De Saracenico in Latinum transferri: causes and effects of translation in the fiscal administration of Norman Sicily

Metcalfe, Alex (2001) De Saracenico in Latinum transferri: causes and effects of translation in the fiscal administration of Norman Sicily. Al-Masaq: Journal of the Medieval Mediterranean, 13. pp. 43-86. ISSN 0950-3110

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Abstract

This article discusses the relationship between the description of boundaries in western Sicily, which were originally copied in Arabic by a scribe of the royal administration in the C12th, and the 'official' Latin translation of them made around the same time. Close analysis of the texts reveals the process of toponymic deformation as many of the place names were translated, not transliterated from the Arabic into the Latin.