Kreeka Pärisnimed Antiikkirjanduse Õpikutes Baltimaade Näitel
Greek proper names in ancient-literature textbooks on the example of Baltic countries

Summary/Abstract: In studying the history of translation, it is important to pay attention not only to the focal questions such as who translated, what was translated, or how it was translated, but also to some narrower issues, such as for example the rendering of puns, culture-specific items, terms, and proper names. Proper names are often more than just simple carriers of orthographic norms: they can also be signs of an era, expressing the dominant tendencies in culture and/or ideology. The purpose of this paper is to compare the history of rendering Greek proper names in three countries with a similar fate – Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. In order to limit down the vast material, literature textbooks were chosen as the object of research, as these are professional and well thought out works having a considerable role in popularizing the name forms. The study reveals that the history of orthography of ancient proper names in the three Baltic states reveals similar evolutionary patterns: (1) a period of diversity and lack of system; (2) the beginning of establishing the norms; (3) the Soviet period, when republican standards were questioned; 4) the period of regained independence, when the standards of rendering ancient proper names are again revised. The standardization is not yet complete in any of the three Baltic states; even if the general standards have been formulated, there is still a number of issues which are yet to be solved, such as for example Greek names in the Latin context, the titles of ancient works, place names, and dilemmas between accuracy and tradition.

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