The name translated and betrayed: Faint onimic games in the early Italian adaptations of the "Malade Imaginaire"

Abstract

This contribution aims to examine the translations of Molière’s play Le Malade imaginaire in the early eighteenth century. The focus is on how the initial Italian adapters of this comedy tackled the intricate wordplay involving names, which Molière employed to highlight the prominent traits of his characters. Interestingly, instead of directly adopting the bold name creations found in the source text, the first Italian translators opted to draw from an onomastic repertoire more culturally familiar to their intended audience: the onomastic repertoire of the Commedia dell’Arte.