La traduction de l’argot des «Poilus» en italien: l’exemple de Barbusse (Le Feu) et Dorgelès

Les Croix de bois

Abstract

In this article, we study «Poilus’ slang» which characterizes the language of the characters of two novels of the First World War: Le Feu by Henri Barbusse, published in 1916, and Les Croix de bois by Roland Dorgelès, published in 1919. We will first discuss the survey of the slang of the «Poilus» carried out by Albert Dauzat among French officers and soldiers during the Great War. Then, we will see how Barbusse and Dorgelès uses the words that were born in the trenches. Finally, we will try to understand how several of these slang terms were translated in the first Italian versions by Giannetto Bisi (Il fuoco, 1918) and Arturo Salucci (Le croci di legno, 1931).