VEKSKD S1WK 



VKHSION. 



fur that which ii nearest to coincidence should b* scrutinised In 

 order to estimate the decimal or (motion which is wanted fur perfect 

 ooimidence. A more pel-foot letting will generally be obtaiued by 

 making the divisions before and affair the coincident division equally 

 discordant, than by attempting to get a porfect coincidence. The 

 plain mi tbuuld be careful to view the divisions directly, and in tlie 

 otntie of the magnifier, or he will have an error vising from parallax 

 which may be considerable. 



The truth of a vernier in oar respect, that of its embracing proper 

 portion of the limb, may be tried in different purts of the limb. If the 

 circle be very excentnc this may give a little tronlle at first, and be 

 confounded with tod division. In ordinary cases, however, if there 

 are opposite vrrniero, and their extreme division.* sometimes overlap 

 and sometime* fall short of the corresponding portion of the limb, the 

 mean will be true although the eccentricity is sensible. The number 

 of verniers may be either two, three, or four, at equal distances. Two 

 are absolutely neoessary to get rid of eccentricity, and three or four 

 will also nullify any error, original or superinduced, which given the 

 circle an elliptic fmm But it is not easy in all oases to apply these 

 readings conveniently, and the fatigue of many readings U scarcely 

 recompensed by a little superior accuracy, at least in well-made and 

 well-divided instruments which are carefully handled. 



VEKSE1J SINE. [TmaosoHFTRT.] 



;SluN The word version, or translation, is used to express the 

 transferring of some written composition from one language into 

 another. Like many other terms, translation cannot be briefly defined : 

 the notion of translation must be attained by a consideration of all 

 the conditions of translation ; and the right understanding of its 

 nature involves a part of the general theory of language. 



If two languages corresponded perfectly ; if every term in the one 

 language had ita equivalent in the other ; and if the forms of speech 

 in the two languages were also perfect equivalents, the difficulty of 

 translation would not be great. It would only be necessary to dis- 

 cover the equivalent terms and the equivalent forms of speech in the 

 two languages, and translation would be effected by mere substitution. 

 In this supposed case, as the terms and the forms of expression 

 would be |rfectly equivalent, a person who should read the trans- 

 lation would understand it exactly aa a person would understand the 

 original ; for the supposition of the two language* being perfect 

 equivalents involves the supposition of the objects of thought and 

 the mode in which their relations to one another are viewed being the 

 same for the people who use the two languages. Now no two lan- 

 guage* have this perfect equivalence of terms and forma of speech, 

 and therefore a perfect translation cannot be made 



The general distribution of words into notional and relational words 

 is explained in the article NOTION. In no two languages are all the 

 notional words perfectly equivalent. Such words as express many of 

 the ordinary objects of sense, as sun, moon, man, woman, are perfect 

 equivalents; but all the words which express objects of sense in one 

 language have not their equivalents in another. Various nations have 

 various articles of dress, various utensils, implements, and ornaments 

 which are peculiar to them, and consequently have not their equiva- 

 lents in another language. If such terms are rendered by some other 

 term in the language iuto which the translation is made, the translation 

 will not convey the exact notion of the original, though it may come 

 near enough lor many purpose*. In some cases the difference is 

 Immaterial, as may be shown by instances ; in others the difference is 

 material. The Latin words " domus " and " navis " may be resp 

 rendered by the English " house " and " ship," though Roman houses 

 and ships differ considerably from English houses and ships, llut if 

 the word " domns " is merely used to signify the general notion of a 

 dwelling for man, aa for example, when one wishes to say that a " man 

 was killed in a bouse and not in the street," the precise difference 

 between Roman houses and English is immaterial, for house in such 

 ease is used in its most general sense. But if in the original Latin passage 

 anything turned on the difference between doinus " and " villa " as 

 opposed to one another, then, unless the English language possessed 

 two words which should stand in the same opposition to one another 

 a* ' dumu* " and " villa," a translation could not be made simply by 

 equivalent terms : it must be effected in some other way. Material 

 Objects then, for which there may be equivalent* in two languages 

 when the object is used in it* most general sense, may not have equi- 

 valent* in the two languages when u*ed in this special sense. Thus 

 the Latin word* " patera," " uma," " lanx," are word* which express 

 the general notion of a thing that is iiMid to contain other things ; but 

 as they are also u*ed to indicate a particular kind of containing vessel, 

 there oan be no translation of mch term* unless we have both the 

 things and the name for them. It appear* then that, even in the ease 

 of such ordinary things aa domestic mentals, a translator will often be 

 at a lo*s to find a word equivalent to the original word ; and he must 

 either find a word which ooiue* the nearest to it, or he must adopt the 

 original word. In the one e*e he will not convey an exact noli n to 

 the reader, and he may convey a very erroneous notion ; in the other he 

 will convry none at all, unless the reader happen* to know the thin 4 

 intended by the term in the original language. The context may often 

 help to the right understanding of a term, but that is not the matter 

 at uiustnt under consideration. 



