Glossary entry (derived from question below)
Portuguese term
United States
BA in Transl., MA in ESL, 15 yrs of exp.
Native in: Portuguese 
Works in: English to Portuguese, Portuguese to English, Spanish to Portuguese, and 2 more.
sensações
Minha missão será eu a esquecer,
Meu orgulho o deserto em que em mim estou...
Mas há! Eu sinto-me altas tradições
De antes de tempo e espaço e vida e ser...
Já viram Deus as minhas sensações...
-- Fernando Pessoa
* "Rei" is a metaphor for the Divine.
sensação:
1. Processo de natureza física e/ou psíquica em que um estímulo ou um fator externo ou interno provoca uma reação física ou emocional em um indivíduo ou em um grupo; impressão física ou psíquica: sensação de frio: sensação de medo: Teve a sensação de que alguém havia entrado
2. Percepção intuitiva ou fundamentada em indícios: sensação de que algo mudou na relação
3. Percepção (premonitória) de que algo está acontecendo ou de que pode vir a acontecer: sensação de acidente com parentes
4. Fig. Impressão moral, emoção
5. Admiração ou alegria resultante de fato ou acontecimento inesperado
6. Fig. Coisa ou pessoa que desperta grande interesse ou entusiasmo: Os palhaços são a sensação do circo
Not sure about the meaning in this context. If we can draw any parallel with one of Pessoa's heteronyms (for example, Alberto Caeiro), then we can safely infer that it means "senses", or to be more precise, the five senses. Caeiro was known as the "poeta sensacionista" (roughly translated as "the poet of the senses"). Does this concept also apply to Pessoa himself? Or is he using "sensações" to mean something else?
Any thoughts/insights on this will be greatly appreciated. If possible, please provide a reliable reference. Thank you.
L2: EN_US
Register: poetic
| 4 | sense, sensation, intuition, feeling |
philgoddard
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| 3 | sense, divinations |
Cristiano Berhanu
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| feelings |
José Patrício
|
Apr 19, 2022 19:20: Oliver Simões Created KOG entry
Apr 19, 2022 19:28: Oliver Simões changed "Edited KOG entry" from "<a href="/profile/2407412">Oliver Simões's</a> old entry - "sensações"" to ""senses""
Apr 19, 2022 19:29: Oliver Simões changed "Edited KOG entry" from "<a href="/profile/2407412">Oliver Simões's</a> old entry - "sensações"" to ""senses""
Non-PRO (1): philgoddard
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Proposed translations
United States
Six languages into flawless English
Native in: English
Works in: German to English, French to English, Spanish to English, and 4 more.
sense, sensation, intuition, feeling
http://www.wordreference.com/pten/sensação
| That's not what I asked for. I need a precise translation (with at least one LITERARY reference, if possible), not a word list. Thanks anyway. |
| neutral |
Lara Barnett
: I think Oliver is confused about one which nuance he needs, obviously requiring the best choice from all of these.
2 hrs
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He has to make that choice, not us. And how can you provide "literary references" for a poem?
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Portugal
Biomedical specialist
Native in: Portuguese
Works in: Portuguese, English to Portuguese, Portuguese to English, and 5 more.
sense, divinations
It seems clear to me that the last verse is but a reformulation of the previous two: he has felt himself as something holy, he has seen in himself the divine order ("altas tradições"), something outside of time and space, even outside life and being.
The last verse encapsulates all this by saying that somehow there has been within him the sense of God (without saying "I sensed, I felt", for as the poem goes it is not himself who feels but the desert within him, the mission of his being, etc. There is a clear division between him and this other (messenger of God).
Given all this I would say "sensações" has here the meaning of intuition, of divination, of having felt the presence of something. It would be best translated as "a sense (of something)" (ex. "a sense of God", "a sense of peace").
However, "my sense" or "my senses" wouldn't work, as that would over emphasize the physical senses.
Therefore, I would go for something like "A sense of God has dwelled/lived in me", forsaking a little bit the original formulation, but keeping both the idea of the character in which God was experienced, and the idea of the narrator's passiveness in the process.
| Thank you, Cristiano. After reading your comments, I'm leaning towards reverting back to "senses" (plural) as a viable translation. "Sense" is defined as (1) "an awareness or feeling that one is in a specified state" (for example, a sense of well-being) and (2) "a keen intuitive awareness of or sensitivity to the presence or importance of something" (for instance, she had a fine sense of coming timing). In both cases, the word can be pluralized. Examples: (1) "In relation to the women's senses of well-being, four main gender formations were found..." (2) "a writer of uncommonly fine senses of melody and humor." I don't believe he meant "sense' (in the singular) because he used the plural. If he meant the singular, he would have used "sensação", not "sensações". The plural makes more sense for a poet as multiple and varied as Fernando Pessoa. |
| Correction: "She had a fine sense of comic timing." |
Reference comments
feelings
De antes de tempo e espaço e vida e ser...
Já viram Deus as minhas sensações’
Já discutimos as altas tradições e como ele se sente por causa da atual (do seu tempo) situação.
Portanto são feelings,
Ele tem a sensação de um deserto dentro dele (felizmente diz ele e, eliticamente nós deduzimos que ele pensa que maioria dos portugueses se está nas tintas para a situação, mas ele não, tem dentro dele um deserto, vive amargurado por causa disso, portanto o feeling é amargura.)
| Obrigado, José Patrício. Faz sentido a sua análise. Pena que não tenha colocado isto como resposta. Infelizmente, acabei encerrando a pergunta sem pontuar. Só agora vi o seu comentário. |
| A esta algura, já não tenho certeza, depois de ler os comentários do colega Cristiano. Penso que vou ter que pesquisar mais. |
Discussion
senses: conscious awareness or rationality (Merriam-Webster)
Therefore, when he says "Ja viram Deus as minhas sensações", he's basically saying that his awareness (that is, his conscious mind) was an entry door to the Divine. In Alberto Caeiro and Álvaro de Campos, "sensações" refers to the five physical senses.
Boy, this was a tough one. Thank you all.
If you do not understand the meaning this is being used for, should you not go through Portuguese>Portuguese kudoz platform? Here will be native Portuguese speakers who have the correct insight, from which you could then go onto to refer to English translators if required. What you have basically said is that you do not understand the meaning in Portuguese.