GR translation: they are transubstantiated

[Mike Jing]

Thanks, János. That's probably what I'll do, with a footnote explaining the
religious aspect since most Chinese readers are probably unfamiliar with
the theological idea.



On Wed, Jan 29, 2025 at 5:06 AM János Széky <miksaapja at gmail.com> wrote:

> I think it's safe to use (b). In old European folklore bread is kind of a
> sacred object, and as leavening is not 100pct sure, it used to be something
> protected via magical rites.
> It means when Christmas comes around (no one could foresee in May how much
> food would be available in December in war-torn Germany).
>
> Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com> ezt írta (időpont: 2025. jan.
> 29., Sze, 9:20):
>
>> V368.25-30, P374.22-27    . . . by now it’s clear that they’re human
>> bodies, dug from beneath today’s rubble, each inside its carefully tagged
>> GI fartsack. But it was more than an optical mistake. They are rising,
>> they
>> are transubstantiated, and who knows, with summer over and hungry winter
>> coming down, what we’ll be feeding on by Xmas?
>>
>> The word "transubstantiate" has two basic meanings:
>>
>> a. transitive. To change from one substance into another; to transform,
>> transmute.
>>
>> b. spec. in Theology: see transubstantiation n. 2.
>>
>> Clearly, both meanings are intended here, (a) being the apparent meaning,
>> with connotation of (b). Problem is, in Chinese, the two meanings are
>> represented by different words. If I choose (a), the connotation of (b)
>> will be lost. But if I choose (b), it doesn't quite work either because
>> what's happening here is not the same as the transubstantiation in
>> Theology, but rather the reverse. This is just one example of the kind of
>> problems you may run into when translating between languages that are
>> sufficiently different.
>>
>> By the way, in "what we’ll be feeding on by Xmas", does "by Xmas" mean at
>> the time when Xmas comes around, or does it mean between now and Xmas?
>> --
>> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>>
>