trans-
1.a prefix occurring in loanwords from Latin ( transcend; transfix);on this model, used with the meanings “across,” “beyond,” “through,” “changing thoroughly,” “transverse,” in combination with elements of any origin: transisthmian; trans-Siberian;transempirical; transvalue.
Origin: < Latin, combining form of trāns (adv. and preposition) across, beyond, through
Why “transmuse”? Well, I am someone who has in recent years made her living as a translator. We translators spend our days crossing between languages, transcribing our version of a text into the different dimensions of our mother tongue. It’s a deft process, time-consuming, misunderstood and a little bit niche. We’re the hidden scribes of the modern world, sending out millions of words through the web-o-sphere, bringing cultures and people a little bit closer together, every day.
But while I have spent many long hours in front of my screen, engaged in the art of translation, the ‘trans’ part applies to other parts of my life also. Like everyone, I have many roles and interests. I cross from one role to another, mother, teacher, wife. daughter, sister, friend. If to translate means to travel across culture, language, boundaries and whatever else divides us from one another, maybe transmuse might means to muse about, beyond and through all those things. If musing usually means meditating to oneself, transmuse means to send those musings out and beyond… which is the aim of this little blog.
Alison Jeffries 