Thursday, August 08, 2019

It deserves subtler translation …

… How "Carpe Diem" Got Lost in Translation | JSTOR Daily. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

I suspect that harvest is the best word. 

2 comments:

  1. "To take possession violently" is a special sense of the verb "to seize" ; the basic meaning is simply to "take hold of," and would be hard to better for translating carpe diem .

    One reading the article might come away with the impression that Chi Luu thinks "seize the day" ("Hollywood phrasing," she calls it) had its origin in a couple of Robin Williams movies some thirty years ago. I hope the JSTOR pitfall, I mean blog, is too obscure to be much visited by the eager and unwary.

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  2. Yes, the provincial time frame of the article is worrisome. And your point about "seize" is well taken.

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