catalan translation

[Arjan]

Hi all,
i am looking for the Catalan translation of the word: Pixie
i did find it in spanish (duendecillo) but dont know if it is the same in catalan.

Anyone?

thnx
Arjan

[Birthright-L]

Hi,

in spanish I would say better "Duende" than "Duendecillo", although it
depends on the situation... No idea in catalan...

Greetings,

Vicente



----- Original Message -----
From: "Arjan" <brnetboard@BIRTHRIGHT.NET>
To: <BIRTHRIGHT-L@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM>
Sent: Monday, October 03, 2005 3:44 PM
Subject: catalan translation [9#2794]


> This post was generated by the Birthright.net message forum.
> You can view the entire thread at:
> http://www.birthright.net/showthread.php?goto=newpost&t=2794
> Arjan wrote:
> Hi all,
> i am looking for the Catalan translation of the word: Pixie
> i did find it in spanish (duendecillo) but dont know if it is the same in
> catalan.
>
> Anyone?
>
> thnx
> Arjan
>
>
>
> Birthright-l Archives:
> http://oracle.wizards.com/archives/birthright-l.html
>
>
>

[Saragon]

Hi all,
i am looking for the Catalan translation of the word: Pixie
i did find it in spanish (duendecillo) but dont know if it is the same in catalan.

Anyone?

thnx
Arjan

According to Global Translation's free online translator (http://www.global-translation-services.com/freetranslation.asp), "fairy" is translated as "fada". It could not translate something as specific as "pixie", however.

[soudhadies]

In portuguese duende is also the word that one would use. If that helps, it now has two iberian languages supporting it. I believe the -cillo suffix is a diminuitive like the -inho(a) in portuguese. Basically "Little duende." That may have been a cue taken from the -ie at the end of pixie, which is often a diminuitive in nicknames (Stevie, Doogie, Jessie, etc).

Fairy is fada in portuguese too. In that language duende describes a sort of magical entity similar to the brownie/hobgoblin of anglo myth.

[Azirafel]

It would be something like "follet".

I am curious. Why are you asking it?

[Azirafel]

It would be "follet" if the creature in question is considered male, "fada" if it is considered female. In spanish, it would be "duende" and "hada"

[Siele]

You can't translate that kind of names from mithology and tales. A pixie is just a pixie in whatever language you want, the same a dryad is a dryad (from celtic culture), a nymph a nymph (from ancient greek myth) and a deva a deva (hinduism). Pick it from whatever culture, but a pixie will never be the same that a "duendecillo" or a portuguese "fada".
It's the twenty century who tried to make mythical names as universals, and many times you have not a translation for a name, even if we have transliterations of old terms (like spanish "dríade" for dryad). Simply, for many words the translation don't exist. Unless you can tell me the spanish translation for tighmaevril, kender, faerzress, drow, drider, lich, ghoul, mimic, duergar, illithid, naga, troll..., and so on.
. The English translation for "duende" is "sprite", nor "pixie" and a "duendecillo" is just a little sprite, not a pixie. Whatever. Just we haven't the name for that specific kind of sprite. And yes, in catalan culture, "follet" is almost "sprite".

[geeman]

At 06:41 PM 10/4/2005 +0200, Siele wrote:

>The English translation for "duende" is "sprite", nor "pixie" and a
>"duendecillo" is just a little sprite, not a pixie. Whatever. Just we
>haven`t the name for that specific kind of sprite. And yes, in catalan
>culture, "follet" is almost "sprite".

Couldn`t one do a formation of the idea as in "water-sprite" and have a
Catalan translation of that?

Gary

[Azirafel]

Do we catalans have that kind of creature in our folklore?

[Sorontar]

Do we catalans have that kind of creature in our folklore?

As Siele said, sometimes it is better not to bother translating something, just warp it so it phonetically looks right for your language. For example, in English we use the word "banshee" for the Irish "bean-sidhe" because that is how we would write what we say. If we were to translate it literally, we would be calling it a "Fairy woman" or "woman of the fairies".

Arjan, perhaps you need give us the context under which you need the translation.

Sorontar

[Arjan]

Arjan, perhaps you need give us the context under which you need the translation.

Sorontar

Ok a bit of background why i want the translation.
A friend of mine has bought an orchard in spain (about 40 km inland near barcelona)

Since he and his wife a collectors of pixies they want to give their new home an appropiate catalan name based on the word pixie.

i dont know if Casa is proper Catalan as well, but if so it could become something like "Casa fada" or "Casa Duende" or whatever the most proper Catalan name is.

Arjan

[Siele]

So they love water sprites, and they want to call it "house of pixies", or something like that. I would suggest something more descriptive and evocative like Casa de la Font de les Fades (House of the Spring of Fairies), Casa de les Fades d'Aigua (House of the Fairies of Water). Note that in catalan "casa de" (house of) is usually shortened as "ca' " before the article, as like "ca' les fades d'aigua" (House of the fairies of water).
Perhaps fairy is too broad a term. If to stick to the fact that pixies are sprites, then they may be refered as water sprites (fullets d'aigua), so "Ca'ls fullets d'aigua" would be "House of the water sprites".
Well even if you don't like those possibilities, they will serve as information. Just a question, is pixie a well-known word in anglosaxon lore, or is it used just in d&d-related stuff?

[Arjan]

So they love water sprites, and they want to call it "house of pixies", or something like that. I would suggest something more descriptive and evocative like Casa de la Font de les Fades (House of the Spring of Fairies), Casa de les Fades d'Aigua (House of the Fairies of Water). Note that in catalan "casa de" (house of) is usually shortened as "ca' " before the article, as like "ca' les fades d'aigua" (House of the fairies of water).
Perhaps fairy is too broad a term. If to stick to the fact that pixies are sprites, then they may be refered as water sprites (fullets d'aigua), so "Ca'ls fullets d'aigua" would be "House of the water sprites".
Well even if you don't like those possibilities, they will serve as information. Just a question, is pixie a well-known word in anglosaxon lore, or is it used just in d&d-related stuff?

I didnt bring up the "water" part actually :P
And i am indeed refering to the anglosaxon lore

so then possible name will be: (assuming Duende = follet and Hada = fada)
Casa de les Fades (Ca' les fades)
Casa de les fullets (Ca' les fullets)

[Azirafel]

Well, (if I am wrong, please, correct me) the names probably should be:

Casa de les Fades (Ca' les fades)
Casa dels Follets (Ca' els follets)

[SADO]

I`m not a catalan loremaster, but imho Pixie in catalan would translate
better as FULLET or DONYET.
In every culture`s folktales there are a fair number of short sized weird
beings, each kind with it`s own personality, as fairy tales are not the same
all around the world, it`s pretty difficult to find a precise translation
that doesn`t substract/add to the original creature.

[Yael]

Hello everybody... i'm new here but a lover of Birthright since i discovered it 8 years ago.
A very interesting thread...
I'm from Valencia, Spain, the city 'The Cid' conquered to the moors. We also speak catalan here (Valencia, together with Aragon and Catalonia were part of the old Aragon's Kingdom)
The last traslation is the correct form:

Casa de les fades (house of faery)
Casa dels follets (house of pixies)

See you...