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1603),whotranslatedBaldassarreCastiglione’sIlCortegiano.Inhisversion,
Dworzaninpolski(ThePolishCourtier,1566),Górnickireplacedthecourtof
anItalianprince,whichisthesettingoftheoriginalstory,withthecourtofa
Polishbishop,andinsteadofItaliannoblemenandnoblewomenheintroduced
localcharacters.Intheintroductiontohisversion,Górnickiasks:‘Whyisitthat
IdifferfromgrofBalcerKastilion?’Inanswertothisquestion,hedetailshis
reasonsforchangingsuchelementsoftheoriginalculturalsettingashejudged
alien,offensiveordifficulttounderstandforaPolishreader.Thisexplanation
earnedhimthepositionofthefoundingfatherofwhatcametobeknownasthe
‘methodofPolonizedadaptation’,andhispleafortheuseoffreeparaphrase
wastobecometheguidingprincipleforPolishtranslatorsoverthenexttwo
centuries(Ziomek1973).Indeed,itwasfullyacknowledgedintheGoldenAge
ofthePolishRenaissance.SeveralworksbyMikolajRej(1505–69),knownas
the‘fatherofPolishliterature’,drawheavilyonforeignsources,amongthem
Paligenius,aLutheranauthorbythenameofThomasNaogeorg,andtheDutch
HumanistandwriterCorneliusCrocus.Thesameprincipleisadoptedinthe
workofthegreatestpoetofthePolishRenaissance,JanKochanowski(1530–
84).EducatedattheUniversityofPadua,welltravelled,andfullyconversant
withLatinandGreek,Kochanowskiborrowedfreelyfromvariousforeign
sources.HisfamousPieśni(Songs,publishedin1586)consistsmostlyof
adaptationsofHorace.Hisgreatestachievementinthefieldoftranslationis
PsałterzDawidów(David’sPsalter,1579).Thisisapoeticadaptationofthe
PsalmsofDavid,butbasedonvarioussourcetexts:apartfromtheVulgate,
KochanowskiusedtheHebreworiginaland,asasourceofinspiration,Latin
poemsbytheScottishhumanistGeorgeBuchanan.
Thefirsttranslationsofdramaappearedaroundtheendofthesixteenthcentury.
GórnickiproducedanadaptationofSeneca’sTroasin1589,in1592an
adaptationofPlautus’sTrinumuswasshownatthecourtofaPolishnobleman,
andin1616JanAndrzejMorsztyn(1621–92)publishedhistranslationof
Corneille’sLeCid.Asfaraspoetryisconcerned,freeversewasfirst
introducedintoPolishin1699byKrzysztofNiemirycz,aminorpoet,ina
translationofLaFontaine’sFables.
TheworksofPolishauthorswhowroteinLatinwerefrequentlytranslatedinto
vernacularlanguagesduringthisperiod,thoughsomewerenottranslatedinto
Polishuntilthetwentiethcentury.ManytextsbyPolishauthorswereprinted
outsidePoland,eitherintheoriginalLatinorintranslation.Awellknown
exampleisDeoptimosenatore,apoliticaltreatisebyWawrzyniecGoślicki
whichwaspublishedinVenicein1568;itwaslatertranslatedinextensointo
EnglishanddedicatedtoSirRobertWalpolein1773asoneofthebestbooks
ofitskind.
TheBible
RenaissancetranslationsoftheBibledeserveaseparatechapterinthehistoryof
translationinPoland.MoretranslationsoftheScriptureswereproducedinthis
periodthaninanyother,andthisflurryofactivitycoincidedwiththedeveloping
roleoftranslationasapowerfultoolforpromotingthePolishlanguage.
TheearliestBibletranslation,printedinPragueandVilnius(1517–25),wasan
oldBelorussianversionproducedbyFranciszekSkoryna,amedicaldoctorat
theUniversityofKraków.FiercelyattackedbybothOrthodoxandProtestant
churchesonaccountofhistranslation,Skorynahadtoappealtothekingfor
protection.Histranslationmarksthebeginningofalongdebateonhowthe
Bibleshouldbetranslated.Atthattime,thedebaterevolvedaroundtwomain
issues.Thefirstwasdirectlyconnectedwiththedevelopment,briefasitwas,of
thePolishReformation.MakingtheBibleavailableinthevernacularwasseen
asadirectcontributiontodisseminatingtheideasoftheReformation,andwas
thereforevehementlyopposedbydefendantsoftheCatholicChurch.The
secondissueconcernedanargumentwhichisofcentralimportanceinmost
translationtheories,namelytheoppositionbetweenwordandsense,the
supremacyoftheliteralovertheliterary,orviceversa.AsinotherChristian
countries,earlytranslatorsoftheBibleadheredtotheformerstrategy,oftenat
thecostofreadability.
AtleastsixcompletetranslationsoftheBibleweremadeatthetime:the
CatholicversionbyJanLeopolita(1561),theCalvinistBible(1563),