Dec 4, 2007 10:27
16 yrs ago
German term
Specialist art factual prose translator
Native in: English 
Works in: German to English
dass die Natur uns beim 'gemeinhin Besten' verlässt
German to English
Art/Literary
Philosophy
From a 15. century text
12. sentence in Balthazar Grazian's The Oracle, a Manual, or The Art of Worldly Wisdom, quoted in a text I'm working on. (I don't speak Spanish.)
gemeinhin Besten means "best average" as in "best average speed" but I'm not sure how to translate it in this context.
"Nature has left us with something mediocre?"
gemeinhin Besten means "best average" as in "best average speed" but I'm not sure how to translate it in this context.
"Nature has left us with something mediocre?"
Proposed translations
(English)
| 3 +1 | Nature scarcely ever gives us the very best |
Armorel Young
|
| 4 | nature leaves us mired in mediocrity |
Tilman Lichter
|
| 3 | Mother Nature quits when things start to get really groovy |
hazmatgerman (X)
|
Proposed translations
+1
2 hrs
Selected
Nature scarcely ever gives us the very best
Is what is given in the translation published online at:
http://www.sacred-texts.com/eso/aww/aww10.htm
There is no beauty unadorned and no excellence that would not become barbaric if it were not supported by artifice: this remedies the evil and improves the good. Nature scarcely ever gives us the very best; for that we must have recourse to art. Without this the best of natural dispositions is uncultured, and half is lacking to any excellence if training is absent. Every one has something unpolished without artificial training, and every kind of excellence needs some polish.
http://www.sacred-texts.com/eso/aww/aww10.htm
There is no beauty unadorned and no excellence that would not become barbaric if it were not supported by artifice: this remedies the evil and improves the good. Nature scarcely ever gives us the very best; for that we must have recourse to art. Without this the best of natural dispositions is uncultured, and half is lacking to any excellence if training is absent. Every one has something unpolished without artificial training, and every kind of excellence needs some polish.
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Many thanks. I hadn't found this URL."
1 hr
Mother Nature quits when things start to get really groovy
"gemeinhin" here means usually or most often. "Besten" means just that, the best.
My free translation attempt may not fit your register though.
My free translation attempt may not fit your register though.
Note from asker:
| unfortunately you're right about the register |
3 hrs
Tilman Lichter
Canada
Canada
Native in German
&
English
Specializes in field
Canada
Related KudoZ points
:
4
nature leaves us mired in mediocrity
without much context vielleicht richtig so.
Discussion