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Portuguese to English translations [PRO] Idioms / Maxims / Sayings / Possible regionalism
Portuguese term or phrase:pintado
The word appears in a quotation from General Rondon, cited in an academic paper. The author of the paper has suggested a meaning for the term (in brackets below), but I don't feel this interpretation fits the context. My "desconfiômetro" tells me there might be a regionalism hidden here.
"Urgia a retirada do pessoal do foco palúdico, no mês em que é comum ouvir-se dos habitantes da cidade, que não há um só ‘pintado’ [o peixe] que entre nessa época ali, que não caia doente de febre."
Gen. Rondon is referring to the need to evacuate a location in Mato Grosso where heavy rains had fallen and there was a high chance of an outbreak of malaria.
I am already aware of the usual meanings of "pintado." Please only reply if you are aware of a regional use that does not appear in the standard dictionaries. I don't even need a translation: a contextual explanation would be great.
Explanation: Please check out the link below, to a book called "Diários índios: os Urubus-Kaapor" by Darcy Ribeiro. If you search, you will find this sentence: "Só quatro meses depois do assassinato de Araújo e dos dois trabalhadores índios, os Urubus voltaram ao Pedro Danta. Veio primeiro um só índio de nome Kuráo, também armado e pintado, pedindo passagem, mas não deixaram ninguém no barranco."
This was in 1930. You can read, slightly above, that the Indians knew the "Posto General Rondon".
It would support the idea that "pintado" could refer to the local Indians. It is absurd to suggest that General Rondon said the fish were catching malaria!
I am not sure if the Indians in the Mato Grosso had already been exposed to malaria before the arrival of the colonisers. If not, they would have caught it very quickly, as they caught so many other "imported" diseases.
Of course, many tribes of Indians may have painted themselves, and so the term might not refer to this specific tribe. It could well have become a generic nickname for any painted Indian.
The disease here is malaria, not smallpox, so this also reinforces the interpretation "Indian": it was an outbreak so bad that even those who had lived with the endemic disease for ages were catching it. But again, I believe more research may take the question out of the field of conjecture into the realm of known historical usage.
Thank you Diane. Yes, I feel that this interpretation makes a lot of sense and resolves a lot of apparent inconsistencies. There seem to be several texts from the period which relate that many, if not all, tribes of indians in the "sertão" painted themselves completely. Nothing more natural than to invent a descriptive nickname, "Pintados".
As you may have read in my previous comment, I do believe your reading is correct. But I will do some further research and exchange ideas with the author before selecting the most appropriate response. Thank you so much!
Sorry I disappeared from this discussion. (1) My gut immediately goes with the "Indian" interpretation. (a) It explains the quote marks - 'pintado' (unnecessary if you are referring to the fish). (b) The syntactical strangeness is eliminated ("peixe que entre nessa época"). (c) It makes historical sense. I will do further research. As to preserving the author's mistake, one thing I love about working directly with a client is being able to exchange ideas and help arrive at a better product in both languages. The paper has not gone to print, and if further research supports the "Indian" interpretation, I'm sure he will readily change the text in Portuguese. I will in fact contact him now about the problem and submit the Indian suggestion. Thank you, Martin.
Remember Eugene Nida: We strive for the 'dynamic equivalent', which may not be a literal translation. Consider this: If the author meant "injuns" and you put the fish's name, it would be a howler - and the other way around. Better to convey the idea than make a mistake.
Just as everyone knows that fish don't get malaria, they also know that indigenous people are highly susceptible - so that interpretation would change the whole emphasis of the statement. I still think it's better to avoid making a mistake and not be specific about the 'creature' being referred to.
The author of the quotation was General Rondon. Would a practical man like him have suggested that all the fish which went to the town were coming down with fever, as a way of saying how serious the outbreak was? It doesn´t add up for me...
Thank God there is someone else out there who doesn't feel obliged to bowdlerize everything and call a spade a spade, with the continued lexical enrichment!
I have ignored PC because in the days we are talking about, late XIX/early XX centuries, it hadn´t been invented yet and didn´t inhibit descriptive terms! :) As to fish and fever, given that they are cold-blooded and surrounded by water at a stable temperature, I doubt, like you, if their body temperature can increase...
