noi (maestatis)

Italian to English Other Religion

Hi,

I'm starting the translation of an Italian doctoral dissertation, for publication in English, and am encountering the use of the 'royal we', the author using "we" and "our" when referring to herself and the possessive adjective. I think I've seen this in some scholarly works, but was wondering if anyone knows whether there's a consensus in scholarly literature in English regarding the use of "we" rather than "I" to mean the author.

Here's one example, with my translation for now:

"Per avviare meglio la nostra ricerca abbiamo scelto come riferimento il noto teologo e filosofo Bernard Lonergan (1904-1984) per due chiare ragioni."

("To better initiate my study, I have chosen as a reference point the well-known theologian and philosopher Bernard Lonergan (1904-1984) for two clear reasons.")

Thank you!

Peter