Lost in translation?

If a document as old as the Tao Te Ching is translated to a more modern language such as modern Chinese or English is not a great deal of its meaning lost? A word that has matured over 2000 years has attached to it a plethora of historical contexts, and a multitude of meanings. In replacing it with a much younger one, do we not then replace this richness with a single more decisive meaning that may be restricted at best and incorrect at worst?

Yet every language was young in its infancy - perhaps the wisdom was superimposed post hoc...