MIĘDZY PRAWEM, LITERATURĄ A PRZEKŁADEM. KILKA UWAG NA TEMAT PRZEKŁADU WALIJSKIEGO ŚREDNIOWIECZNEGO PRAWA NA PRZYKŁADZIE KOLEKCJI ‘MABINOGION’

Katarzyna Jaworska

doi:10.21697/zp.2025.25.4.02

Published: 2025-12-29

Vol. 25 No. 4

Between the law, literature and translation. Some remarks about medieval Welsh law in English translations of Mabinogion

Katarzyna Jaworska

Zeszyty Prawnicze

Section: Artykuły

https://doi.org/10.21697/zp.2025.25.4.02

Abstract

The paper discusses approaches to translating Welsh law as reﬂected in the Mabinogion, a collection of prose tales of oral origin written down in the medieval period. The author elaborates on the major problems of rendering selected Welsh legal concepts into English. The corpus that is analysed includes the original Welsh collection and English translations. As the research demonstrates English authors used various techniques to reﬂect the terminology of Welsh law. The oldest versions favour archaisation and domestication whilst the ones produced in the second half of the twentieth century attempt to retain the foreign culture (most by footnotes and endnotes).

Keywords:

Welsh law, translation, English, the Mabinogion

Download files

PDF (Język Polski)

Citation rules

Jaworska, K. (2025). Between the law, literature and translation. Some remarks about medieval Welsh law in English translations of Mabinogion. Zeszyty Prawnicze, 25(4), 29–49. https://doi.org/10.21697/zp.2025.25.4.02

Cited by / Share

References

Adams J.E., Victorian sexualities, [w:} A new companion to Victorian literature and culture, red. H.F. Tucker, 2014.
Google Scholar

Asmus S., Welsh medieval erotic poetry, https://uni-leipzig.academia.edu/SabineAsmus [dostęp 1 grudnia 2025 r.].
Google Scholar

Routledge encyclopedia of translation studies, red. M. Baker, G. Saldanha, London-New York 1998.
Google Scholar

Boyd M., Why the “Mabinogi” has branches, «Proceedings of the Harvard Celtic Colloquium» 30/2010, s. 22-38.
Google Scholar

Bromwich R., The Mabinogion and Lady Charlotte Guest, [w:] The Mabinogi. A book of essays, red. C.W. Sullivan, New York-London 1996, s. 3-18.
Google Scholar

Bromwich R., Evans S., Culhwch and Olwen. An edition and study of the oldest Arthurian tale, Cardiﬀ 1992.
Google Scholar

Cartwright J., Virginity and chastity tests in medieval Welsh prose, [w:] Medieval virginities, red. A. Bernau, R. Evans, S. Salih, Toronto 2003, s. 56-79.
Google Scholar

Cichon M., Eros and error. Gross sexual transgression in the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogi, [w:] The erotic in the literature of medieval Britain, red. A. Hopkins, C.J. Rushton, Woodbridge 2007, s. 105-115.
Google Scholar

Classen A., The Four Branches of the Mabinogi by Matthieu Boyd, «Medievistik» 31/2018, s. 401-402.
Google Scholar

Digby A., Victorian values and women in public and private, «Proceedings of the British Academy» 78/1992, s. 195-215.
Google Scholar

Ellis T.P., Legal references, terms and conceptions in the “Mabinogion”, «Y Cymmrodor» 39/1928.
Google Scholar

Ellis T.P., Welsh tribal law and custom in the middle ages, Oxford 1926.
Google Scholar

Fenn V., Sex and sexuality in Victorian Britain, Philadelphia 2020.
Google Scholar

Freeman P., The Four Branches of the Mabinogi by Boyd, «The Journal of English and Germanic Philology» 118.4/2019, s. 586-587.
Google Scholar

Fowle F., The Celtic revival in Britain and Ireland: Reconstructing the past,
Google Scholar

[w:} Celts: art and identity, red. J. Farley, F. Hunter, London 2015, s. 234-259.
Google Scholar

The Four Branches of the Mabinogi, przeł. M. Boyd, Peterborough-Ontario 2017.
Google Scholar

Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru. A Dictionary of the Welsh language, https://geiriadur.ac.uk/gpc/gpc.html.
Google Scholar

Gruffydd W.J., The Mabinogion by T.P. Ellis and John Lloyd, «The Review of English Studies» 6.22/1930, s. 205-206.
Google Scholar

Jaworska-Biskup K., Translating or mistranslating Celtic law in the Polish versions of the Four Branches of the Mabinogi, [w:] New perspectives of Celtic studies, red. A. Bednarski, P.T. Czerniak, M. Czerniakowski, Newcastle upon Tyne 2015, s. 31-47.
Google Scholar

