If Borges had had his way-and he generally did-all polysyllables would have been replaced [in English translation] by monosyllables. . . People concerned about the legitimacy of the literal might well be scandalized by his mania for dehispanization. “Simplify me. Modify me. Make me stark. My language often embarrasses me. It’s too youthful, too Latinate. . . I want the power of Cynewulf, Beowulf, Bede. Make me macho and gaucho and skinny.”

– Edith Grossman, Why Translation Matters)