This question was closed without grading. Reason: Other
Feb 20, 2014 15:56
10 yrs ago
1 viewer *
Italian term

armò il suo braccio secolare

Italian to English Art/Literary General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters Autobiography
Contesto:

Seppi solo più tardi che Fiske non era venuto seguendo il consiglio di Fanny Billings, desiderosa di punire la società per torti che riteneva aver ricevuto in passato. E Fanny, che avevo incontrata per anni ai ricevimenti del Trianon di Ciano e di palazzo Venezia, ormai tramutata in Erinni vendicatrice, armò il suo braccio secolare per colpire un mondo cui rimproverava di essere stato più solidale verso la sua rivale e parente, la moglie del marchese Costantino Patrizi, cui Fanny non perdonava l'appartenanza ad una famiglia piemontese di antica nobilità.

Molte Grazie,

Barbara

Discussion

Barbara Cochran, MFA (asker) Feb 28, 2014:
Temporal Arm In my Webster's New World Dictionary (of the English language), "secular" can mean "temporal", which makes more sense to me than "secular", in this case.
Cedric Randolph Feb 20, 2014:
braccio secolare? Need more context- Perhaps it is her "secular contingent", "branch" or some such. It doesn't seem to be secular as in "centuries old" but I'm not certain.

Proposed translations

48 mins

armed its secular branch

Wow, what a long and convoluted sentence!
Peer comment(s):

agree Lara Barnett : I agree, and the source term has no "long and convoluted" meaning behind it either.
4 hrs
disagree Ivana UK : 'Its' is wrong. She is female so it can only be 'hers' in this context.
16 hrs
Something went wrong...
51 mins

cocked her secular arm

Not sure at all though - it's the secular arm part that's throwing me.

braccio secolare: Insieme degli strumenti apprestati dalle leggi dello Stato per rendere esecutivi i provvedimenti dei tribunali ecclesiastici, ed in particolare per rendere concretamente applicabili le pene da essi inflitte.

http://www.simone.it/newdiz/newdiz.php?action=view&dizionari...

secular arm:

the legal authority of the civil power as invoked by the Church to punish offender


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 52 mins (2014-02-20 16:48:31 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

to cock (verb): to draw the hammer of (a firearm) back and set for firing; also : to set (the trigger) for firing

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cock

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 53 mins (2014-02-20 16:49:16 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

I'm sure there's a much better (less literal) way of saying this, but this is what I've come up with so far!
Something went wrong...
1 hr

made her secular contingent ready (to strike....)

this is how I see it
Something went wrong...
16 hrs

equipped its secular arm

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/secular...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 16 hrs (2014-02-21 08:42:09 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

http://www.wordreference.com/iten/braccio secolare
Peer comment(s):

neutral Ivana UK : its? She's female so 'her'//sorry Gad, I pointed the same thing out to someone else above so thought it was only fair I mention it here too :-)
6 hrs
I stand corrected
Something went wrong...

Reference comments

4 hrs
Reference:

Come simbolo di potere, di forza, di autorità:
il b. della giustizia Il b. secolare, l’autorità civile, contrapposta a quella religiosa (b. ecclesiastico) Prender b., arrogarsi troppa libertà o autorità.
http://www.wordreference.com/definizione/braccio secolare

Inquisizione - Wikipedia
it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inquisizione
La pena viene eseguita dall'autorità civile, il cosiddetto braccio secolare – al quale il tribunale ...
‎Inquisizione spagnola - ‎Inquisizione medievale - ‎Leggenda nera dell'Inquisizione

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 4 hrs (2014-02-20 20:34:43 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

significa delegare il "lavoro sporco"
Something went wrong...
Term search
  • All of ProZ.com
  • Term search
  • Jobs
  • Forums
  • Multiple search