A critical reassessment of the origins and development of translation studies.
This volume challenges the established historical narratives of “translation studies” by showcasing some of the rich traditions of debate, research, and theory that unfolded around the world in the centuries prior to the supposed beginnings of the discipline. Bringing together essays from leaders in the field of translation history, Translation Studies before ‘Translation Studies’ decenters the modern-day discipline by giving access to overlooked theoretical reflections, most of them translated into English for the first time, from languages such as Latin, Sanskrit, Chinese, Arabic, Swahili, Ukrainian, French, and Brazilian Portuguese.
384 pages | 6.14 x 9.21 | © 2026
Language and Linguistics: General Language and Linguistics
Literature and Literary Criticism: General Criticism and Critical Theory
Table of Contents
List of contributors
Acknowledgements
When is translation studies not translation studies?
1 Ancient Rome
2 Medieval China
3 Medieval India
4 Early Modern Europe
5 Swahili Coast, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries
6 Brazil, 1813
7 France, 1830
8 Ethiopia, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
9 Arab World, late Ottoman era (1896-1914)
10 China, 1903
11 Ukraine, 1912
12 Russia, 1920
13 Ukraine, 1927-1932
14 The Netherlands, 1936-1938
15 Slovakia, 1940s-1950s
16 Brazil, 1948
17 Poland, 1952
18 USSR, 1958-1964
19 Poland, 1968
20 Ukraine, 1968-1972
Index