[Sca-cooks] Sent Sovi Translation

[JIMCHEVAL at aol.com]

I understand. I still doubt it's that straightforward.
 
Take "carnsalada". Very literally it means "salted meat", In context, it's  
used virtually as bacon is in other medieval texts and is even referred to 
as  "lean" or "fat". Should one then translate it as "bacon"?
 
It helps to do at least a little research on the term (which mainly occurs  
in old Catalan and Provencal documents), by which one finds that it is now  
referred to as "cansalada" and is a form of salted pork fatback:
 
http://books.google.com/books?id=2CNNBrzheFkC&lpg=PA60&dq=carnsalada&
pg=PA60#v=onepage&q&f=false
 
So: "fatback"? "thick bacon"? "salted meat"? It's best to go beyond the  
dictionary and Google Translate in deciding which. Given that it's a regional  
specialty, an English speaker might even argue for leaving it untranslated 
and  explaining it separately. Yet at the same time anyone familiar with 
Medieval  cookbooks will recognize it as being used in essentially the same way 
as bacon,  and that awareness too should feed into the translation.
 
On another note, I haven't yet encountered anything that can clearly be  
recognized as "verjuice", which is striking. The same function seems to be  
filled by things like orange or lemon juice or pomegranate wine. (Recalling an 
 earlier discussion on this list.)
 
Jim  Chevallier
_www.chezjim.com_ (http://www.chezjim.com/) 

Beyond the peacocks:  what most Medieval eaters actually ate
http://leslefts.blogspot.com/2014/04/beyond-peacocks-what-most-medieval.html






In a message dated 4/15/2014 12:54:06 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time,  
lilinah at earthlink.net writes:

I  suggested translating Santanach's modern Catalan, not the original  
manuscript.