As far as i know fish don't suffer from a fever, redskins on the other hand do, so as did most native Americans (thanks in part to European settlers) sometimes political "correctness" clouds the issue. I'd go for "injuns" in this context. (just my opinion of course)
"pintado" is one of the nicer names that might have been used for Indians. After all, it is not derogatory, it just refers to the fact that they painted themselves. A bit like "redskin" referred to the fact that North American Indians had red skin. Around here, people still refer to the local Indians as "bugres". If you research that term, you will find that it is very derogatory!
Luiza, this is one more reason to treat it as a fish. The translator should not change the meaning of the text because he/she does not agree with it. The maximum one can do is to write a footnote about it.
Tobias, the author refers to the indians as "índios". The tribes in that area were the Parecis and Nambiquaras.
text referred to mentions 'índios' some 20 times, fish, once "[o peixe]". Also, in the document cited, 'Pintado' is capitalized, not lower case, as in citation. As Martin notes, the notion of a concern with fish catching malaria is patently ridiculous.
I suggested the common name for the Brazilian pintado, i.e., tiger-Fish in that even the tiger-fishes, known for their hardiness, were catching malaria.
Further to my comment below. Why not resolve the problem with a translator's note. Something along the lines of "'pintado', a local fish known for its hardiness", that...
Please do not misunderstand me! I use the word "absurd" referring to the academic paper in which the author noted [o peixe] referring to "pintado". I agree that you translated what was asked!
My suggestion was based in the text. It is clearly stated in brackets that it is the fish. In spite of the italian saying "Traduttore, Traditore" I tried to be faithful to the text. It is not the translator role to judge if Rondon was right or wrong.
I found three possibilities: (1) somebody with freckles can be called "pintado"; (2) somebody who is capable of something. These two come from dicionário Aurélio. Then, in Mato Grosso, natives (Indians) are sometimes refered to as pintados. Fish are cold blooded so I suppose they do not have fever. So this can't be about the fish.
I don't meet any of your prerequisites but would like to suggest that what is meant here is "even the strongest". According to Wikipedia, the Pseudoplatystoma are known for their robust bodies and "prove to be hardy". I can't really see how you could preserve the fish image.
Explanation: 11 nov. 2010 ... Turismo em Cuiabá. Pintado: exclusividade gastronômica da América do Sul e carro chefe do cardápio das peixarias e alguns restaurantes de ... conhecendomatogrosso.com.br/pintado-exclusividade-gastronomica-da-america-do-sul-e-carro-chefe-do-cardapio-das-peixarias-e-... - Em cache
Nome popular: Pintado Nome científico: Pseudoplathystoma corruscans Habitat: Pode ser encontrado desde o Mato Grosso , passando por Minas Gerais, ... peska.com.br/.../83-pintado-pseudoplathystoma-corruscans - Em cache
In their native waters, these fish may be called Surubí in guaraní. This name ist also used in spanish.. P. corruscans may be called moleque or pintado.[1] They often are referred to in the vernacular as Bagre rayado or Pintadillo (tiger catfish or tiger–shovelnose).[2] P. corruscans, P. fasciatum, and P. tigrinum are also known as Spotted Sorubim, Barred Sorubim, and Tiger Sorubim, respectively.[3][4][5] This genus contains the fish commonly known as the tiger shovelnose catfish in the aquarium hobby, though the species in this genus are relatively easy to confuse.
Explanation: Please check out the link below, to a book called "Diários índios: os Urubus-Kaapor" by Darcy Ribeiro. If you search, you will find this sentence: "Só quatro meses depois do assassinato de Araújo e dos dois trabalhadores índios, os Urubus voltaram ao Pedro Danta. Veio primeiro um só índio de nome Kuráo, também armado e pintado, pedindo passagem, mas não deixaram ninguém no barranco."
This was in 1930. You can read, slightly above, that the Indians knew the "Posto General Rondon".
It would support the idea that "pintado" could refer to the local Indians. It is absurd to suggest that General Rondon said the fish were catching malaria!
I am not sure if the Indians in the Mato Grosso had already been exposed to malaria before the arrival of the colonisers. If not, they would have caught it very quickly, as they caught so many other "imported" diseases.
Of course, many tribes of Indians may have painted themselves, and so the term might not refer to this specific tribe. It could well have become a generic nickname for any painted Indian.
