ABSTRACT Translation occupies a central place in current theories of world literature, but it is not the only way in which texts circulate beyond their original cultural and temporal contexts to become world literature. This article explores the shifting relationship between language and territory, contrasting modern languages as territorially bound by the nation-state with pre-modern cosmopolitan languages that transcended territorial location. Drawing upon the complex translation process of the works of Aristotle from the Abbasid translation movement of the eighth through 10th centuries to the multiple print editions of competing translations of Aristotle’s works published in Venice in the 16th century, the article argues that world literature often results from the confluence of the broad reach of a cosmopolitan language and the mobility of translation.

中文翻译：

---

前现代世界的翻译

摘要 翻译在当前世界文学理论中占据中心地位，但它并不是文本超越其原始文化和时间背景而成为世界文学的唯一途径。本文探讨了语言与领土之间不断变化的关系，将受民族国家领土约束的现代语言与超越领土位置的前现代世界性语言进行了对比。借鉴亚里士多德作品的复杂翻译过程，从 8 世纪到 10 世纪的阿拔斯翻译运动到 16 世纪在威尼斯出版的亚里士多德作品的多个印刷版竞争翻译，