Concept of Interpretation: We explain what interpretation is, the origin of the term and in what contexts it is used. Also, how different disciplines understand it.
What is interpretation?
The word interpretation can have multiple meanings, depending on the context in which we use it. However, most of them have to do with the idea of explaining, translating or clarifying something, so that other people can understand it better or can get an idea of what it represents.
Etymologically, the word interpret comes from the Latin interpretari, a word derived from interpres, which was used for the mediator in a business or commercial transaction.
This word is composed of the prefix inter (“between”) and the noun pretium (“price”), so its meaning is more or less “between prices,” like someone who negotiates or haggles until finally reaching an agreement. The latter is, possibly, what has survived to this day: for example, we call “interpreter” someone who intercedes (or “negotiates”) between two people who do not speak the same language, that is, a live translator.
Thus, we use the verb interpret for situations in which there is a hidden, deep or secret meaning that needs to be clarified, established or shown, that is, it must be interpreted. For example, Egyptian hieroglyphics were interpreted by Egyptologists, who managed to establish the meaning of what was said, despite the fact that the ancient Egyptian language is lost. The same is done by those who interpret a poem or a work of art: they assign an obvious meaning to what may be mysterious to the general public. Get this Calligram information too!
However, interpretations generally say more about the interpreter than about the interpreted, that is, they provide information about the interpreter’s way of thinking.
That is what psychologists and psychoanalysts do with different tests such as the Rorschach: they expose the patient to a stimulus (an image, a sound or even a dream they have had) and ask them to interpret it, that is, to assign it a meaning and significance according to their history and perspectives. In doing so, the patient reveals information about their own mind, since the images do not have a “true” meaning, but can reflect many things depending on the individual.
In fact, the father of psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) published various works on the interpretation of dreams, in which he proposed a method to use nocturnal imaginations to enter the patient’s psyche and obtain scientific information about their emotional or affective ailments.
Something similar happens in the field of performing arts and music: we often talk about “interpretants” or “interpreters” to refer to those who play the instruments or the actors who stage a work. In the first case, the musician interprets in sounds what is noted in his score, just as the actor interprets in actions what is written in the script. Get this Acetate information too!
Therefore, the synonyms of interpret are: translate, analyze, read, understand, explain and clarify; and on the contrary, the antonyms of this verb are: obscure, confuse and hide.
