sarkatailelma

English translation: folded frieze

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
Finnish term or phrase:sarkataitelma
English translation:folded frieze
Entered by: Owen Witesman

01:50 Jul 25, 2009
Finnish to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Poetry & Literature
Finnish term or phrase: sarkatailelma
Here's the whole sentence: "Hän otti taisteluhattunsa, mokomankin sarkataitelman!"

The context is a description (with some humor, although the main purpose is the history, not the humor) of Napoleon dressing for a meeting with another head of state. He just determined that a crown would not do ("darn, left it in Paris..."), so he's settling for his normal field päähine. Obviously I'm not looking for a literal translation...unless you can make it work!
Owen Witesman
Local time: 11:46
folded frieze
Explanation:
It is a typo, the correct term is "sarkataitelma", as "tailelma" is not Finnish at all. The noun is derived from the verb "taittaa" or "taitella", which mean "to fold".
Selected response from:

Alfa Trans (X)
Local time: 19:46
Grading comment
I began from this answer: "He took up his fighting hat, hardly more than a folded piece of plain woven fabric!" "Frieze" is a type of plain weave fabric. The hat in question is a "bicorne". I chose not to use the word "frieze" for contextual reasons--no one in the intended audience would know what it means.
3 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4contorted frieze
Desmond O'Rourke
4folded frieze
Alfa Trans (X)


  

Answers


26 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
contorted frieze


Explanation:
Could be a typo for sarkataitelma, which might arguably be translated as "He grasped his three-cornered hat, contorted frieze that it was!"
Just a wild guess, but the comparison with his mislaid crown is clear.

Desmond O'Rourke
United States
Local time: 13:46
Meets criteria
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 23
Notes to answerer
Asker: You're right--that was just my typo. Copy-paste wasn't working for some odd reason so I retyped it...poorly.

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7 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
folded frieze


Explanation:
It is a typo, the correct term is "sarkataitelma", as "tailelma" is not Finnish at all. The noun is derived from the verb "taittaa" or "taitella", which mean "to fold".

Alfa Trans (X)
Local time: 19:46
Does not meet criteria
Native speaker of: Finnish
PRO pts in category: 3
Grading comment
I began from this answer: "He took up his fighting hat, hardly more than a folded piece of plain woven fabric!" "Frieze" is a type of plain weave fabric. The hat in question is a "bicorne". I chose not to use the word "frieze" for contextual reasons--no one in the intended audience would know what it means.
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