Book-bot.com - Literary Blunders by Wheatley, Henry Benjamin, 1838-1917

Literary Blunders by Henry Benjamin Wheatley
page 58 of 211 (27%)

was condemned on Feb. 14th, 1543, for
translating a passage in Plato's Dialogues
as ``After death you will be nothing _at
all_.'' Surely he who translated _Dieu dfend
l'adultre_ as _God defends adultery_ more
justly deserved punishment! Guthrie,
the geographical writer, who translated
a French book of travels, unfortunately
mistook _neuvime_ (ninth) for _neuvelle_ or

_neuve_, and therefore made an allusion to
the twenty-sixth day of the new moon.

Moore quotes in his _Diary_ (Dec.
30th, 1818) a most amusing blunder of
a translator who knew nothing of the
technical name for a breakwater. He
translated the line in Goldsmith's _Deserted
Village_,

``As ocean sweeps the labour'd mole away,

into

``Comme la mer dtruit les travaux de la taupe.''

D'Israeli records two comical translations
from English into French. ``Ainsi
douleur, va-t'en ``for _woe begone_ is almost
too good; and the man who mistook the