Metaphrase is a term referring to
literal translation, i.e., "word by word and line by line"
translation. In everyday usage, metaphrase means
literalism; however, metaphrase is also the translation of poetry into prose.
[Andrew Dousa Hepburn, ]
Manual of English Rhetoric
', BiblioBazaar, LLC, 2008, , p.18 Unlike "
paraphrase
A paraphrase () or rephrase is the rendering of the same text in different words without losing the meaning of the text itself. More often than not, a paraphrased text can convey its meaning better than the original words. In other words, it is a ...
," which has an ordinary use in literature theory, the term "metaphrase" is only used in
translation theory.
[Baker, Malmkjær, p. 154]
Metaphrase is one of the three ways of transferring, along with
paraphrase
A paraphrase () or rephrase is the rendering of the same text in different words without losing the meaning of the text itself. More often than not, a paraphrased text can convey its meaning better than the original words. In other words, it is a ...
and imitation,
[Baker, Malmkjær, p. 153] according to
John Dryden. Dryden considers paraphrase preferable to metaphrase (as literal translation) and imitation.
The term ''metaphrase'' was first used by
Philo Judaeus (20 BCE) in ''De vita Mosis''.
[ Quintilian draws a distinction between metaphrase and paraphrase in the pedagogical practice of imitation and reworking of classical texts; he points out that metaphrase changes a word, and paraphrase, a phrase: a distinction that is also followed by Renaissance scholars.][
]
References
Sources
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Translation studies
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