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'who is this swearing like this outside' Part 3

Part 2 ended with 'Have you heard his name?'

Part 3 English:-

"It's Marvel or some such name. He seems to be known here; he orders people about as if he were at home. The other was Cantelucci, sir."
-"Very likely. Look here, Spire, I will dine in the public room downstairs. I want to see that angry gentleman. Did you see him, Spire?"
-"Only his back, sir. Very broad, sir. Tall man. In boots and a riding-coat. Are you going down now, sir? The dinner must be on already."

My attempt into Greek:-
The last part:-
Μάρβελ τον λένε ή κάτι τέτοιο. Είναι γνωστός, φαίνεται, εδώ μέσα. Δίνει διαταγές σα να ήταν σπίτι του. Καντελούτσι είναι ο άλλος, κύριε.
-Ακριβώς έτσι (I wanted something dismissive. Does this sound right?). Για κοίταξε, Σπύρο. Το βράδυ θα δειπνήσω κάτω στο σαλόνι. Θέλω να δω εκείνο τον κύριο τον θυμωμένο. Τον έχεις δει, Σπύρο;
-Μόνο την πλάτη του. Πολύ φαρδιά. Είναι ψηλός άντρας. Με μπότες και σακάκι ιππασίας. Τώρα να πάτε, κύριε. Πρέπει να ετοιμάζουν ήδη το δείπνο.
I've posted it as a different thread because I thought that fellow lexilogists might not have realised it was there as a separate part of the above piece. Sorry, if I was wrong. I just look forward to correction as & when.:blush::)
 

drsiebenmal

HandyMod
Staff member
I saw it and had nothing of real significance to nag about... I would probably translate "very likely" as «Μάλλον...», change here and there some order of words («Να πάτε τώρα, κύριε.») or use another filler, as for "Look here" something like the silly sounding but totally correct «Κοίτα (να δεις), Σπύρο» or «(Άκου) να σου πω» etc. but I could let it pass as it stands.

So, when there is no answer in Lexilogia, it might mean good news. Seldom, but it happens. :)
 

Palavra

Mod Almighty
Staff member
Μάρβελ τον λένε ή κάτι τέτοιο. Είναι γνωστός, φαίνεται, εδώ μέσα.
I would not use «μέσα», here, because it would mean "in this house" or something like that, whereas I am reading the English text as "he is known around this place". So, «Φαίνεται πως είναι γνωστός εδώ γύρω».

Καντελούτσι είναι ο άλλος, κύριε.
Ο άλλος είναι ο Καντελούτσι, ο άλλος λέγεται Καντελούτσι, Καντελούτσι λέγεται ο άλλος. If we say "Καντελούτσι είναι ο άλλος", then Cantelucci would be a quality, like "farmer", "tall" etc., not a name.

I agree with Doc about the translation of "very likely" - I would say «πιθανόν».

A small mistake:
Τώρα να πάτε, κύριε.
Are you going down now, sir? translates as «Πηγαίνετε κάτω τώρα, κύριε;»

I also have a question: when we say "dinner is on", don't we usually mean that "dinner is served?"
 
Thank you both for your corrections & suggestions. I found 'Very probably' difficult. It seems to me to have a slightly dismissive tone, as we say 'quite so', which can mean 'you are probably right but I'm not interested' before the speaker moves on to discuss something with which s/he is more preoccupied.
I agree now that 'dinner is on' must mean 'it is being served':- πρέπει να σερβίρουν ήδη το δείπνο. I wouldn't use this phrase since 'to be on' is a very vague idiom. See http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/be+on for the various definitions. I suppose the sense is similar to definition 1, 5. To do something as planned or according to schedule. 'Are you still on to pick me up from the airport tomorrow? The meeting is on at five o'clock.' Similar but not quite.
 
Ερώτηση για τους φίλους λεξιλόγους: υπάρχει κάποια διαφορά στη σημασία των όρων «σακάκι ιππασίας» και «ρεντιγκότα»; Εγώ το τελευταίο έχω συνηθίσει να βλέπω (συγκριτικά μιλώντας), και δεν ξέρω αν είναι ακριβώς το ίδιο πράγμα με το πρώτο ή αν έχουν αποκλίνει κάπως.
 
Good evening, Duke. A redingote is a woman's long coat with a cutaway or contrasting front or a man's double-breasted topcoat with a full skirt. See Google redingote under 'images'. Though ultimately derived from the English ' riding coat' (altered by its adoption by the French), it has come to mean something different from the modern riding jacket. http://assets2.merriam-webster.com/mw/static/art/dict/redingot.gif. A 'riding habit' was used in the seventeenth century as women's clothing for sidesaddle horseback riding.For the modern 'riding jacket, see http://fashion-history.lovetoknow.com/image/169122~equestrian-clothing.jpg. A 'riding coat' covers all the fashions you can see under Google 'images' a riding coat. In the passage above, it is difficult to know quite what Joseph Conrad, the author of the above piece had in mind in his uncompleted novel Suspense, written about 1924, the year he died. Hope this helps.
 
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