ABSTRACT
Gender metaphorics of translation is closely related to power issues and colonial asymmetries and at the same time impinges upon the role of the translator and the relationship of source and target text. Research on the metaphorics of translation in China, Japan and India has highlighted a number of specificities that have encouraged a critical reassessment of metaphors of translation in the European and Anglophone context. The metaphoricity of translation is subject to cultural and temporal factors, which impinge on the relationship between its literal and metaphorical dimensions. The medieval notion of translatio imperii et studii implied the transfer or translation of culture, knowledge and political power or legitimacy an understanding that has rendered the term translation amenable to being used as a metaphor in other disciplines. Metaphors of translation are used to describe complex transformation processes and to connect heterogeneous contexts by creating inner theoretical cohesion.
