La Virgen, la virginidad y la violencia sexual. La traducción de términos castellanos y conceptos cristianos en materiales quechuas de conversión religiosa de los siglos XVI/XVII

Sabine Dedenbach-Salazar Sáenz

doi:10.18441/ind.v42i2.39-67

The Virgin, Virginity and Sexual Violence – The Translation of 16th and 17th Century Spanish Terms and Christian Concepts in Quechua Materials of Religious Conversion

Authors

Sabine Dedenbach-Salazar Sáenz University of Stirling, Scotland, United Kingdom https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4853-4928

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18441/ind.v42i2.39-67

Keywords:

Andes, Quechua, linguistic and cultural translation, Christian instruction, semantic field of virginity, 16th-17th centuries

Abstract

The objectives of this contribution are the following: I analyse, in linguistic and cultural terms, the translation of words related to the Virgin Saint Mary, virginity in general and sexual violence, documented in 16th and 17th centuries materials of Christian instruction; and, in doing so, I study the translation procedures which are reflected in the meanings of the Quechua words. The translations also allow me to formulate some suggestions with respect to their reception by the colonial Andean parishioners. The examples in this contribution show that there are several translation categories: equivalence, resemantisation, semantic neologism, paraphrase, explanation and loanwords, but it is not always easy to delimit one from the other. I argue that the broad variety of translation approaches reflects the working practice of colonial translators. Rather than the implementation of a theory or the application of certain agreed or imposed methods, this indicates a certain spontaneity and innovative creativity.

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Published

2026-03-12

Issue

Vol. 42 No. 2 (2025)

Section

Dossier

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