Edited by Bettelou Los, Chris Cummins, Lisa Gotthard, Alpo Honkapohja and Benjamin Molineaux
[Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 359] 2022
► pp. 57–74
This chapter focuses on Old English causal connector forþæm / forþon / forþy “because, therefore” in the Alfredian translation of Boethius’s treatise De Consolatione Philosophiae. This polyfunctional causal connector plays a crucial role in the OE adaptation of the treatise, which is relatively distant from its Latin source. Clauses with forþæm / forþon / forþy correspond to various Latin structures (e.g., causal, conditional, concessive, temporal, relative, and purpose clauses, or ablative absolute) and support discourse coherence in the OE text. The study explores the mechanisms behind the emergence of structures with explicit causality in a translated text, from a translation studies perspective, and addresses the problem of correlation of CCC-relations in the two texts.