Da Trappola a Falle, da Falle a Farfalle. Metamorfosi onomastiche nelle traduzioni tedesche di Geronimo Stilton

Abstract

This study examines proper names in the popular Italian children’s book series Geronimo Stilton focusing on their translation into German. Comparing the series invented by Elisabetta Dami with its main German translations published respectively by Omnibus and Rowohlt Verlag, this paper points out how proper names are radically revisited and recreated in the target texts, where each character has different names. This study aims to show how such an onomastic dissimilarity should be seen in the light not only of ever-shifting translation methods and techniques in the way of adapting names to the target culture, but also to the different editorial approaches imposed by editors and their different ways of meeting reader’s expectations.