Jun 11, 2011 15:57
13 yrs ago
2 viewers *
Italian term
mortacci
May offend
Italian to English
Art/Literary
Cinema, Film, TV, Drama
Italian film from the 70's. Set in Rome.
Proposed translations
(English)
| 4 +5 | damnation |
Helen Pringle
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| 5 | your lousy dead ancestors |
ShopForWords
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| 3 +1 | your ganddad's liver!!! |
Michael Korovkin
|
Change log
Jun 11, 2011 18:23: Daniela Zambrini changed "May Offend" from "Not Checked" to "Checked"
Proposed translations
+5
13 mins
Selected
damnation
usually used with more context
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Note added at 21 mins (2011-06-11 16:19:17 GMT)
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such as 'li mortacci tue e de tu nonno' - meaning something like a bad death to everyone, even your grandfather
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Note added at 21 mins (2011-06-11 16:19:17 GMT)
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such as 'li mortacci tue e de tu nonno' - meaning something like a bad death to everyone, even your grandfather
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Tom in London
: sounds good though !
1 min
|
| agree |
Yvonne Gallagher
5 mins
|
| agree |
Harriet Moll
: damn it! is maybe a little less dated sounding...
16 mins
|
|
a good option too
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| agree |
Lara Barnett
1 hr
|
| neutral |
Michael Korovkin
: no, "mortacci" is not "bad deatth or something": it means simply "one's defunct ancestors", a pejorative for "the dead". "Damn", in Italian, is simply "dannazione!". With such a translation you lose all the Roman dialectal impact.
22 hrs
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Thanks Michael - I don't think there is any way to give the dialectal impact here, just use an insult such as 'damnation' , 'dammit' or whatever comes to mind.
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| agree |
James (Jim) Davis
: Or any similar imprecation
1 day 15 hrs
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Selected automatically based on peer agreement."
2 hrs
ShopForWords
Native in English
Specializes in field
Native in: English
Works in: French to English, Spanish to English, Italian to English, and 3 more.
your lousy dead ancestors
The link below says it all. I used to hear this expression a lot when I was in Rome ! But in English we rarely refer to people's dead (or alive!) relatives when cursing. It's a cultural thing.
Peer comment(s):
| neutral |
Helen Pringle
: Considering your explanation, why do you suggest "your lousy dead ancestors" as an answer?
3 hrs
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Sorry, literal translation. I'd need more context in order to get the right term in English. This kind of curse is usually directed at someone or something.
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+1
22 hrs
Michael Korovkin
Italy
Italy
Native in English
Works in field
Italy
Native in: English 
, Russian
Works in: Russian to English, English to Russian, Italian to Russian, and 2 more.
Related KudoZ points
:
20
your ganddad's liver!!!
Something like that. (don't use grandma: it'll be too offensive)
... go wild here, for even outside Rome area of linguistic competence, this delightful "all'anima de' mmmortacci tua!" is almost impossible to render in Italian.
But basically, it's cursing one's defunct acestors
... go wild here, for even outside Rome area of linguistic competence, this delightful "all'anima de' mmmortacci tua!" is almost impossible to render in Italian.
But basically, it's cursing one's defunct acestors
Discussion