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English translation: whichever type of Imperial triumph G awarded to himself to justify attaching them to his chariot
20:27 Aug 7, 2021
French to English translations [PRO] Art/Literary - History / From An Art History Book
French term or phrase:quel que fût le protocole impérial avec lequel le Reichsmarschall les attachait
Contexte:
Goering, homme de décision, fit connaître le jour suivant les conséquences pratiques à tirer de ses directives : les objets d’art que le Führer désire acquérir et ceux que lui-même a choisis avec l’intention de les acheter pour sa collection, devront être chargés immédiatement dans deux wagons de chemin de fer accrochés à son train spécial pour le retour à Berlin. Le sort en était donc jeté – les œuvres d’art confisquées étaient purement et simplement enlevées – quel que fût le protocole impérial avec lequel le Reichsmarschall les attachait à son char. J’ai souvent pensé que Goering se donnait la comédie et que tout ce processus avait été rêvé avant d’être réalisé. Il jouissait de se voir traînant après lui les trophées d’une victoire.
Goering carrying away stolen works of art from Jeu de Paume, as it they were spoils of war he should have been entitled to, as if he were a great conqueror or king.
whichever type of Imperial Rome style triumph the Reichsmarschall had awarded to himself in order to justify attaching them (the two wagons full of "trophies") to his Imperial chariot.
"le protocole impérial" is about the "protocol (= rules of the ceremony)" applicable to the ceremony of "the triumph" in Imperial Rome.
There is an element of mockery in "quel que fût le protocole impérial": only the Emperor could be awarded by the Senate the honour of a " triumph", anyone else would get a "lesser triumph".
Even the #2 is still not THE Emperor.
Implied: whether Göring awarded himself an Imperial Rome style triumph above his rank or not ...
regarding cart / carriage / chariot etc.
There are TWO " types" of them in this text.
Goering, homme de décision, fit connaître le jour suivant les conséquences pratiques à tirer de ses directives : les objets d’art que le Führer désire acquérir et ceux que lui-même a choisis avec l’intention de les acheter pour sa collection, devront être chargés immédiatement dans deux wagons de chemin de fer accrochés à son train spécial pour le retour à Berlin.
Le sort en était donc jeté – les œuvres d’art confisquées étaient purement et simplement enlevées – quel que fût le protocole impérial avec lequel le Reichsmarschall les attachait à son char.
J’ai souvent pensé que Goering se donnait la comédie et que tout ce processus avait été rêvé avant d’être réalisé. Il jouissait de se voir traînant après lui les trophées d’une victoire.
Of the plainly most literal type:
-- deux wagons de chemin de fer = railway carriages filled with the " trophies"
-- son train spécial = Göring's "personal train"
and then out of the blue you have
-- son char => there is no literal " char" of any kind in a train, so it MUST be a figure of style.
If you follow the sentence structure, the only fit is
"son char" = son train spécial
Then, if you take into account "traînant après lui les trophées d’une victoire" it's not much of a guess to see "son char" as "son char impérial" - a reference to the Emperor's chariot (here = son train spécial) heading an Imperial Rome style triumphal procession of war trophies.
The "trophies" might be in a cart, but in this mockery of Göring the wannabe "Roman Emperor" would be in his " chariot" . (son char = his Imperial chariot)
This author is plainly mocking Göring by comparing him to a pretend Roman Emperor, reminding the reader, as an added insult, that being only the #2 Göring is not even the equivalent of a "proper" Emperor.
. . . seemed to permeate every part of G's psyche, based on everything the writer of the source text has said about him, up to this point. and seemed to compel every one of his attitudes and behaviors. So I don't think the idea should be conveyed more lightly.
Ergo ? Au second paragraphe, tout est dans le registre de l'ironie, je le maintiens. A commencer par ' Alea jacta est/ le sort en est jeté ( César), protocole impérial et char. Une nuance à conserver selon moi. Les !ongues recherches sont inutiles à ce stade. Du reste , par la suite il est indiqué que G. se ' donnait la comédie'.
the 2 railway carts/wagons loaded with plundered art are being compared to a (Roman emperor’s) chariot loaded with the spoils of war in a procession known as "the triumph".
The "quel que fût le protocole impérial ..." (/whichever ...) part is a reference to the fact that there was 2 "grades/levels" of "triumph" a "lesser triumph" and a "full/normal triumph".
A general might be granted a "lesser triumph", known as an Ovation. He entered the city on foot, minus his troops, in his magistrate's toga and wearing a wreath of Venus's myrtle. ..
Like the Nazi ethical code to be adhered to while killing tens of millions of people, often in cold blood, and trying to take over the world?
There's nothing at all "flowery and pompous" about "protocol", "impérial" and "attachait", and we have direct equivalents in English that are not false friends.
Thanks for explaining this. I've seen too many Hollywood war films where the gold and works of art are carted away on a tank🧐
ph-b (X)
France
Protocole impérial, char et trophée
11:57 Aug 8, 2021
Le contexte montre clairement qu’il est fait référence ici au char que les empereurs romains utilisaient au cours de leur « triomphe » et sur lequel ou auquel étaient attachées leurs plus belles prises de guerre (hommes ou objets). Cf. plus loin dans le texte : traînant après lui les trophées d’une victoire. Il me semble qu’en anglais, on parle ici de (Roman emperor’s) chariot. Cf. https://www.google.com/search?q=Roman emperor’s chariot&oq=R... Les carts dénotent selon moi un statut ou un usage social bien inférieur. Tout ceci au sens figuré, évidemment.
