The translation of the myths of the Cashinahua people in Theodor Koch-Grünberg´s Indianermärchen aus Südamerik

Abstract

In addition to his ethnological and linguistic studies regarding indigenous cultures of the Amazon region the German naturalist Theodor Koch-Grünberg had an interest in indigenous myths and a clear idea of how to document and translate such narratives that are traditionally passed on orally. In this respect the interlinear translation, presented by the Brazilian historian João Capistrano de Abreu, of texts from the Panoan language Cashinahua, still spoken in the Brazilian-Peruvian border region, served him as a model. Capistrano´s text collection Rã-txa huni ku-ĩ was published in Brazil in 1914. As soon as 1920 followed Koch-Grünberg´s publication of Indianermärchen aus Südamerika. As many as 13 of the 117 narratives that Koch-Grünberg had translated into German were taken from Capistrano´s book. By presenting examples from the text this article aims at discussing Koch-Grünberg´s translation from Cashinahua into German. His work was based on Capistrano´s collection of original texts, transcribed and translated in a word-by-word fashion into Portuguese, together with a glossary and a grammar sketch also contained in the book. Koch-Grünberg´s own work clearly shows that the translation process is multiple: from an orally presented narrative discourse with performative elements into written language, from a South-American indigenous into a typologically distinct European language and from a completely unknown culture into one that is comprehensible for a Brazilian as well as for a German reader.