Cooking through the Centuries

The aim of this study is to explore the challenges inherent in the translation of archaic literary texts, focusing on the linguistic choices, constraints, and strategies involved in this process. The linguistic analysis is based on the author’s Romanian translation of Szakátsmesterségnek könyvetskéje, a 17th-century Hungarian cookery book published in Transylvania during the early era of printing. This article argues that when the source and target languages and cultures of an archaic text have historically been in contact, the resulting translation can be more accurate, more reflective of its historical context, and ultimately more engaging for contemporary readers. The paper begins with a general overview of this hypothesis, followed by a discussion of the book’s printer and the presumed authorship, providing essential background for the reader. The final section presents the translation strategies adopted by the author, with particular attention to maintaining both the historical accuracy and stylistic flavour of the original text, but also emphasizing the archaic feature of this important artefact of Transylvanian culture.