The author uses "impérial" to avoid repeating "Reich" - the style is flowery and pompous in French which will sit ill literally translated into English. It simply means: whatever the legal provisions of the Reich that he used (as an excuse) to (justify his decsion to) annexe the goods
While I'm here, I think that after a while in this game, the urge to prove that you're translating, actually working, and not staying literal, fades, after all something like 30% of English words come from French, so words like "protocole", "impérial" and "attachait", you just do them literally.
The thought process involved to come to the conclusion that you can indeed translate them literally does constitute work, folks!
And in translation exams it's points off for over-interpretation and additions, if I remember correctly.
I now think I will use "carriage" instead of "chariot", since trains do have carriages, and pompous rulers ride around in carriages, esp. in parades in front of the nasses.
Would you then say, "regardless of the Reich's standard protocol, etc. . . .", in other words, that G might have been going against its rules for wartime loot, trying to keep as many valuable pieces/ the ones he liked for himself? Or do you think it just means the protocol that was put out there by the Reich, since its behavior was certainly lawless, in the conventional sense of the term. My feeling is that the word"standard" might not apply all that well in this case. The only reservation I have is that "Reich" doesn't appear in the source text in this instance, while it does in several other places in the source text. I'm sorry, but I don't understand German all that well anymore (your link).
An imperious ruler or conqueror would not be traveling around in a mere cart, IMO.
I should have mentioned that when the liberators went into G's bedroom, they found all kinds of luxurious, sumptuous lounging clothes, befitting of a ruling warrior, who I don't think would be caught dead pulling a cart behind him, IMO.
After all, one has to keep up appearances, esp., as in this case, put forward a certain image!
"...regardless of what would be standard imperial protocol, the Reichsmarschall went ahead and added them to his chariot," "chariot" referring to his special train, and to the conveyance of a triumphant warrior.
Other suggestions quite welcome!
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Answers
24 mins confidence:
whatever imperious / regal / Protocol the Reichsmarschall would use to tether them to his cart
Explanation: The irony would perhaps be reflected by changing Imperial to imperious.
Tthe 'Imperial Protocol' suggests to me a Royal-type Protocol for the acceptance of gifts or legit. buying rather than theft of works of art.
Example sentence(s):
imperious in American English 1. overbearing, arrogant, domineering, etc.
Imperial Protocol Z-207 was a protocol of the Galactic Empire that was used by the Imperial Military.
Regardless of the observance of the niceties b efitting his station
Explanation: Le sort en était donc jeté – les œuvres d’art confisquées étaient purement et simplement enlevées – quel que fût le protocole impérial avec lequel le Reichsmarschall les attachait à son char.
The die was cast- the confiscated artworks were purely and simply nicked and stashed onto his cart, regardless of the observance of any niceties befitting his status as Reichmarshall
Andrew Bramhall United Kingdom Local time: 07:57 Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 4
quel que fût le protocole impérial avec lequel le Reichsmarschall les attachait à son char
irrespective of the imperial protocol with which the Reichsmarschall attached them to his cart
Explanation: I think you can go fairly literal with this one.
But the segment makes more sense with "à son char" included.
Third Reich = Third Empire => imperial
"The Third Reich,[i] meaning "Third Realm" or "***Third Empire***", alluded to the Nazis' conceit that Nazi Germany was the successor to the earlier Holy Roman Empire (800–1806) and German Empire (1871–1918)." (Wikipedia)
Reichsmarschall: (Army) Marshall in the Reich/Empire. I prefer the German term, as it is "transparent", i.e. easily understandable to an English speaker, so no need to translate.
char: Now this is where things get interesting. "Char" means tank, but it also means cart. ("Char" is car in Canadian French -- see "Tête à Claques", very funny, depending on your taste: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TmZe05uXxQ )
Now, to belittle Goering, "char" is either wordplay by the author (tank/cart, untranslatable), or simply cart. I prefer cart over carriage, but I suppose carriage (more grandiose, faux-grandiose here) would do too, and we do use the term "train carriages", which of course fits in here.
Cart, in the context, is obviously the train.
For that matter, "protocol" is faux-officialese, making fun of Goering's shenanigans to get his hands on the loot. A protocol is a set procedure to get something done, far from what Goering is up to.
Now that the Führer is involved, we can of course recall that he was a failed artist in Vienna, so maybe "collecting" was a second-best option for him.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 2 hrs (2021-08-07 22:43:48 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
In fact, "using which" probably reads better than "with which", which is a bit cumbersome.
Cart v. carriage is an interesting one. What is the author's intent: to belittle, (cart), or faux-grandiose (carriage), mocking his taste for fine things. But, in fine, it's still an outdated vehicle now that the car had been invented.
And you can go further, by using chariot, the ancient gods used chariots...
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 2 hrs (2021-08-07 22:50:06 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
To Barbara: it's a question of interpretation of authorial intent, but both work in their own ways, I think.
In both cases, the English text would be mocking Goering, just in different ways.
Conor McAuley France Local time: 08:57 Works in field Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 12
Notes to answerer
Asker: As mentioned above, I prefer "chariot" over cart: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/french-english/char
