SC - Re: So-Called "Oil from the Spleen"

[Robin Carroll-Mann]

And it came to pass on 21 Sep 00,, that Vincent Cuenca wrote:

> 
> >Either Dionisio Perez was an idiot, or he was working with a seriously
> >flawed manuscript.
> 
> I vote for the first part, meself.

> >So I
> >looked at the facsimile, and there was a perfectly clear "comidas" in the
> >midst of that sentence.
> 
> That's the way I translated it too; I wrote it off as a typographical
> error, of which there are many.  

I wonder how many others I haven't discovered yet.  ::sigh::

>I took a few liberties here and there
> when there was an obvious typo or the direct translation was too
> confusing.

Well, that's a basic necessity of translation.  If you're too literal, you 
obscure the meaning.

> > Transforming "debaxo" into "debajo" makes the word mean "underneath",
> > which makes perfect sense.  And the phrase in the recipe now reads:
> > "cast in a little oil underneath so that the dough does not stick to
> > the frying pan".  (The recipe is for a tart, baked Dutch-oven style in
> > a frying-pan with coals on the lid.) 

> NOW it makes sense!

One little letter.  Just change one little letter, and the whole perspective 
changes with it.  Amazing, isn't it?

> >It was my intention anyway to check my translation against the 
facsimile,
> > but now I will do so much more carefully.

> Geez, sounds like you're much better equipped than I am.  Sheesh!

Well... I'm a reference librarian, with an ILL fetish.
 
> Vicente
> (rethinking those publishing plans)

Don't be silly.  You're going to need to do revisions, just as anyone 
would.  (And as Sr. Perez *should* have done.)  But don't think about 
not publishing all that valuable work.

(Gentles, Vincente has been very quiet about his own 
accomplishments: he's finished translating the *entirety* of Nola's _Libro 
de Guisados_, including the introductory chapters on carving, serving, 
handwashing, etc., that I did not even attempt to tackle.)


Lady Brighid ni Chiarain
Settmour Swamp, East (NJ)
mka Robin Carroll-Mann
harper at idt.net