[lit-ideas] Ilunga (Was: Hardest Word to Translate)
- From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 1 Aug 2004 12:47:45 EDT
We are discussing the African language.
_teme17@xxxxxxxxxx (mailto:teme17@xxxxxxxxx) writes of a lexeme in the
African language of Congo:
Ilunga means â??a person who is ready to forgive any
abuse for the first time, to tolerate it a second
time, but never a third timeâ??.
----
A problem here is in the attempted translation, indeed.
_a person_ who is ready to *forgive* an abuse
for the first time,
to *tolerate* (but not forgive it?) a second time,
but never -- neither tolerate nor forgive? -- a third time.
The question arises as to whether you can tolerate but not forgive or vice
versa. As it stands, the translation offered seems ambiguous unless we read it
as "but never _tolerate_ -- but perhaps forgive? --" a third time?
Cheers,
JL
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