原民喜『ガリバー旅行記』の「アンポニア」と「ヤーフ」、Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travelsの “Amboyna” と “Yahoo” について

This essay examines Garibā Ryokouki by HARA Tamiki (原民喜), a retelling of Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift. Two proper nouns stand out in the translation: “Anponia (アンポニア)” and “Yā-hu (ヤーフ).” The reason why “the Amboyna” is written as “Anponia” instead of “Anboina (アンボイナ)” should be “anpontan (アンポンタン)” that means a stupid person. The reason why “Yahoo” was changed to “Yā-hu (ヤーフ)” not “Ya-hū (ヤフー)” must be “ya-hu (野夫)” that means a rude man. Both changes imply the stupidity of man in general. HARA Tamiki made these changes to evoke words that were familiar to his Japanese readers at the time of its publication in 1951. These changes are not faults, but points to be appreciated. They are examples of HARA Tamiki’s ingenuity in translating a foreign literary work into his own language, regardless of whether or not he came up with the two words: “Anponia (アンポニア)” and “Yā-hu (ヤーフ).”