The Thousand and One Nights, Vol. I.: Commonly Called the Arabian Nights' Entertainments — Page 13
In other words, I insert nothing that I deem greatly inferior in interest to the tales in the old version.
In altre parole, non inserisco nulla che io ritenga notevolmente inferiore per interesse ai racconti della versione originale.
Certain passages which, in the original work, are of an objectionable nature, I have slightly varied; but in doing this, I have been particularly careful to render them so as to be perfectly agreeable with Arab manners and customs.
Certi passi che, nell'opera originale, sono di natura sconveniente, li ho leggermente modificati; ma nel fare ciò, ho avuto particolare cura di renderli in modo da essere perfettamente conformi ai costumi e alle usanze arabe.
It was originally my intention to omit almost the whole of the poetry, thinking that the loss of measure and rhyme, and the impossibility of preserving the examples of paronomasia and some other figures with which they abound, would render translations of them generally intolerable to the reader:
Era mia intenzione originale omettere quasi tutta la poesia, pensando che la perdita di metro e rima, e l'impossibilità di preservare gli esempi di paronomasia e di alcune altre figure retoriche di cui abbondano, avrebbe reso le loro traduzioni generalmente intollerabili per il lettore:
but afterwards I reflected that the character of the work would be thus greatly altered; and its value, as illustrating Arab manners and feelings, much diminished.
ma in seguito ho riflettuto che il carattere dell'opera ne sarebbe risultato grandemente alterato; e il suo valore, come illustrazione dei costumi e dei sentimenti arabi, molto diminuito.
I therefore determined to preserve a considerable number of select pieces, chosen either for their relative merits or because required by the context.
Ho quindi deciso di conservare un numero considerevole di brani scelti, selezionati sia per i loro meriti relativi sia perché richiesti dal contesto.
The number of those comprised in the first volume of my translation is nearly half of the number contained in the corresponding portion of the original work;
Il numero di quelli compresi nel primo volume della mia traduzione è quasi la metà del numero contenuto nella porzione corrispondente dell'opera originale;
but in several cases I have omitted one or more verses of a piece as unsuitable, or for some other reason; and in a few instances I have given only the first verse or the first couplet.
ma in diversi casi ho omesso uno o più versi di un componimento in quanto inadatti, o per qualche altro motivo; e in alcuni casi ho riportato solo il primo verso o il primo distico.
Vocabulary
- altre
- al-tre — Other, different (feminine plural form)
- parole
- pa-ro-le — Words, spoken expressions (feminine plural)
- inserisco
- in-se-ri-sco — I insert, I include something into a text
- nulla
- nul-la — Nothing, not anything at all
- ritenga
- ri-ten-ga — I consider, I deem (subjunctive of ritenere)
- notevolmente
- no-te-vol-men-te — Notably, considerably, to a significant degree
- inferiore
- in-fe-ryo-re — Inferior, lower in quality or rank
- interesse
- in-te-res-se — Interest, appeal, or importance of something
- racconti
- rak-kon-ti — Stories, tales, short narrative accounts
- versione
- ver-syo-ne — Version, translation, or variant of a text
- originale
- o-ri-ji-na-le — Original, first or authentic version of something
- Certi
- cher-ti — Certain, some specific (masculine plural adjective)
- passi
- pas-si — Passages, excerpts from a written work
- opera
- o-pe-ra — Work, literary or artistic creation or composition
- natura
- na-tu-ra — Nature, character, or intrinsic quality of something
- sconveniente
- skon-ve-nyen-te — Unsuitable, improper, indecent in content or manner
- leggermente
- led-jer-men-te — Slightly, lightly, to a small degree
- modificati
- mo-di-fi-ka-ti — Modified, changed, altered (past participle, plural)
- ciò
- cho — This, that, referring to something previously mentioned
- particolare
- par-ti-ko-la-re — Particular, special, specific attention or care
- cura
- ku-ra — Care, attention, diligence applied to a task
- renderli
- ren-der-li — To render them, to present or express them
- modo
- mo-do — Way, manner, method of doing something
- perfettamente
- per-fet-ta-men-te — Perfectly, completely, in an entirely correct manner
- conformi
- kon-for-mi — Conforming, consistent with, in accordance with
- costumi
- kos-tu-mi — Customs, traditions, habitual practices of a society
- usanze
- u-zan-tse — Usages, customs, established practices of a culture
- arabe
- a-ra-be — Arab, Arabian (feminine plural adjective)
- intenzione
- in-ten-tsyo-ne — Intention, plan, purpose behind an action
- omettere
- o-met-te-re — To omit, to leave out, to exclude something
- quasi
- kwa-zi — Almost, nearly, not quite entirely
- poesia
- po-e-zi-a — Poetry, poem, literary art form using verse
