This site uses cookies. Some of these cookies are essential to the operation of the site, while others help to improve your experience by providing insights into how the site is being used. For more information, please see the ProZ.com privacy policy.
Cookie settings
S.B.P.R.: 3F
alegaciones sobre la perdida legal del derecho a sus bienes
Jan 8, 2014 17:40
10 yrs ago
3 viewers *
Spanish term

magna epopeya

Spanish to English Social Sciences History
This is from a text from Colombian written in the 1920s about the expectations surrounding an art show:

Los participantes irían a plasmar, según el autor, “(…) los tesoros incomparables de nuestra belleza autóctona, desde nuestra magna epopeya, hasta el rincón humildísimo y discreto; (…) por eso es de esperarse que ellos hayan comprendido que es en lo propio, y no en lo extraño, donde está el rico venero de la inspiración

I am not sure whether magna epopeya is a proper noun (customs for capitalization were different back then and still vary between Spanish and English) that refers to the magna epopeya de Cartagena or a common noun, referring to....

Thanks!
Proposed translations (English)
3 +3 greatest epic
4 +5 epic struggle for independence
4 +1 the heroic saga (ALT: glorious epic) of our war for independence
References
Epic

Discussion

Charles Davis Jan 9, 2014:
I won't deny that there is something a bit odd about "magna epopeya" here, but I think this is so on any plausible reading of the expression, not just the one Pablo Julián and I are proposing. In "our native beauty from A to Z", where Z is the humblest corner (of the country, presumably), you might expect that A would be the grandest aspects of Colombia's natural scenery (and some of them are certainly very grand). But I find it hard to believe that "magna epopeya" can refer to epic landscapes. So I think "belleza" must refer to beauty of a broader and less exclusively visual kind, the beauty of "lo autóctono" in all its aspects: the essence of the nation.
Pablo Julián Davis Jan 9, 2014:
Not a sandwich The structure of the passage is not a series of three in which the 'magna epopeya' is sandwiched in as the middle item, but rather, 'our wonderfulness, ranging from majestic A (magna epopeya) to humble Z'. I will use parentheses to demonstrate this: "los tesoros incomparables de nuestra belleza autóctona, (desde nuestra magna epopeya, hasta el rincón humildísimo y discreto);..." So it's not a case of sandwiching, but rather of a hierarchical expression of the range of examples of 'the beauties/wonders of our native soil', with the glories of the independence struggle serving as one extreme of a rhetorical continuum.
Jim Tucker (X) Jan 9, 2014:
"grand historical epic" that
Charles Davis Jan 9, 2014:
Note the emphatic nationalist emphasis in "nuestra" (twice) and "autóctona". This seems to be talking about expressing the quintessence of "Colombianness" in art, from the great to the small. The liberation struggle and the founding of the nation are a hugely important part of the Colombian national consciousness and surely seen as fertile subject-matter for art. In 1983 (see my reference) they actually passed a law to mark the 160th anniversary. This is also the point of origin, the wellspring, of the nation, which could be part of what "desde" implies. If "magna epopeya" doesn't have its standard Colombian meaning here, what might it refer to? What is this "greatest epic" that is to be given artistic treatment? Is there a Colombian national (literary) epic? I don't know of one.
patinba Jan 9, 2014:
Sandwiched as it is between "belleza autóctona" and "rincón humildísimo" I think it would be odd if the author was referring to the struggle for independence, and would be tempted to go for something more non-comittal, such as Andrew's proposal.

Proposed translations

+3
10 mins
Selected

greatest epic

Epopeya is an epic poem (e.g. Gilgamesh, Oddysey, Bagavagida) and Magna means it is the greatest example. The sense is that every culture has its great works: England>Hamlet (Or King Lear), Italy>Divina Comedia, Spain> El Cid (or Don Quixote), etc.
This being said I believe in context this is less about the actual term as it is defining a range from a high-brow or academic expression of culture in the Magna Epopeya to the more simple and humble corners of the indigenous culture.
Peer comment(s):
agree Yvonne Gallagher
3 mins
agree Carlos Blanco, B.Sc. in Chemistry
1 hr
agree patinba
3 hrs
neutral Pablo Julián Davis : 'magna' is not a superlative; does not mean greatest, but rather grand, glorious, majestic, etc.
21 hrs
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thanks"
+5
26 mins

epic struggle for independence

I don't think "magna epopeya" refers to a literary work at all. It's a standard expression in Colombia for the country's struggle for independence, and particularly the last phase, led by Simón Bolívar in 1819, recapturing what was then called New Granada from the Spanish and establishing Colombia as an independent country. The phrase is found in many places with this meaning and is enshrined in Colombian legislation:

