vocabulary with a pronounced national flavour used in fiction. In her overview of translations from I.S. Turgenev (Date and Kasyan from Krasivaya Mecha from the series A Hunter's Sketches, the novel Home of the Gentry), who was known for his particular interest in ethnorealia, the author compares translations into English with phytonyms in other languages (German, French, Czech, Bulgarian, and Slovak). In particular, she examines the botanical, ethnomental and folklore content of dialect phytonyms 'polevaya rya-binka', 'matkin-dushka', used by the characters of the cycle, folk herbalists Akulina and Kasyan from Krasivaya Mecha, and the associative fund of synonymous or equivalent phytonyms from the botanical lexicon of the target culture. Using a variety of translation techniques (transliteration, loan translation, description, functional analogues), the translators either translate or neutralize or modify the national and cultural semantics of ethnonyms. The ethnofitonym 'matkin-dushka' is translated with the attributive botanical denotates 'violet' and 'mint', losing the original ethno-poetics of the Russian phytonym. The ethnofitonym 'polevaya ryabinka' corresponds to the functional analogue 'yarrow', which reflects only a utilitarian medical part of the plant's reputation. On the contrary, the ordinary phytonim 'chereda' is translated with the English synonym "barbed calendula / bud marigold, thus receiving unexpected ritual and cult connotations, appropriate in the further Herbalist Kasian's reasoning about the "god's" herbs. Basing on this analysis, the author raises the question of a systemic textual strategy the translator must adhere to when translating national realities. It implies taking into account the context and compositional environment in translating ethnorealia with the textual semiosis distinguished by latency and prolongation. There is an obvious need to neutralize the linguo-ethnic asymmetry created by differences in national cultures, but inevitable cultural transformation should result in an alternative of a careful, balanced cultural adaptation.

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