Xh tetm* which d*Mt* th* political and religious institutions cr 



usage* of a country often present (till greater difficulty. The Roman 

 term* "^Kdilis," " Consul," " Comitia," ' Tribus." " Judex," " 1'ontifsx," 

 "Augur," cannot be rendered into our language by any equivalent 

 terms In the** and many similar instance* it ha* become usual to 

 adopt the original term, with the termination sometimes slightly 

 '. and the reader of such translation* is supposed either to know 

 what these terms mean, or to have books which will explain tljem. 

 This is in fact the only practicable mode of translating Mich terms, 

 and such translation is not liable to more objection than a K>, k in 

 one's own language which contain* numerous technical term*, tin- 

 explanation of which is not given in the book, mid cannot be got 

 from the context, but must be sought for in a dictionary or work of 

 reference. 



If the original languag* ha* been more cultivated than the language 

 into which the translation is made, the tianslator will find that he is 

 ill provided with terms equivalent to those of the original. Foreign 

 works on jurisprudence or philosophy, when tianslated into English, 

 present this difficulty, which can only be overcome by adopting the 

 technical terms of the original language. If the translator Here to 

 attempt to make names which should correspond to the ori 

 he would not be so likely to succeed in gutting them adopted as by 

 transferring the original terms into his translation. 



That part of translation then which consists simply in finding 

 equivalent notional terms is limited. It depends on the character of 

 the two languages, the original and that of the translation, how far 

 equivalent teriiiS can be found. In all matters which <li:n 

 the usage* of a people, it is impossible to find equivalents in two lan- 

 guages, for by the term character is here meant something which each 

 baa and the other has not. As to all terms which are the expression 

 of universal notions, isuch as are in a great degree independent of the 

 character of a people, those languages which have been cultivated to an 

 equal degree do possess terms which are sufficiently equivalent. But 

 even here there is often a very great difficulty in ascertaining the 

 equivalent terms, as any one may satisfy himself by attempting to 

 translate into English such a work as Cicero's treatise on the Orator, or 

 tame parts of Tacitus. 



IVrhaps it is often easier to translate from one language into 

 another when the two language* have no historical connection, than 

 when they are related as original and derived languages, or as language." 

 which have interchanged terms, or where the exchange has been all on 

 one side ; for it often happens that words which are transferred from 

 one language into another retain nearly the original form, and yet have 

 either been adopted in a different sense from the original sense, or have 

 in course of time acquired such different meaning. It would be easy 

 to find numerous examples of such change of meaning in words that 

 have been introduced into the English either directly from the Latin 

 or through the medium of other languages. 



The union of notional words into connected speech or language is 

 effected by the words of relation, which are either appendages added to 

 words, or separate small word:, or both ; and it is also effected by the 

 order of the words. Now the words of relation and the order of words 

 differ considerably in most languages, and hence arises a great difficulty 

 in translation ; for language consist* not of single words, no more than 

 a ship consists of trees : in the case of language and a ship, words and 

 timber are materials, but materials without form have no significance. 

 Yet in everything the nature of the material is an element in the 

 capacity for receiving form ; and in language the possession or absence 

 of case-endings, and of suffixes which show the modifications of words, 

 called mode and tense, materially influences the capacity of the lan- 

 guage for expressing a given idea with perspicuity, brevity, and force : 

 it also materially affect* the possible order of the words. Those lan- 

 guages which possess case-endings and verbal terminations in abundance 

 can vary the order of the words in a great number of ways, so as to 

 place particular words in those positions where they shall be most 

 :!o-tive. A language like the English, which, in its present form, has 

 few suffixes, is much more limited in this power than the Uerniou, the 

 Greek, and the Latin. Languages also differ greatly in the number of 

 small words (relational words) which are adapted to express the relation 

 ol notional terms to one another. .Some of the more delicate colours 

 which are thus expressed in one language are absolutely incapable of 

 being expressed in another by any corresponding relational words, 

 and sometimes they cannot be expressed by any combination of 



V..IIU-. 



It will now not be difficult to ascertain in a general way what can be 

 effected in a translation, and what ought to be attempted, t-oine 

 people have had a novion that a translation should be literal, or near to 

 the original, by which it is meant that every word of the original 

 .-ln.iild have its equivalent in the translation, or nearly HO. There is 

 no objection to this, so far as it can be done consistently with the 

 proper idioms of the translators language; yet such a translation is 

 not commendable because it is literal, but because it is true. 'I'hf 

 I'lf 'in of the translation nni-t nut be corrupted by an nml at ion of the 

 idiom of the original. If what is called a literal version is a sufficient 

 version of the meaning, and if it is also expressed in a true idiom, tl.c 

 translation is good; but its literal character is a mere accident. It 

 will depend both on the character of the two Ungu i,-ei .rid on tin- 

 character of the original work how fur the version shall in in form 

 correspond to the original. Simple narrative u generally easily run- 



