Fertish

10:50 Nov 20, 2019 

You have to first post them to an image hosting site, e.g. your own website, or one of the many image hosting facilities. Once it is posted there, you can then post a link to it here.

10:49 Nov 20, 2019 

Ah, that's important extra context then! Do we know what country this originates from? And hence what laws / powers might be involved? I'm thinking something like 'Turkish'... but perhaps there is some kind of equivalent of (e.g. Sharia) law in this country that is called by this name. Knowing the country might enable you to refine your research.

10:48 Nov 20, 2019 

Hi Sheila,
From the child-like, scribbled handwriting and bad grammar, I really don't think this was written by a person who is extremely literate or would use this sort of neologism.

10:33 Nov 20, 2019 

Sorry, I don't see how to post a photo here...

10:32 Nov 20, 2019 

Hi Tony, No this is not fiction. It is a deposition, the woman is making a statement about her father threatening her and trying to force her into an arranged marriage.

10:19 Nov 20, 2019 

Maybe it's a combination of fetish and furtive. But I guess all you can do is note all these theories along with certifying that the word doesn't seem to exist and is therefore not translatable.

09:54 Nov 20, 2019 

Hello Philippe, sorry I certainly didn't mean to dismiss your suggestion. I appologize if that is the impression you had. In fact, the real problem is not trying to figure out what it was supposed to mean, but how to deal with it in a "certified translation" where I am not allowed to speculate or guess what the intended meaning was, but must translate the text exactly as it appears. Since "Fertish" does not seem to be a real word, I will probably have to just leave it as is with a translators note at the bottom saying that the word is indecipherable or something. Thanks for your help. Cheers !

09:49 Nov 20, 2019 

This suggestion I offered yesterday in the first discussion post was dismissed.

22:57 Nov 19, 2019 

If this is handwriting, a picture would help. Possibly

16:46 Nov 19, 2019 

Juste pour allonger la liste des élucubrations!

16:40 Nov 19, 2019 

How about some yiddish word? :)

16:40 Nov 19, 2019 

Thinking that -ish can often have the sense of 'on the manner of a...' — cf. Scottish, elfish, impish, devilish, dwarfish, is this a fantasy situation where there might be a race of aliens called Ferts, for example?
Or could this be some phonetic aberration for some other word than 'fert'? It might help us guess to ave a bit more of the wider context?

16:37 Nov 19, 2019 

So wouldn't really make any more sense here either!

16:08 Nov 19, 2019 

My instinct is that the writer meant "furtive" but I am now faced with the problem of how to translate a word that does not exist. This is for a certified translation so I am not allowed to speculate or guess what the person meant, only translate the source text exactly as it appears.

16:07 Nov 19, 2019 

interesting case indeed, I thought of "fertig" in German but it does not make sense either :) Let's hope Tony reads that :)

16:04 Nov 19, 2019 

"fertig" in German (= closed if I remember well) might have been rendered phonetically. But it hardly makes sense in context.
Then a typo as a second thought: "fetish powers" in a humorous way - or not > pouvoirs magiques?
Sidelining: apparently it should read "scot-free"