May 25, 2011 07:37
13 yrs ago
French term

broyées par la lumière

French to English Art/Literary Poetry & Literature sculpture
Context:
Dans mon village de pêcheurs au sud de Marseille, les couleurs semblaient bannies, ***broyées par la lumière***… Seuls, les bleus intenses du ciel et de la mer s'affrontaient...
The intense light of the Midi.

Proposed translations

2 hrs
Selected

dispersed by the light

Possibly not as strong as the French, but at least it makes sense in English! Could be made stronger by saying 'fully dispersed by the light' or something similar.

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Note added at 2 hrs (2011-05-25 10:00:34 GMT)
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So now the astronomers had indirect evidence of a disk left over from the stars formation they had to get direct evidence. For this they used the ESO’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer (the VLTI), and with this they directly observed the disk .The disk is over 1,000 solar masses and its 130 AU wide; which is much less than a light year. The inner part of the disk has a temperature of around 2000 K, whereas the parts of the disk farther out are cooler. The stars disk will not last for much longer; it will soon be dispersed by the light being emitted by the star, which is 30,000 times brighter than our own star.
http://ya.astroleague.org/?p=1303

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Note added at 5 days (2011-05-30 11:12:24 GMT) Post-grading
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Thanks, kashew
Note from asker:
Thanks - yes, it's this or crushed.
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
+1
22 mins

dissolved by the light

It is the most poetic verb that I could think of.

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Note added at 27 min (2011-05-25 08:05:19 GMT)
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Or else, pulverized by the light.
Peer comment(s):

agree Colin Rowe : I like "pulverized" :-)
3 hrs
Thank you!
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+1
21 mins

overwhelmed by the light

One option among many; the light is so overwhelming in its brightness that the colours seem to fade away....

You could also used "crushed", like in the French.

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Note added at 38 mins (2011-05-25 08:16:15 GMT)
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Another thought: "defeated by the light" to reflect the slightly war-like tone. The colours have been defeated by the enemy - the light - and thus banished from light's territory, whereas the blues manage to stand firm and fight it out...
Note from asker:
Thanks - I think "crushed" might suit.
Peer comment(s):

agree Verginia Ophof
6 hrs
Thanks Verginia!
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50 mins

dissipated by the light

you can imagine the light breaking up/fading the colours

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Note added at 1 hr (2011-05-25 08:52:12 GMT)
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DIFFRACTED BY THE LIGHT is perhaps closer to the source meaning
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+2
51 mins

drained/faded/crushed/belittled by the brightness

some ideas (I find the light hanging on the end a bit odd)

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Note added at 53 mins (2011-05-25 08:31:41 GMT)
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squashed/flattened

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Note added at 5 hrs (2011-05-25 13:02:55 GMT)
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or how about - colours seem to have been bannished, unable to compete with the brighness of the light
Note from asker:
Thanks - "crushed" pleases me.
I had crushed but went for the colder, more scientific answer by Helen S.
Peer comment(s):

agree Marian Vieyra : Crushed.
1 hr
agree mimi 254
2 hrs
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+1
5 hrs
French term (edited): les couleurs semblaient bannies, broyées par la lumière

colours were reduced to nothingness

Broyées is quite strong. Your image has to be strong but not heavy. I suggest taking the bit it depend upon into the language equation as it were.

les couleurs semblaient bannies, ***broyées par la lumière***

"colours were reduced to nothingness"

I've turned it round a little, but I'm not a great fan of lining up bits of sentences in English. I think that stylistic English cannot support it to the extent which French can.


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Note added at 5 hrs (2011-05-25 13:05:10 GMT)
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"In my village... it was if colour had been reduced to nothingness"

"Colour" or colours" ? Not sure whether singular or plural works better.

ANother suggestion : "...had been fired into oblivion".
Peer comment(s):

agree Carolyn Yohn : as if the colors had been exiled, or reduced to nothingness by the light" ... I like this best! Very poetic.
2 days 1 hr
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+1
2 hrs

obliterated/disintegrated by the (intensity of the) light

Adding to the thesaurus of destruction!

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Note added at 2 hrs (2011-05-25 10:04:17 GMT)
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Or, while we are at it, how about...

"annihilated"

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Note added at 3 hrs (2011-05-25 10:46:28 GMT)
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or even

"shattered"

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Note added at 3 hrs (2011-05-25 11:31:54 GMT)
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"fragmented" might also work.

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Note added at 3 hrs (2011-05-25 11:34:35 GMT)
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or

"ground to dust"

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Note added at 4 hrs (2011-05-25 11:57:17 GMT)
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Another one:

"diminished"

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Note added at 6 hrs (2011-05-25 13:42:20 GMT)
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"dashed to pieces"

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Note added at 8 hrs (2011-05-25 15:40:55 GMT)
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"washed out"
Peer comment(s):

agree Terry Richards : I like annihilated
1 hr
Thanks!
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18 hrs

subdued by the light

In my fishermen's village south of Marseille, colors were seemingly banned, completely subdued by the light...
subdued completely = crushed = broyée (see web reference)
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