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Abstract:

The article examines the Russian and Swedish translations of the chapter “The King of Sweden. Neighbors” from the work “Universal Relations” (1591–1596) by the Italian writer Giovanni Botero. This chapter contains information about Russo-Swedish military conflicts and underwent similar and highly indicative transformations in both versions. The Russian translation of Botero’s book was made from Polish, while the Swedish translation of this chapter is part of the historical and ethnographic work “Specula, or the Watchtower of the Swedish State” by the Swedish historian Johannes Messenius and was translated from Latin. In Russian manuscripts of the 17^th and 18^th centuries, there are deviations from the Italian original that are mostly explainable and sometimes even curious: for instance, ships are referred to as cannons, and the Hypanis River is associated with Spain. Both the Russian and Swedish translations of the chapter “The King of Sweden. Neighbors” omit the ending — Botero’s extensive reflections on the benefits of border fortresses, illustrated with examples from world history. It can be assumed that, unlike the Polish and Latin versions, the Russian and Swedish translators shared a similar perception of the completeness of the description of Swedish-Muscovite military relations and chose not to go beyond the scope of the topic stated in the translated fragment’s title.