The problem is that encadenamiento has both a literal meaning (binding something with chains) and a figurative meaning. In English, on the other hand, we need to use two separate words for the literal meaning (enchainment) and the figurative meaning (concatenation). I chose the more figurative word, since it seems that the figurative sense is the one that predominates in this aphorism. "Concatenation" has a sense of "linking together," as in a chain of causes or connected ideas, that "enchainment" really doesn't have.
This was a difficult aphorism to translate. The original Spanish is:
ReplyDeleteEl que inventa una nueva máquina le inventa a la humanidad un nuevo encadenamiento de nuevas servidumbres.
Perhaps "enchainment" would work better than "concatenation"?
ReplyDeleteThe problem is that encadenamiento has both a literal meaning (binding something with chains) and a figurative meaning. In English, on the other hand, we need to use two separate words for the literal meaning (enchainment) and the figurative meaning (concatenation). I chose the more figurative word, since it seems that the figurative sense is the one that predominates in this aphorism. "Concatenation" has a sense of "linking together," as in a chain of causes or connected ideas, that "enchainment" really doesn't have.
ReplyDelete