A thousand years later: notes about the translation for the Brazilian Portuguese of the medicine treaty for women of Trotula di Ruggiero (11th century)

Abstract

In the century XI, Trotula di Ruggiero was one of the main references of the renowned Salerno School of Medicine, southern Italy (SANTUCCI, 2008, p.87). In her observations and medical practices, she devoted herself to the study of health and illnesses that particularly affected women. In spite of the constant attempts to erase Trotula over the centuries, at least two treatises testify to its activities: the De passionibus mulierum ante et post partum [Diseases of women before, during and after childbirth] and De ornatu mulierum [How to make women beautiful]. The article highlights the translation into Brazilian Portuguese of the two Trotula texts, understanding the translation as a way of guaranteeing the survival of the starting text (BENJAMIN, 2010) and as an ethical act that consists in receiving the other in the language itself. (BERMAN, 2013) In the first part the author and the work are briefly presented, and in the second part the translation comments are made.