Jaworska-Biskup K., Rozwój prawa średniowiecznej Walii do 1284 roku: perspektywa historyczna, «Krakowskie Studia z Historii Państwa i Prawa» 11.2/2018, s. 197-216.
Google Scholar

Jaworska-Biskup K., Selected medieval literature from Wales, Scotland and England reﬂecting changes in Welsh and Scottish law, Szczecin 2018.
Google Scholar

Jaworska-Biskup K., Some remarks on the periodisation of Welsh medieval law, [w:] Redefning the fringes in Celtic studies: essays in literature and culture, red. A. Bednarski, R. Looby, Berlin-Bern 2019, s. 51-65.
Google Scholar

Jaworska-Biskup K., Prawo średniowiecznej Walii Cyfraith Hywel: prolegomena do glosariusza walijsko-polskiej terminologii prawnej, «Roczniki Humanistyczne» 69.6/2021, s. 55-85.
Google Scholar

Jaworska-Biskup K., Obraz dziecka i dzieciństwa w średniowiecznej literaturze walijskiej, «Filoteknos» 12/2022, s. 301-318.
Google Scholar

Jaworska-Biskup K., Dzieciobójstwo w balladach na podstawie wybranych utworów szkockich i polskich. Studium prawno-literackie, «Krakowskie Studia z Historii Państwa i Prawa» 18.1/2025, s. 1-20.
Google Scholar

Jenkins D., The law of Hywel Dda. Law texts from medieval Wales, Llandysul 1990.
Google Scholar

JONES R.W., Putting Wales first: The political thought of Plaid Cymru, Cardiﬀ 2024.
Google Scholar

Domestication and foreignization in translation studies, red. H. Kemppanen, M. Janis, A. Belikova, Berlin 2012.
Google Scholar

Klaudy K., Linguistic and cultural assymetry in translation from and into minor languages, [w:] Domestication and foreignization in translation studies, red. H. Kemppanen, M. Janis, A. Belikova, Berlin 2012, s. 33-48.
Google Scholar

Lloyd D.J., The Mabinogion by Gwynn Jones and Tomas Jones, «CEA Critic» 12.9/1950, s. 3.
Google Scholar

The Mabinogion, przeł. T.P. Ellis, J. Lloyd, Oxford 1929.
Google Scholar

The Mabinogion, przeł. J. Gantz, New York 1976.
Google Scholar

The Mabinogion, przeł. Lady Charlotte Guest, Mineola, New York: Dover 1997.
Google Scholar

The Mabinogion, przeł. S. Davies, Oxford 2007.
Google Scholar

Owens V., Lady Charlotte Guest. The exceptional life of a female industrialist, Haverton 2020.
Google Scholar

Parry J.J., The Mabinogion by T.P. Ellis and John Lloyd, «Speculum» 6.1/1930, s. 139-142.
Google Scholar

Pittman J., Christian inﬂuences on The Mabinogi, «The Oswald Review: An International Journal of Undergraduate Research and Criticism in the Discipline of English» 1.4/2012, s. 1-25.
Google Scholar

Sheehan S., Matrilineal subjects: Ambiguity, bodies, and metamorphosis in the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogi, «Journal of Women in Culture and Society» 34.2/2009, s. 319-342.
Google Scholar

Smith J.N., The Mabinogion by Davies, «Marvels & Tales» 33.2/2019, s. 341-343.
Google Scholar

Stacey R.C., Law and the imagination in medieval Wales, Philadelphia 2018.
Google Scholar

Tymoczko M., The metonymics of translating marginalized texts, «Comparative Literature» 47.1/1995, s. 11-24.
Google Scholar

Wallace A., The presence of Rome in early modern Britain. Texts, artefacts and beliefs, Cambridge 2020.
Google Scholar

White D.R., The crimes of Lady Charlotte Guest, «Proceedings of the Harvard Celtic Colloquium» 15/1995, s. 242-249.
Google Scholar

White D.R., The further crimes of Lady Charlotte Guest, «Proceedings of the Harvard Celtic Colloquium» 16-17/1997, s. 157-166.
Google Scholar

Williams D., Constructing Modern Welsh Womanhood The Blue Books’ Impact on the Portrayal of Women in Anglophone Welsh Literature 1847-1907, Thesis submitted for the award of PhD in English Literature. Bangor University 2022.
Google Scholar

Wojciechowska S., Patriarchy and the (late)Victorian Middle-Class Family Reconsidered, «Horyzonty Wychowania» 18(47)/2019, s. 69-78
Google Scholar