PERSPECTIVA ESPECIALIZADA PARA TRADUÇÃO DO LATIM BOTÂNICO EM UM EXCERTO DA FLORA BRASILIENSIS

Abstract

The Botanical Latin is a linguistic variety, mainly technical and written, developed by Carl Linnaeus during the 18th century. Among the successive taxonomic contributions in the field of Botany, Flora brasiliensis (1840-1906) produces a wide review and update of several families, being a fundamental work for Brazilian science. It is also important for its elements of the Latin Language and, more especially, as a major contribution to the written expression of Botanical Latin. As a specialized literature, not only linguistic-grammatical accuracy is required, but also morphological-taxonomic accuracy, which requires mastery of concepts and entries adopted at the time, as well as knowledge of the structural specificities of composition of this type of text. Thus, the article aims at a specialized perspective of the translation of Botanical Latin into Portuguese. For this purpose, it was selected a taxonomic text of a red passionflower from Flora brasiliensis, namely, Passiflora vitifolia Kunth. During the translation of the excerpt, it was made a discussion about the linguistic, structural, and terminological characteristics of Botanical Latin, as well as the essential morphological perspectives for a better translation of the plant genus. Therefore, this article illustrates the relevance of taxonomic texts, due to the standards and terminological richness that reconcile scientific rigor and the translation process, as well as brings considerations to the scientific community about the importance of knowledge of the Latin language for scholars in the field of botanical taxonomy.