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LT → Francese, Spagnolo → Georges Brassens → Pénélope → Inglese

Pénélope (traduzione in Inglese)

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Revisione appena richiesta
traduzione in IngleseInglese
/Francese
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Penelope

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You, the model wife, the cricket of the hearth1,
you, without any snag or tear in your marriage gown,
you, the uncompromising Penelope2,
When following the lead of your pleasant but absent husband,
don’t you ever, in all honesty, nurse
some pretty thoughts that somehow sneak in,
some pretty thoughts that somehow sneak in?
 
Behind your curtains, in your oh so proper world,
awaiting the return of a suburban Ulysses3,
leaning over your needlework,
on melancholy evenings of doom and gloom.
have you never, in dreams of the sky above another bed,
counted some new stars,
counted some new stars?
 
Have you never yet called out to the passing object
of your wishes, who takes you by the hair,
who tells you nothing much,
who puts the daisy4 into the kitchen garden5,
puts the forbidden apple onto the tree branches,
and puts your lace clothing into disorder,
and puts your lace clothing into disorder.
 
Have you never hoped to see again in passing
that angel, that demon, who, his bow in his hand,
fires malignant arrows,
who gives their female flesh back to the coldest statues,
topples them from their pedestals, shakes up their virtue,
tears their off fig leaves6,
tears their off fig leaves?
 
Don’t be afraid that Heaven will hold it against you,
there’s truly nothing there for which to lash a heart7
that’s taken in by bad arguments and goes wild!
It’s a common fault and a venial sin,
it’s the hidden side of the honeymoon,
and the ransome for Penelope,
and the ransome for Penelope.
 
  • 1. a cricket in the hearth was a good thing in old times, indicating a happy, warm and comfortable house; Dicken’s “cricket on the hearth” was was a magic fairy cricket, “Genius of his (the carrier’s) hearth and home”
  • 2. in Greek myth, Penelope was the wife of Odysseus, who remained faithful to him during his absence for the Trojan war and a very long journey back home from Troy
  • 3. the Latin name for Odysseus
  • 4. symbol of love
  • 5. symbol of domesticity
  • 6. literally:”grape” not “fig”
  • 7. the stock phrase “there’s nothing for which to lash a cat” means “it’s something too trivial to make a fuss about", and the change from “cat” to “heart” essentially keeps that meaning
Grazie!
❤
thanked 3 times

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Postato da michealtmichealt 2018-03-04
Ultima modifica michealtmichealt 2019-03-24
L'autore della traduzione ha chiesto una revisione del testo.
Questo significa che sarebbe lieto di ricevere correzioni, consigli ecc. sulla sua traduzione.
Se hai una buona conoscenza sia della lingua di origine sia di quella della traduzione, è gradito un tuo commento.
Francese
Francese
Francese

Pénélope

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Traduzioni di “Pénélope”
Italiano E quarup
Bretone PaotrLaouen
Inglese michealt
Russo P Julia_Arkhitektorova
Georges Brassens: 3 più popolari
1.Je me suis fait tout petit
2.Les copains d'abord
3.Les passantes
Idioms from "Pénélope"
1.Doom and gloom
2.en tout bien tout honneur
Commenti fatti
michealtmichealt    Dom, 24/03/2019 - 20:10

Thanks Pierre

en suivant ton petit bonhomme de bonheur -> nice pun on "suivre son petit bonhomme de chemin" (lead an uneventful and satisfying life)
I guess "pleasant but boring" would be a good fit

interlopes -> that would be "disreputable", "shady" or "crooked". I don't see that meaning in the translation
something that sneaks in is clearly crooked or shady, and hence disreputable.

juste milieu -> another nice pun on "happy medium"

conte des bagatelles -> that's like flirting. "sweet nothings" maybe?
that sounds right

ransome -> typo, I guess?[/quote]
I can't think of anything "ransome" could be a typo for.
I thought of "price" or "cost"abut I think it needs a literal translation (hence ransome) , not a translation of anything like 'les coûts que Pénélope paye'"

PaotrLaouenPaotrLaouen    Mar, 24/03/2020 - 16:37

"Faire son petit bonhomme de chemin" properly means to walk peacefully at a steady pace. The meaning is very positive: no question of "boring" in it, on the contrary.
"Interlope" refers originally to smugglers' ships. Therefore, I think that it should be translated by "fraudulent" rather than "disreputable", in spite of the evolution of this word in contemporary French.

CharlesVCharlesV    Ven, 01/10/2021 - 13:28

Hi PatrLaouen, on "petit bonhomme de chemin", I agree that "boring" is probably too strong but still there is a notion of absolute "tranquillité" and placidity about it -- the very opposite of excitement if you will. Not being a native English speaker, not sure what would render that pun. "Living your quiet happy life", " walking your placid happy path"? oh well you must find something better, but that would be the general idea.

Right now, it seems to missing completely from the English translation.

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