monomaterico

English translation: all-steel (in this case)

10:40 Dec 12, 2006

Italian to English translations [PRO]
Furniture / Household Appliances

Italian term or phrase: monomaterico

I'm working on a text about interior design. This is part of a description of seating for waiting rooms, airports, etc. Since the text already notes that body is made of stainless steel, I'm not sure what "monomaterico" adds or how it relates to the rest.
TIA,
Catherine

La scocca in lamiera d’acciaio è monomaterica e autoportante: la tripla piegatura del bordo (una soluzione brevettata) fa in modo che la seduta funzioni come la balestra di un’automobile, con tre strati che reagiscono alle sollecitazioni in modo differenziato (a trazione e stiramento i due esterni, neutro quello centrale).

Catherine Bolton KudoZ activity Questions: 425 (2 open) (3 without valid answers) (8 closed without grading) Answers: 1164
Local time: 00:02

English translation:all-steel (in this case)

Explanation:
Hi Catherine,
I think it's just a fancy way of stating that the seating has an all-steel body.
Sarah

Selected response from:

Sarah Ponting
Italy
Local time: 00:02

Grading comment

Thanks for confirming what I though!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

4 +3

monomaterial

Loretta Bertoli

3 +3

all-steel (in this case)

Sarah Ponting

3 +2

single-material frame

Oriana Lucia

monomaterial

Alfredo Tutino

Discussion entries: 2

Answers

3 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +3

monomaterial

Explanation:
.

Reference: http://www.italiaimballaggio.it/italiaimballaggio/01_02_02/0...

Loretta Bertoli
Local time: 00:02
Native speaker of:

Italian

8 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

single-material frame

Explanation:
I would rather use this thatn monomaterial, sounds like a literal translation since its taken from an Italian website.
In English site they use this term more frequently.

Oriana Lucia
Local time: 00:02
Works in field
Native speaker of:

Italian

31 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +3

all-steel (in this case)

Explanation:
Hi Catherine,
I think it's just a fancy way of stating that the seating has an all-steel body.
Sarah

Sarah Ponting
Italy
Local time: 00:02
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 8

Grading comment

Thanks for confirming what I though!

1 hr confidence:

monomaterial

Explanation:
This is an extended agree for Loretta - qualified as regards the proposed translation, by the fact that I'm not a native English speaker (FWIW I feel it's only marginally better than Oriana's solution); but I want to add a reflection and an answer, more specifically, to your questions.

1) "monomaterico" is a spurious coinage, from a misused Italian word. The adjective "materico", in fact, was coined (or, at least, began being circulated) in the 1950s by art critics, with a very specific meaning - namely, to refer to "informale" and other artistic currents that used unusual materials in paintings - not as pigments but, indeed, as matter. A more general meaning ("pertaining or related to matter" - not materials) was then derived from this very specialized use. The is the result in dictionary terms: http://www.demauroparavia.it/67716

2) Some industrial designer pick-up some artsy jargon (they are artists, or quasi-artists themselves, after all!), misunderstands it, and nobody cares to put them straight (or can): thus, such strange monsters as this word are born. Probably, the author avoided the correct "monomateriale" because in his mind it was associated with the adjective "materiale" (i.e., the opposite of "spirituale") and not with the noun "materiale" (i.e. - to coin an impromptu definition, "a specific kind of matter, exp. when used in artifacts").

3) Even if we already know, form elsewhere in the text, the material the object is made of, this paragraph (and the word "monomaterico", wrong as it is, in it) does, however, convey an interesting point: that different mechanical properties in different part of the structure are obtained not by using different materials but by the ingenious shaping of a single material.

Alfredo Tutino
Local time: 00:02
Native speaker of:

Italian

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monomaterico

English translation: all-steel (in this case)

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English translation: all-steel (in this case)

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