My presentation at the conference Communicating Science, European Society for the History of Science, Lissabon 4 September 2014

1. Translation as Scientific Communication:
Swedish-German Encounters during the Eighteenth Century
Translation
Andreas Önnerfors, University of Gothenburg, SWE
andreas.onnerfors@gu.se
Swedish Pomerania: Cultural Encounters and Identification 1720-1815,
Lund 2003 (diss)

2. Swedish Pomerania:
part of the Swedish realm 1648-1815

3. Swedish Pomerania and Wismar 1648-1815(1903)

4. Swedish Pomerania: part of the Swedish realm after the
Westphalian peace treaty of 1648
Double political connection -
territory of the Old German
Empire, Swedish province
Ticket to continental power
politics
Caught in ongoing conflict
between corporative
representation (nobility and
towns) and territorial ruler
Continuous interpretation of
constitutional status and status
of supreme court (Tribunal in
Wismar)
Coat of Arms of the city Stralsund, uniting
Swedish and Pomeranian symbols

5. Mobility and migration
Economic and political relations
established family ties across the
Baltic Sea, and caused inter-marriages
as well as migration in all
societal layers for different reasons:
Nobility (landownership)
Merchants, Sea Captains, Ship
Brokers (sea trade)
Officers/soldiers (security)
Civil servants (state bureaucracy)
Academics/students (education)
Craftsmen (skilled labour)
Seasonal workers/peasants
Jakob Wallenius (1761-1817) (unskilled labour)
”I was placed in a centre of Swedish and German litterature”

6. Communications and travellers
Stockholm-
Greifswald (Wieck):
21 days on sea
Ystad-Stralsund:
≈ 24 hours
Stockholm-Ystad:
10 days on land

7. Reconstruction of Swedish Post yacht ”Hjorten”

8. Rules for conversion between
Low German and Swedish
Anders Celsius, 1732

9. Linguistic situation
Middle ages, early modern period: Latin and Low German
(August Strindberg: “Swedish is Low German in 12 dialects”).
German minorities in Sweden (Stockholm, Malmö, Göteborg)
Direct (military, economical, political) encounters after
1632/1648
1690s: first periodical, growing trend until 19th century
1690s: Swedish land survey (direct communication)
Swedish as command language in the Stralsund garrison
1700 Latin-Swedish-German dictionary
1703 Swedish-German travel guide and phrase book
More dictionary/grammar/phrase book projects: 1738, 1746,
1749, 1751, 1780-90s (several editions until 19th century)
=> Passive and active bilingualism is promoted (facilitated
technically, performed practically)

10. Two types of periodical press: (daily) newspaper, (educated) journal

11. Press culture and print market
Coverage of Swedish
topics in periodical press
Books published in
Pomerania/Germany in
Swedish or by Swedish
authors in German
translation
Pomerania emerged as a
hub/node in Swedish-
German cultural
communication
Example of bilingualism and
communication of science in
periodical press

12. Kongl. Svenska Vetenskapsakademiens Handlingar
transactions of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Quarterly publication, started in 1739
Translated with considerable delay (10 years) in Leipzig/Göttingen
(A.G. Kästner, F.H. Link)
Reviewed in Greifswald almost immediately after arrival from Sweden (J.C.
Dähnert, J.G.P. Möller, F. Rühs)

13. Language as an instrument
of scientific communication
Tension between
Vernacular application <=> Universal outreach
Example: the transactions of the Sw. Royal Academy of Sciences
appeared in Swedish
Inclusive: 1) dissemination 2) absorption of new knowledge
Exclusive: language competence delimits access to new knowledge
Þ Potential structural problem for Swedish sciences/sciences in minor
European languages
Þ Outreach can only be secured through translation
Privileged position: language competence and the need for translation /
gatekeepers of cultural transfer

14. Constitutive features of trans-cultural regions
1) Instant transfer. News, reviews, academic and other works were
transferred from one culture to the other, demanding fast and efficient
means of translation and creating an atmosphere of interrelation. The
efficiency of the transfer was also dependent upon physical organization
of transportation (e.g. postal services).
2) Contrastive reasoning. A permanent contrast was constructed between
the two cultures involved. Contrastive reasoning occurs in all kinds of
texts: juridical, political, economical, and poetic.
3) Coexistence as a motif. Because of the close relationship between
different cultures in trans-cultural regions, the organization of
coexistence was not only a political and economical task, but also
emerged as a relevant motif in textual sources (visual expressions and
performances) of various kinds.
4) Authors and readers with cross-cultural competence. Because of the
trans-cultural setting, authors and readers alike developed a multiple
cultural competence, which enabled them to both ‘write’ and ‘read’ the
trans-cultural connotations of texts.
=> These features promote, sustain and reinforce the development of
translation culture and cultural transfer

15. Carl Peter Thunberg (1743-1828):
German translation of Resa uti Europa, Africa, Asia (1788-1794)
Forthcoming article: ‘Thunberg’s ‘Travel’ in German: The
Protracted Birth of a Translation’
Translator: Christian Heinrich Groskurd (1747-1806) in
Stralsund
Printer/Publisher: Johann Carl Phillip Spener (1749-
1827) in Berlin
translation took shape in a triangular and trans-national
communication between author, translator, and publisher
Significant features:

16. Carl Peter Thunberg (1743-1828):
German translation of Resa uti Europa, Africa, Asia (1788-1794)
lasting legacy: translation of Thunberg influenced future
generations of researchers (filtered and altered version, re-translated)
translations are not produced in a cultural vacuum: the
particular cultural environment promoted outreach of Swedish
science (translation/translators and context)
production of a translations is placed within the framework of
a highly competitive and sophisticated book market
(translation as commodity)

17. Relevant publications
Thunberg’s Travels in German: the protracted birth of a translation, to be published 2014 or 2015
Un carrefour de traductions au XVIIIe siècle: la Poméranie suèdoise” [A Crossroad of Translations in
the Eighteenth Century: Swedish Pomerania], in Beaurepaire, Pierre-Yves (Ed.), La communication
en Europe. De l’age classique au siècle des Lumières, Paris: Belin, 2014, p. 129-136
Translating Discourses of Enlightenment – Trans-cultural Language Skills and Cross-references
between Swedish and German Educated Journals in the 18th century in: Cultural transfer through
translation: the circulation of Enlightened thought in Europe by means of translation (Ed. Stefanie
Stockhorst), Internationale Forschungen zur Allgemeinen und Vergleichenden Literaturwissenschaft
(IFAVL) vol. 131, Amsterdam/New York: Rodopi 2010, p. 209-229
Die Nutzbarmachung der Natur als Thema der schwedischen aufgeklärten Presse [The utility of nature
as a topic in Swedish Enlightenment press], in: Landschaften agrarisch-ökonomischen Wissens.
Strategien innovativer Ressourcennutzung in Zeitschriften und Sozietäten des 18. Jahrhunderts,
Marcus Popplow (Ed.) (= Cottbuser Studien zur Geschichte von Technik, Arbeit und Umwelt 30),
Münster/New York (Waxmann Verlag) 2010, p. 323-334
The Idea and the Text – a Note on transcultural Historical Text Analysis in Ohlson/Zilmer (Eds.):
Perspectives on Text and Context, Nordistica Tartuensia 8, Tartu 2003, p. 145-157

18. Thank you for your
attention!
Germania and Svea in harmony,
title page of dictionary 1750