Dēmagōgia’s Discursive Memory in Modern Western Languages: Aristotle’s Reception during the Middle Ages

Abstract The concept ‘zero equivalence’ refers to those words with no equivalent lexical items in the target language. Such was the case of dēmagōgos and its cognates when medieval translators had to translate Aristotle’s Politics , Moerbeke and Oresme. This article aims to analyse the strategies preferred by these translators and how they have influenced how we conceive demagogy in negative terms. I contend that their particular interpretation of the Aristotelian text and their use of foreignisms shaped what we understand by demagogues in modern Western languages, as leaders who threaten the status quo .