Georges Cuvier in Spain. José Garriga y Baucís’s translation of Lecciones elementales de la historia natural de los animales

Abstract

This paper aims at analysing José Garriga y Baucís’s Spanish version of Tableau élémentaire de l’histoire naturelle des animaux (1797-1798) written by Georges Cuvier (1769-1832), promoter of palaeontology and comparative anatomy. This translation, published in 1834 in Valencia by Cabrerizo’s publishing house, is key in marking the arrival of Cuvier’s work in Spain, whose main contribution in the development of biology and anatomy specifically entails the description –based on structuralist criteria– of the animal kingdom.

The article focuses on aspects that link the text at hand with its “external history” –particularly, its didactic intention in the framework of the current regulations in the public education system of the time– and on the comparison between Cuvier’s work and its Spanish translation. This allows for considerations on the peculiarities of the latter with respect to the original text, in order to emphasize the lexical choices and linguistic sensitivity of the translator, who –in the “Advertencia” of his version of the treatise– highlights the importance of having a scientific terminology in Spanish and his consequent decision to assign “terminación castellana” to scientific lexis.