en combinación

15:55 Apr 1, 2018 

Can include slips, bras, nighties, knickers . . .

00:47 Mar 29, 2018 

Thanks so much. 😊

23:21 Mar 28, 2018 

Thank you for your masterly screed and well-deserved tribute to the work of Charles Davis.

15:58 Mar 28, 2018 

My posting of the term was not the product of a back translation, or any translation project at all. It was simply a term that I came across in reading a newspaper article - a term that I did not remember ever having encountered, and that I did not know the meaning of.

I explained my reasons for grading the question as I did. I think that most reasonable people would concede that the criteria for my decision were logical, and not arbitrary. So I can see no grounds for complaint or resentment. Of course, you are free to complain and resent, if you really want to....

11:31 Mar 28, 2018 

Robert's comment. So it was a back translation, and negligee was the term actually used by Mr Williams? Deep sighs of relief, I can now get back to untwisting my knickers, safe in the knowledge that justice has been done :-)

09:00 Mar 28, 2018 

It's not for me to comment on Robert's decision, but I do think the glossary entry is appropriate, except that I would have put "slip" before "combination". Since I think "negligee", for very special reasons already discussed, is the right word to use in this case, it should arguably be included in the entry derived from this particular question, though definitely at the end, since it will hardly ever be the appropriate translation for "combinación" in other cases. "Combinación" is still in common use, at least in Spain (I have taken advice on this), and is the standard modern word for a slip, worn under a skirt or dress, over underwear, primarily to avoid show-through. In Spain it is no longer called "enagua", though it used to be. In English, however, nobody calls this garment a "combination" nowadays; that translation would be suitable in historical contexts, but "slip" would be the word for modern contexts. So "slip", in my view, is the primary option for general purposes.

07:50 Mar 28, 2018 

At least Robert entered "combinations" in the glossary. Although I kind of thought the other suggestions were a bit (cough, cough) pants :)

09:15 Mar 27, 2018 

So we'll have t just agree to disagree. Combinations would be a well-known lexical item/garment in the Tennesee Williams period (early 20th C). However, as I mentioned below, you can call it what you like. But I wouldn't put anything into the glossary other than "combination/s".

08:57 Mar 27, 2018 

Combinations come in many forms in different periods. Here, just to take one example, are some from 1917:
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0640/3159/products/WH_1917...

They are not by any means always the chemise + drawers/bloomers combination that some dictionaries say.

But this is beside the point, because we are translating "combinación", not "combination", and you cannot assume they are exactly the same thing. One obvious difference is that combinations exist for men as well.

As for negligee, well, again there's a vast difference between the negligees of earlier periods and the Ann Summers kind you find in an image search today. In any case, I think it's clear that Rose wore a garment around the house that her brother called a negligee and that someone translated it into Spanish as "combinación", thinking of an undergarment like a slip (which is probably just about right), and not thinking of what might come to our minds when we hear the word "combination(s)".

08:27 Mar 27, 2018 

The garment known as "combination/s" is NOT a slip or negligee, or a petticoat, no matter how much we insist otherwise. Let's please get that straight. I think I posted enough links to make that abundantly clear. However, whether you decide to use that or a more modern, up-to-date, perhaps more suitable version is up to you or your client. I know which one I'd use if given free rein.

05:44 Mar 27, 2018 

Your comment, Muriel, sent me back to earlier sources to see what Williams might have been referring to. As I mentioned to you, I thought of looking up "negligee" in Webster's 1913 dictionary. It is defined there as "An easy, unceremonious attire; undress; also, a kind of easy robe or dressing gown worn by women" ( https://www.websters1913.com/words/Negligee ). The latter part of this describes pretty much the kind of garment Jean Harlowe used to wear and what negligee means today, though it now implies something skimpier and filmier, I'd say. But "undress" suggests a wider range of possibilities and perhaps a generic term for various kinds of undergarment. Here's a quotation from 1934 Bulletin of the US National Retail Dry Goods Association:

"The Undergarment and Negligee Industry is defined to include all ladies' undergarments made from woven silk, woven rayon, or less than 100% cotton"
https://books.google.es/books?id=U-ENAQAAMAAJ&q="negligee"&d...

04:56 Mar 27, 2018 

I'm remembering a woman I knew as a child, an artist for New Yorker magazine considered to be very "bohemian," whose at-home costume was gauzy see-through palazzo pants and a matching long flowing top with draped, fluttery sleeves. I think this could be what Tennessee Williams was talking about. If not real negligees (certainly Jean Harlowe wore negligees a good part of the time: http://www.slightlyscarlett.com/2016/11/02/top-5-jean-harlow... ) then the costume that I remember, which I'm quite sure was a two-piece outfit with extra-wide pants. (I knew another woman in the late 1950s who also dressed that way when she was at home.)
But the important thing here is that 'negligee' is the word the author used and the Spanish is a translation of the original English.

19:15 Mar 26, 2018 

You would make a big mistake translating "combinación" as knickers. "Combinación" is a slip or petticoat or any other synonyms you might find. Not a nightgown and certainly not a pair of knickers.

18:19 Mar 26, 2018 

This query seems like a good example of those occasions when the most accurate translation may not be the best option for its purpose. The 19th century undergarment "combinations" may not be well known to a large section of the potential readership nowadays, so to make it more accessible, another more familiar term might do the job better. So, "petticoat/slip/nightdress/underwear"... and the like may be a better choice, depending on your criteria.