The transfer of names in various translations of brothers Grimm’s Rumpelstilzchen

Abstract

Various scholars point out the transfer of proper nouns as a difficulty. This paper examines the transfer of names in twenty‑one translations of the Grimm Brothers’ fairy tale originally titled Rumpelstilzchen. The article analyses English,Brazilian Portuguese, Polish, Turkish, and Japanese editions of this originally German story. The analysis focuses on the true name of a title dwarf and other names provided by the Queen. The article includes five analyses describing the onomastic aspects of the translation and the applied translation strategies. The analysis suggests that the translators’ approach toward the matter of transfer of names varied throughout the years and editions. The dominant strategies were replacement and transcription, and vary the most in case of common names (Cunz and Heinz).