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Translators’ Note

Schleiermacher once wrote, “Either the translator leaves the author in peace, as much as possible, and moves the reader towards him; or he leaves the reader in peace, as much as possible, and moves the author towards him.”¹ Since the intended audience for the Encyclopédie was, in eighteenth-century parlance, mainly mondain (worldly) rather than narrowly érudit (learned), and since the intended readership for Liberty Fund editions is similar, we have generally made the authors do the moving in our translation.

Thus, we have often simplified syntax and broken up long sentences rather than try to duplicate the authorial eccentricities of the contributors. Within these constraints, we attempt to be as editorially unobtrusive and unambiguous as possible. On those occasions where alternative interpretations have been inescapable, we have indicated this in the footnotes. Because a significant share of the content of the entries was derived more or less directly from such earlier authors as Locke and Montesquieu, and because the original project was conceived as a reference work, the number of such ambiguous passages is relatively small.

On the other hand, our volume represents the original contributions of at least thirteen French authors (one entry remaining anonymous), and these authors do present differences in style along with corresponding translation problems. The Chevalier de Jaucourt, author of by far the largest number of our selections, writes in a fairly plain and direct style that poses relatively few problems. That is more or less true of other authors too, such as Boucher d’Argis and Forbonnais. Faiguet de Villeneuve writes in a pugnaciously chatty prose that is also mostly free of mystery. But other

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writers are not so straightforward. Diderot himself was an inveterate ironist whose multiple tonalities are often elusive for the unwary translator. Saint-Lambert, a celebrated poet in his own time, has a sometimes mannered style calling for special adjustments. Boulanger, author of one of our longer titles (POLITICAL ECONOMY), writes in a ponderous French full of portentous abstractions and labored transitions. Damilaville, who penned the two lengthiest articles in our collection (POPULATION and FIVE PERCENT TAX), was an ungainly stylist whose many pronouns and awkwardly structured sentences create a number of ambiguities. All told, however, the differences among these styles are somewhat greater in the original French than in our translations.

Foreign-language titles of works referred to by the contributors in text or notes have been translated into English where cognates did not make the translation obvious.

The French texts that we used contain a number of terms and concepts that pose special translation problems. Some of the more problematic and recurring cases are as follows:

commerce. If the context is economic, “trade” or “commerce,” although sometimes the term seems to include all productive nonagricultural activity; see INTENDANTS for this meaning. In French, there is frequently a social meaning as well, as in “the commerce between the sexes” or “the commerce among men”; see MANNERS for this latter connotation.

droit. Usually translated as “law.” Depending on the context, it can also mean “a right” (as in NATURAL RIGHT), “a tax,” “a tariff,” “a duty,” “a fee.” As a moral or political adjective, the word can mean “what is right or just.” We often translate it as “law,” as in “divine law,” “civil law,” “natural law,” “canon law,” or “the law of nations.” See loi, below, for a different set of connotations.

économie. Meaning “frugality,” “household economy,” “management of resources,” the term was not used in our modern sense as a description of a distinct field of study (economics), or of the sum total of productive activity in a given society.

état. The “regime” or “government” when used politically, and is usually capitalized in our volume. Sometimes, and notably in Damilaville’s FIVE

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PERCENT TAX, the word is deliberately used to encompass the whole collectivity of the society, so it does not mark as clear a distinction between government and governed as later generations would do. Juridically, the term means “estate” as in the phrase états généraux (Estates General), which designates the official hierarchy of French society at the time of writing; see d’Holbach’s REPRESENTATIVES for this usage. Socially, the term tends to mean “status” or “condition.”

franchise. Generally “exemption,” “privilege,” or “immunity,” it can also mean “freedom.” When referring to personal qualities, it can mean “openness,” “candor,” or “sincerity.” The term is used in SAVINGS, SLAVERY, HONOR, MASTERPIECES, and FIVE PERCENT TAX.

génie. Translated as “talent” in most cases. Its English cognate “genius” generally connotes a more extraordinary ability than its eighteenth-century equivalent tended to convey.²

les grands. Literally “the great.” The word was usually applied to the nobility during this period. To avoid ambiguity, we have generally adopted “grandees” in spite of its somewhat archaic flavor.