- pensando
- pen-san-do — Thinking, considering (present gerund of pensare)
- perdita
- per-di-ta — Loss, deprivation of something valuable or important
- metro
- me-tro — Meter, rhythmic structure of a poetic verse
- rima
- ri-ma — Rhyme, correspondence of sounds at line endings
- impossibilità
- im-pos-si-bi-li-ta — Impossibility, the state of being unable to do
- preservare
- pre-ser-va-re — To preserve, to maintain or keep something intact
- esempi
- e-zem-pi — Examples, instances illustrating a point or rule
- paronomasia
- pa-ro-no-ma-zi-a — Wordplay based on similar-sounding words (pun)
- alcune
- al-ku-ne — Some, a few (feminine plural indefinite adjective)
- figure
- fi-gu-re — Figures of speech, rhetorical or literary devices
- retoriche
- re-to-ri-ke — Rhetorical, relating to the art of persuasion
- cui
- ku-i — Which, whom, whose (relative pronoun in Italian)
- abbondano
- ab-bon-da-no — They abound, are plentiful or richly present
- avrebbe
- a-vreb-be — Would have (conditional of avere, third person)
- reso
- re-zo — Rendered, made (past participle of rendere)
- traduzioni
- tra-du-tsyo-ni — Translations, texts converted from one language to another
- generalmente
- je-ne-ral-men-te — Generally, in most cases or as a rule
- intollerabili
- in-tol-le-ra-bi-li — Intolerable, unbearable, impossible to accept or endure
- lettore
- let-to-re — Reader, person who reads a text or book
- seguito
- se-gwi-to — Afterwards, later; also: following, continuation
- riflettuto
- ri-flet-tu-to — Reflected, reconsidered (past participle of riflettere)
- carattere
- ka-rat-te-re — Character, nature, distinctive quality of something
- ne
- ne — Of it/them, from there (partitive/locative pronoun)
- sarebbe
- sa-reb-be — Would be (conditional of essere, third person singular)
- risultato
- ri-zul-ta-to — Result, outcome; resulted (past participle)
- grandemente
- gran-de-men-te — Greatly, to a large or significant extent
- alterato
- al-te-ra-to — Altered, changed, distorted from its original form
- valore
- va-lo-re — Value, worth, importance of something
- illustrazione
- il-lus-tra-tsyo-ne — Illustration, example that clarifies or demonstrates something
- sentimenti
- sen-ti-men-ti — Feelings, emotions, sentiments (masculine plural noun)
- diminuito
- di-mi-nwi-to — Diminished, reduced, decreased in value or degree
- quindi
- kwin-di — Therefore, so, consequently (connective adverb)
- deciso
- de-chi-zo — Decided, resolved (past participle of decidere)
- conservare
- kon-ser-va-re — To preserve, to keep, to maintain something intact
- numero
- nu-me-ro — Number, quantity, amount of something
- considerevole
- kon-si-de-re-vo-le — Considerable, significant, notably large in amount
- brani
- bra-ni — Passages, excerpts, selected portions of a text
- scelti
- shel-ti — Chosen, selected (past participle of scegliere, plural)
- selezionati
- se-le-tsyo-na-ti — Selected, carefully chosen from a larger group
- sia
- si-a — Both...and; also subjunctive of essere (to be)
- meriti
- me-ri-ti — Merits, qualities that make something valuable or worthy
- relativi
- re-la-ti-vi — Relative, respective, related (masculine plural adjective)
- richiesti
- ri-kyes-ti — Required, requested (past participle of richiedere, plural)
- contesto
- kon-tes-to — Context, surrounding circumstances giving meaning to something
- quelli
- kwel-li — Those ones (masculine plural demonstrative pronoun)
- compresi
- kom-pre-zi — Included, comprised (past participle of comprendere, plural)
- volume
- vo-lu-me — Volume, book, tome of a larger work
- traduzione
- tra-du-tsyo-ne — Translation, rendering of a text in another language
- metà
- me-ta — Half, one of two equal parts
- contenuto
- kon-te-nu-to — Content, material contained within a text or work
- porzione
- por-tsyo-ne — Portion, section, part of a larger whole
- corrispondente
- kor-ri-spon-den-te — Corresponding, matching equivalent section or part
- diversi
- di-ver-si — Several, various, different (masculine plural adjective)
- casi
- ka-zi — Cases, instances, occurrences of something
- omesso
- o-mes-so — Omitted, left out (past participle of omettere)
- versi
- ver-si — Verses, lines of a poem (masculine plural noun)
- componimento
- kom-po-ni-men-to — Composition, literary or poetic piece of writing
- quanto
- kwan-to — As much as, how much, inasmuch as
- inadatti
- in-a-dat-ti — Unsuitable, unfit, inappropriate (masculine plural adjective)
- qualche
- kwal-ke — Some, any, a few (indefinite adjective, singular)
- motivo
- mo-ti-vo — Reason, motive, cause behind an action or decision
- alcuni
- al-ku-ni — Some, a few (masculine plural indefinite adjective)
- riportato
- ri-por-ta-to — Reported, reproduced, included (past participle of riportare)
- verso
- ver-so — Verse, line of poetry; also: toward (preposition)
- distico
- dis-ti-ko — Couplet, pair of rhyming or related verse lines
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