The craft of translation: Q&A with Wenda O’Reilly about this new translation
How have you made Samuel Hahnemann’s writing easier to read?
We have conveyed Hahnemann’s complex concepts with clear words and straightforward grammar. We have also translated 19th-century medical terms into modern medical terminology. The Glossary further explains Hahnemann’s precise meanings.
Throughout the Organon, we have reduced the generic use of ‘he’, particularly where Hahnemann is referring to physicians and homeopaths. Today, women and men both play a key role in homeopathic medicine. We retain the use of ‘he’ where Hahnemann is referring specifically to the male physicians of his day.
Are there practical changes as well as changes in language?
Yes. We present Hahnemann’s directions for preparing remedies, including LM (or Q) potencies, as clear, step-by-step instructions with modern measurements, so readers can follow the procedures.
And we now translate Lebenskraft as ‘vital force’ rather than the more literal ‘life force’, because ‘vital force’ is familiar to today’s homeopaths.
Why did you replace ‘totality of symptoms’ with ‘entirety of symptoms’?
Every homeopath knows the term ‘totality of symptoms’. But what does it mean? To some, it means ‘all of the symptoms’. To others, it means ‘the set of symptoms that is sufficient to clearly identify a disease or its remedy’. In other words, for many homeopaths, and in various contexts, the ‘totality of symptoms’ does not necessarily mean every last symptom, including all the general ones. It can focus more particularly on the symptoms that characterize a disease.
But in the Organon, when Hahnemann uses the term Gesamtheit der Symptome, he means all the symptoms – every last one of them. In this translation, to avoid any confusion, we translate Gesamtheit der Symptome as ‘entirety of symptoms’ or ‘all the symptoms’.
Hahnemann stresses the importance of the entirety of symptoms in §18, and we make this clearer and easier to understand in the new translation.
You coined the term ‘befallment’. Does it mean ‘symptom’ or ‘an unexpected phenomenon or event’?
In some instances, Hahnemann uses the German word Zufall to mean ‘symptom’ and in others the term can refer to a phenomenon, or befallment, that may not ordinarily be recognized as a symptom – such as ‘the world suddenly looks more beautiful’, ‘hearing the doorbell ring when none has rung’, or ‘feeling that time passes more quickly’.
In the Organon, Hahnemann uses two words that can mean ‘symptom’. We always translate the German word Symptom as ‘symptom’. We translate Zufall (derived from zufallen, ‘to fall to’ or ‘befall’) as ‘symptom’ or ‘phenomenon’ depending on context.
In key aphorisms where Zufall may have a broader meaning, we translate it as ‘phenomenon’ and put ‘befallment’ in square brackets. This is an editorial reminder of the word’s broader meaning.
How will readers distinguish Hahnemann’s words from editorial additions?
Editorial additions to clarify the text appear in square brackets and editorial footnotes.
The new edition also retains the side-heading format. The side headings are editorial additions for the reader’s convenience and reference. Positioning them beside the paragraphs distinguishes them from Hahnemann’s text while making the book easier to consult.