industrie. Generally a moral rather than economic category in this period, meaning a quality such as “resourcefulness,” “ingenuity,” or “industriousness.” Rarely does the term apply to manufacturing as a sector in our modern sense, and still less to factory industry, despite the fascination felt by Diderot and others for modern technology. We sometimes use the term “human industry” to avoid anachronism.

liberté. Normally “liberty,” although the specific context sometimes seemed to make “freedom” more advisable. There is no real French equivalent to “freedom,” although see franchise, above.

loi. Unlike droit, loi, translated as “law,” has more consistently the connotation of a command or prohibition, either divine or human, as in our phrase “laying down the law,” although it too broadened out metaphorically to include scientific regularities such as the “laws of motion.”

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mœurs. “Manners,” “morals” or “customs,” depending on the context. Sometimes we use “mores” when all of these meanings seem to be included.

morale. Sometimes “morality” as a practical code, sometimes “morals” as a subject of study.

pays and patrie. Pays is a general term for any distinct territory, whether city or region or province or nation. Patrie can also refer to these geographically diverse entities, but since it always means “natal land,” it emphasizes their human rather than their merely physical dimension and often carries a more emotional resonance. “Homeland” or “fatherland,” which are often used to translate patrie, strike us as strained and awkward options for a mainly American readership. Accordingly, in this anthology “country” will usually be used for either pays or patrie, but to preserve the distinction between them, we capitalize “Country” to indicate patrie and leave it uncapitalized for pays.

police. If it refers to an entire state, “administration” or even “government”; “regulations” if it refers to a specific institution within a state. Culturally, it can mark off the broader difference between civilized and precivilized societies, so a general term such as “civilization” or “law and order” sometimes seems best. “Police” occurs frequently in our selections, appearing in no fewer than nineteen of our entries.

pouvoir; puissance. In Synonymes françois [French synonyms] (Paris: Houry, 1736), 449–55, cited by Diderot in his grammar article AUTORITÉ [Authority], abbé Gabriel Girard distinguished between the French words pouvoir and puissance, both of which would generally be translated as “power.” Puissance, he suggested, refers to the combination of moral legitimacy (autorité) and force. It tends to be more abstract, impersonal, and inclusive than pouvoir; it is the word used to denote the branches of government—the executive, legislative, and judicial powers. Pouvoir on the other hand is exercised by subordinates; Diderot says it evokes fear rather than the grandeur evoked by puissance and that it arises from the personal attachment and connections between the subject and the holder of power.

It is not always clear how conscious the authors represented in this volume are of such niceties. In any case, the context is usually adequate to

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illuminate the intended inflection of meaning. For this reason, we have generally stuck with the English word “power” without further comment. There are occasions, however, such as in Boucher d’Argis’s PUBLIC LAW and in Damilaville’s FIVE PERCENT TAX, when the author’s usage has been distinctive enough to merit our highlighting it.

qualité. Meaning “status,” “title,” “nobility,” or “quality,” depending on context.

république. Sometimes “government by the people” as with the cognate term “republic,” but other times it is a generic category term, best conveyed by words like “polity” or “commonwealth.” We have attempted to avoid confusion by not overusing the former option. As might be imagined, it appears frequently in our collection, in no fewer than thirty-one entries.

revenu. Either “private income” or “public revenue,” depending on the context; the word appears in POLITICAL ARITHMETIC, FOUNDATION, GENEVA, CEREALS, ENGLISH PARLIAMENT, and RUTLAND.

revolution. Most often “revolution,” although with different and more diffuse connotations before 1789, meaning more like “vicissitudes” or “transformations” than the willful upheaval of an entire social and political system. The word appears in DESPOTISM, EULOGY FOR PRESIDENT MONTESQUIEU, and POLITICAL ECONOMY.

sauvage. “Savage,” which some authors distinguished carefully from “barbaric.” See Jaucourt’s entry SAVAGES.

société. Most often “society.” In some contexts, “company”; in others, “association,” where it has a more active connotation (see CITIZEN); and “firm” in a commercial context (see TRADING COMPANY for an example).

taille. Tax on persons or on property, depending upon the part of the country that is being referred to, but always a tax on the individual; translated in this edition with the cognate “taille.” See CEREALS, TAX, and INTENDANTS for this term.