Translating into Scots

Abstract

This article gives a brief survey of the history of literary translation into Scots, a language variety closely related to but distinct from English. The survey begins with the development of Scots into a literary medium in the late Middle Ages. Gavin Douglas's 16th Century Scots version of the Aeneid was for many years the only version of the full text available to readers of English or Scots, and its reputation remains undimmed today. However, translation into Scots did not fade away as Scotland was drawn into political union with England. Rather, translation into Scots survived as a means of asserting a distinctive national identity, first of all within the framework of the British union, and later in opposition to it. For example, in the 18th Century, the many Scots translations of Horace construct Scotland as a non-metropolitan, classical idyll, and some 20th Century translations seek alternative cultural alliances, not with post-imperial England, but with revolutionary Russia, and latterly with post-colonial cultures. The survey demonstrates clearly that translation into Scots has always been a visible, political act, which is closely tied to changing constructions of Scottish identity.