The leper’s image through the translation of his names in the biblical literature of the early medieval Germanic area

Abstract

That the leper was a well-known figure during the Middle Ages is shown by many literary texts from the 10th century on, as well as many academic studies published afterwards on this topic. However, the terminology used for people suffering from lepra in translations of the New Testament into old Germanic languages before the 10th century is a less studied field. In this article, the terms for «leper» are analysed in the source languages (Greek and Latin) as well as in the target languages (Gothic, Old English and Old High German) to ascertain whether similar terms are used in the target languages, or whether the same term in the source language is always translated with the same term in the target language. In addition to morphological analysis of the terms used in the target languages, since there is presumably no proper noun for «leper», this study aims to identify the image of the leper provided by each term by focusing on the aspects that these terms highlight, such as those concerning a physical-medical scope compared to other ones focusing on social aspects or the physical aspect, such as clothing. As for the conclusions of the study, it is worth noting the lack of terminological homogeneity in the target languages, as well as the wide diversity in semantic origin and content of the terms for «leper» in these very languages. This seems to indicate the existence of remarkable differences regarding the view of the people suffering from this disease, which is conveyed by the different terms.