The designation of collective political entities in Samuel von Pufendorf's 11th chapter on Russia at that time
Abstract
In this lecture, I deal with the means of designating settlements, states, and peoples in the Russia chapter of Samuel von Pufendorf's (*1632-+1694) treatise on European history: Einleitung zu der Hiſtorie der Vornehmsten Reiche und Staaten, ſo itziger Zeit in Europa ſich befinden (21683), as well as in two translations of his work, one in Latin (Introductio ad hiſtoriam Europaeam, transl. by Johann Friedrich Cramer, [4th,] improv. and expand. ed., Frankfurt a. M. 1704) and, based on it, one in Russian (Vvedenie v gistoriju evropeiskuju, transl. by Gavriil Fëdorovič Bužinskij, Saint Petersburg 11718).
With regard to the onomastic material, I pursue the question of to what extent the translator of the Russian edition remained faithful to the source texts or departed from them by use of deviating denominative items. Thus, it is shown several times that the translation of place names and other nomina propria of political significance is not always straightforward and may be subject to meaningful decisions on the part of the translator.