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rugosités solaires

English translation: dazzling sunshine

09:18 Apr 9, 2009
French to English translations [PRO]
Tourism & Travel
French term or phrase: rugosités solaires
My context is a city guide to Rouen. Not sure what to make of "rugosités solaires" towards the end of the following passage, though I may be missing something fairly obvious. Any ideas or explanations very welcome...

"Si la région rouennaise était un métal précieux, elle serait d’argent. Ses gris, profonds et capricieux sont un orage fondant sur une mer inquiète, en plein été. Ses nuances embrassent un spectre qui tire des blancs les plus soyeux aux rugosités solaires des jours paresseux."
Philip Taylor
Local time: 14:02
English translation:dazzling sunshine
Explanation:
RUGOSITE
Dans le domaine de la vue. Vif éclat désagréable à l'œil. Des points privilégiés, des paillettes éblouissantes (...) ressemblent à des rugosités de la lumière (MALÈGUE, Augustin, t. 2, 1933, p. 335).
TLF
Selected response from:

Graham macLachlan
Local time: 15:02
Grading comment
Many thanks for all comments. Far from clear this one I think, but I'm probably most convinced by this kind of approach in the end.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +1dazzling sunshine
Graham macLachlan
4 +1rough, patchy sunlight, feeble shadows
Bourth (X)
3 +1Draws out the soft white colours from the harshness of the sunlight
jaynedmoore
3the uneven brightness (of reluctant daylight)
ormiston


Discussion entries: 5





  

Answers


10 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
dazzling sunshine


Explanation:
RUGOSITE
Dans le domaine de la vue. Vif éclat désagréable à l'œil. Des points privilégiés, des paillettes éblouissantes (...) ressemblent à des rugosités de la lumière (MALÈGUE, Augustin, t. 2, 1933, p. 335).
TLF

Graham macLachlan
Local time: 15:02
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 178
Grading comment
Many thanks for all comments. Far from clear this one I think, but I'm probably most convinced by this kind of approach in the end.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Susan Nicholls
29 mins
  -> thanks
neutral  Bourth (X): "Dazzling"???!! This is Normandy we're talking about! I'd be inclined to stick poetically close to the original.
1 hr
  -> ha ha, what about poetic licence? Yes 'dazzle' might be a bit OTT...
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14 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +1
Draws out the soft white colours from the harshness of the sunlight


Explanation:
/

jaynedmoore
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:02
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Susan Nicholls: rather: ranging from the softest whites to...
24 mins
agree  kashew: Yes: soft v harsh (SOFTEST of white shades...)
35 mins
  -> yes agree soft is too absolute, softest works better in the sentence
neutral  Bourth (X): I too see "tirer ..." here as "ranging from to ...". It is a spectrum, after all.
1 hr
neutral  Vicky James: agree with Bourth and Susan
1 hr
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
rough, patchy sunlight, feeble shadows


Explanation:
Asperities of sunshine ...

Ideas for our poets to work on.

While Graham's find applies to the definition of the word, I hardly think "bright light" is intended here.

All a matter of poetic interpretation of course, but I retain the following "shades":

Ses gris ... orage ... mer inquiète ... blancs les plus soyeux ... rugosités solaires ... jours paresseux

Basically grey, with the dark grey of an imminent storm, the darkness of a troubled sea, but with whites (like the foam and spray of the sea, maybe), some meagre shadow cast on the relief by a dim/occasional sun.

A "jour paresseux" could indeed be a "lazy day" in which one lounges in the sun, but I read it as a "lazy day" in which the sun barely deigns to appear, but does break through, in patches, dimly maybe, bringing a bit more brightness to the scene and bringing out the relief ("rugosité") in dim shadows.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 10 hrs (2009-04-09 19:32:16 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Combining various ideas, therefore, " ... to the sun's dappling of a sluggish day" ??? Sufficiently vague to perfectly inocuous and allow any interpretation? And you even get the alliteration of sun's/sluggish and dappling/day. Now, children, what's the name of the figure of speech where you get repetition in the same order? And when it's reversed?

Bourth (X)
Local time: 15:02
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 67

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  ormiston: to me 'rugosité' primarily denotes uneven (Impressionist light so I like your 'patchy' sunshine, shades of dullness rather than dazzling. The problem is more 'paresseux' (= sluggish days that never reach noon brightness?)
5 hrs
  -> I like "sluggish days".
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11 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
the uneven brightness (of reluctant daylight)


Explanation:
OTT poetically perhaps and much inspired by Bourth's sense & sensibility; Here's my offering ! I know I have eclipsed any reference to sun but then that's Rouen for you ! and I think that the soft white is the brightest it gets !

ormiston
Local time: 15:02
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 14
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