Literary notes about Traduce (AI summary)
In literature, "traduce" frequently functions as a term for defaming or misrepresenting an individual's reputation. Writers often use it to denote the malicious act of speaking ill of someone, as when a character exclaims, "how dare you traduce me" [1] or when an individual is warned against vile character attacks [2, 3]. At times, the word carries the nuance of unjustly distorting one’s motives or intentions [4, 5], while also appearing in contexts emphasizing the importance of not sullying a person's legacy or reputation [6, 7]. Interestingly, its usage can also extend metaphorically to artistic translation, exemplified in a poetic rendering of a name [8]. This diversity shows how "traduce" has been deployed both to condemn verbal slander and to illustrate a broader commentary on misrepresentation in literary works.
- You who call yourself my mother, how dare you traduce me so, you who bore me!
— from Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great - Volume 13 Little Journeys to the Homes of Great Lovers by Elbert Hubbard - Is it not enough that you have used, and then slain her, that you now traduce her name?
— from The Breath of the Gods by Sidney McCall - I'll traduce you, accuse you, and abuse you.
— from The Poems and Fragments of Catullus Translated in the Metres of the Original by Gaius Valerius Catullus - Let us board the brigantine, friend mariner, and end the connexion ere foul mouths begin to traduce our motives for the visit."
— from The Water-Witch; Or, the Skimmer of the Seas: A Tale by James Fenimore Cooper - They were watching for opportunities to traduce Franklin, to ruin his reputation, and if possible, to bring him into contempt.
— from Benjamin Franklin A Picture of the Struggles of Our Infant Nation One Hundred Years Ago American Pioneers and Patriots Series by John S. C. (John Stevens Cabot) Abbott - You had a mother once, you do not mean to traduce her memory?”
— from The Award of Justice; Or, Told in the Rockies: A Pen Picture of the West by A. Maynard (Anna Maynard) Barbour - Traduce not the strains of a student, Untaught in a technical style; Nor pronounce a pupil imprudent, For truths told on varlets so vile!!!
— from Rhymes of Northern Bards Being a Curious Collection of Old and New Songs and Poems, Peculiar to the Counties of Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland, and Durham - El título traduce en forma poética el nombre que los exploradores dieron a su gran río, creyendo que en su proximidad había plata.
— from Heath's Modern Language Series: The Spanish American Reader by Ernesto Nelson