"LEY 8 DE 1983
(marzo 8)
Diario Oficial No. 36.221 de 25 de marzo de 1983
Por la cual la Nación rinde honores al Libertador Simón Bolívar y a los héroes de la Magna Epopeya de la Campaña Libertadora de 1819, en su centésimo sexagésimo aniversario, y se dictan otras disposiciones.
EL CONGRESO DE COLOMBIA
DECRETA:
ARTÍCULO 1o. La Nación rinde honores y tributo de admiración y agradecimiento al Libertador Simón Bolívar y a todos los héroes combatientes en la epopeya libertaria de 1819."
http://www.redjurista.com/Documents/l0008_83.aspx

"durante mucho tiempo fue una de las entradas principales de la ciudad, por él ingresaron los ejércitos libertadores durante la magna epopeya de la independencia."
http://tampu.unicauca.edu.co/merlin/preview/sitios.php?IdSit...

I don't find "great epic" used in English sources on this subject, and it isn't a particularly idiomatic phrase in English. I think "epic struggle for independence" would fit well and would have the advantage of clarifying the meaning for those unfamiliar with the phrase "magna epopeya".
Peer comment(s):
agree Wendy Streitparth
23 mins
Thanks, Wendy!
agree Carlos Blanco, B.Sc. in Chemistry
45 mins
Thanks, Carlos!
agree Rosa Paredes
1 hr
Thanks, Rosa, and best wishes for 2014 :)
agree Pablo Julián Davis : The documentation is pertinent and persuasive, and the proposed translation is excellent.
20 hrs
Thanks very much, Pablo!
agree Evans (X)
23 hrs
Thanks, Gilla. Happy New Year!
Something went wrong...
+1
5 hrs

the heroic saga (ALT: glorious epic) of our war for independence

Alternativas (ni que hicieran mucha falta) a la muy buena propuesta de mi tocayo. Busco la connotación no sólo de lucha por la independencia, sino también y además el logro, la conquista heróica, de la misma.

books.google.com/books?isbn=0292705255 : Kenneth E. Foote. Bunker Hill. "the battlegrounds... a secure place in the heroic saga of the Revolutionary War and represented..."

books.google.com/books?isbn=0743245776 : Henry Kissinger. "...He first recounted the epic of Vietnam's struggle for independence through the centuries. ... The heroic saga of how the Vietnamese defeated all foreigners was ...

books.google.com/books?isbn=1558495185 : Thomas H. O'Connor. The Athens of America: Boston, 1825-1845. "... found that the heroic saga of Holland's fight for freedom against the armed might ... to America's own struggle for independence against the power of Great Britain..."

Martin Welz. "... a nationalism that has deep roots... it simultaneously keeps the 'glorious epic' of the independence struggle ..."

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?id=143502492483931...‎ : "Igbo Day of Tribute Speech... the Biafrans whose ancestors played a capital role in the glorious epic of 1804... to the efforts of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe in the fight for independence."

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 21 hrs (2014-01-09 15:09:57 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Possible translation: "...the incomparable treasures of our native land, from the heroic saga of our struggle for independence, to the humblest and most anonymous dwelling ... and so, we may hope that they have understood that it is in what is our own, and not in that which comes from afar, that we find the rich wellspring of inspiration."
Peer comment(s):
agree Charles Davis : This kind of language is certainly consonant with the tone of "magna epopeya". Good options.
20 mins
Something went wrong...

Reference comments

1 hr
Reference:

Epic

Actually it covers both meanings, you both are right.

The epic struggle for independence.

The epic poems, The Iliad and The Odyssey...
Reference:

http://lema.rae.es/drae/?val=epopeya

Something went wrong...
Close search
Term search
  • All of ProZ.com
  • Term search
  • Jobs
  • Forums
  • Multiple search