Translation of Antonio de Guevara’s Libro áureo into Armenian: Accuracy, translation strategy and the rendering of narrative artistry

Abstract

This article examines Armenian translation of Antonio de Guevara’s Libro áureo de Marco Aurelio, produced by the Armenian merchant Gabriel Hamazaspyan and published in Venice in 1738. The study offers a detailed comparative analysis of the Spanish original and the Armenian translation with the aim of assessing the degree of textual accuracy, identifying the translator’s dominant strategies, and determining whether the translation involves narrative reinterpretation or artistic reworking. Particular attention is paid to syntactic calquing, the preservation of rhetorical and epistolary structures, and the use of morphological and lexical innovations characteristic of Latinized Grabar. The analysis demonstrates that Hamazaspean consistently prioritizes functional equivalence and formal correspondence, reproducing the syntactic complexity and rhetorical cadence of the source text with remarkable precision. Cultural adaptation is limited and primarily pragmatic, serving didactic clarity rather than ideological transformation. No evidence of independent narrative invention or creative rewriting is observed. The article situates the translation within the broader intellectual context of the Armenian Enlightenment and the activities of Armenian merchant communities, which played a crucial role in the transmission of European moral and philosophical literature. By integrating a key work of Spanish Renaissance humanism into the Armenian literary tradition, Hamazaspean’s translation contributed to the formation of secular prose and the expansion of moral-didactic discourse in eighteenth-century Armenian culture. The study thus highlights the translation as both a philologically rigorous undertaking and a significant act of cultural mediation between early modern European and Armenian intellectual traditions.