Il miglior fabbro?

Question

English translation: "the better craftsman"? I first came across it here in TBR and I no longer have my Webster's foreign phrase edition to look it up.

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I know Pound was well versed in other languages and advocated translating at least one poem in a lifetime, but when I did "The Wasteland" as an undergraduate I avoided a coronary by not chasing down every Eliot allusion.

Joanne

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Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]English translation: "the better craftsman"? I first came across it here in TBR and I no longer have my Webster's foreign phrase edition to look it up.[/nq]
The best smith. (or: The first-class smith.)

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]English translation: "the better craftsman"? I first came across it here in TBR and I no longer have my Webster's ... did "The Wasteland" as an undergraduate I avoided a coronary by not chasing down every Eliot allusion. Joanne /[/nq]
il miglior fabbro : Dante, Purgatorio, xxvi, 117 in reference the poet Arnaut Daniel, a 12-century poet that Pound studied in his youth.

il : he
miglior : better
fabbro : fabricator. An Italian/English dictionary, Cassell, says "Smith, artificer, maker, (fig.) inventor."
Jim, well versed in cut-and-paste

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]English translation: "the better craftsman"? I first came across it ... I avoided a coronary by not chasing down every Eliotallusion.[/nq]
[nq:1]il miglior fabbro : Dante, Purgatorio, xxvi, 117 in reference the poet Arnaut Daniel, a 12-century poet that Pound studied in his youth. il : he miglior : better fabbro : fabricator. An Italian/English dictionary, Cassell, says "Smith, artificer, maker, (fig.) inventor."[/nq]
Presumably Eliot was referring to Pound's suggestions scribbled on the typescript of The Wasteland, many of which he adopted in the final version. This Pound-edited typescript was issued in facsimile when it came to light after many years mislaid at the office of Eliot's US publishers.

Alan Jones
Alan Jones

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]English translation: "the better craftsman"? I first came across it ... by not chasing down every Eliot allusion. Joanne /[/nq]
[nq:1]il miglior fabbro : Dante, Purgatorio, xxvi, 117 in reference the poet Arnaut Daniel, a 12-century poet that Pound studied in his youth. il : he miglior : better fabbro : fabricator. An Italian/English dictionary, Cassell, says "Smith, artificer, maker, (fig.) inventor."[/nq]
Of course it's only 'better' because we know it is a comparison between two individuals. Any more and it would be translated as 'best'. Neither Italian nor Spanish (and presumably other romance languages) have separate words for 'best' and 'better'.

(Oh, and 'il' in this case is the definite article, not 'he').

Dylan

Usenet · Answer

Il miglior means "the best". As you said, the comparative and the superlative forms are identical. What distinguishes the two is the presence of the definite article (in this case "il"). For example: peggiore = worse; il peggiore = the worst.
gfc

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Il miglior means "the best". As you said, the comparative and thesuperlative forms are identical. What distinguishes the two is the presence of the definite article (in this case "il"). For example: peggiore = worse; il peggiore = the worst. gfc[/nq]
See my reply to 'Daniel' who said the same thing. We do not use 'best' in English when comparing two items/individuals.
Dylan

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