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  3. General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters

une forêt de matin du monde

English translation: primeval forest

22:09 Jun 19, 2014
French to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters / used in a contemporary Novel
French term or phrase: une forêt de matin du monde
Contexte:

Le transgabonais force peu à peu sept-cents kilomètres d'une forêt de matin du monde, pour mettre à quelques heures de Libreville le plateau bateké, près des sources de l'Ogooné.

Merci Beaucoup,

Barbara
Barbara Cochran, MFA
United States
Local time: 21:56
English translation:primeval forest
Explanation:
-

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Note added at 11 hrs (2014-06-20 09:30:28 GMT)
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Inspired by the definitions of the word:

SOED: Of or pertaining to the first age of the world; ancient; primitive.

Webster's Unabridged Dictionary: of or relating to the earliest ages of the world or human history : aboriginal, primitive

Webster's New World College Dictionary: of the earliest times or ages; primal; primordial [primeval forests]
Selected response from:

Evgeny Artemov (X)
South Africa
Local time: 03:56
Grading comment
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +4a forest from the dawn of time
Terry Richards
4 +2a primordial forest
Michele Fauble
3 +2a forest from the morning of the world.
DLyons
3 +2primeval forest
Evgeny Artemov (X)
4an unspoiled forest
jmleger
3 +1a forest from the dawn of the world
Lara Barnett
Summary of reference entries provided
context
writeaway

Discussion entries: 4





  

Answers


7 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +2
a forest from the morning of the world.


Explanation:
Or, with a more religious slant "a forest from the first morning" Eleanor Farjeon.

DLyons
Ireland
Local time: 02:56
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 20

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Lorraine Dubuc: I like the poetry of this suggestion.
1 hr
  -> Thanks Lorraine.
agree  writeaway: http://books.google.be/books?id=gq5EAQAAIAAJ&q="forêt de mat... seems to be unique so imo it's best to go with the flow. apparently it's flowery non-fiction (political/historical)
7 hrs
  -> Thanks writeaway.
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38 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
an unspoiled forest


Explanation:
Mind you, I considered "primeval" as well...

jmleger
Local time: 20:56
Native speaker of: Native in FrenchFrench
PRO pts in category: 115

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Kate Collyer: while to have survived it must be intact and therefore unspoiled, surely the emphasis here is on the age rather than the condition of the forest?
3 mins
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4 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +2
a primordial forest


Explanation:
www.thefreedictionary.com/primordial
Definition of primordial in the Online Dictionary. Meaning of primordial. ... pristine, primal, prehistoric Twenty million years ago this was dense primordial forest.

www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/primeval
of or relating to the earliest ages (as of the world or human history) : ancient, primitive ... 100 acres of primeval forest which has never felt an ax.

Michele Fauble
United States
Local time: 18:56
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 16

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Carol Gullidge
7 hrs
  -> thanks
agree  kashew: Maybe "ancient" is good enough?
7 hrs
  -> thanks
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8 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +4
a forest from the dawn of time


Explanation:
I'm offering this as another alternative even though I personally prefer "primordial".

Terry Richards
France
Local time: 03:56
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 28

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  B D Finch: I likr your suggestion. Probably it would require omore text than we have been offered to know what register is appropriate
1 hr
agree  Carol Gullidge: sounds more idiomatic to me - although, perhaps too idiomatic for the source text? Also, having lived out there, can't understand why this is 'forest' and not 'jungle'...
2 hrs
agree  mill2
2 hrs
agree  AllegroTrans
13 hrs
neutral  rkillings: Accurate rendition of the FR text, which is a gross exaggeration: was the dawn of time only 100m years ago, when angiosperm forests first became dominant? I'd tone it down to 'primeval/primordial forest', which is more defensible.:-)
3 days 20 hrs
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9 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +1
a forest from the dawn of the world


Explanation:
Although this differs slightly from the literal translation of "morning", and the French do say "L'aube..." for this target term, "the dawn of..." is more idiomatic English IMO. It suggests the same idea, but being more associated with British usage. I just think anything literal like "morning of the world" sounds a bit clumsy.

Example sentence(s):
  • "But there was a short and precious interval between, like the first blush of morning before the day is overcast with tempest, the DAWN OF THE WORLD, the birth of nature from “the unapparent deep,” with its first dews and freshness on its cheek, ..."

    Reference: http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/h/hazlitt/william/lectures-on-...
Lara Barnett
United Kingdom
Local time: 02:56
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 42

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  DLyons: Works for me.
55 mins
  -> Thank you.
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6 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +2
primeval forest


Explanation:
-

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 11 hrs (2014-06-20 09:30:28 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Inspired by the definitions of the word:

SOED: Of or pertaining to the first age of the world; ancient; primitive.

Webster's Unabridged Dictionary: of or relating to the earliest ages of the world or human history : aboriginal, primitive

Webster's New World College Dictionary: of the earliest times or ages; primal; primordial [primeval forests]

Evgeny Artemov (X)
South Africa
Local time: 03:56
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in RussianRussian
PRO pts in category: 20

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Carol Gullidge: although an explanation would be helpful. Michele has posted one for you, so I suppose she deserves the points if this answer is chosen, as they are supposed to be awarded for 'the most helpful answer', which isn't necessarily the most correct one!
11 hrs
  -> Thanks, Carol.
agree  rkillings: "primeval forest" wins out over "primordial forest" by > an order of magnitude in Ghits, even tho the meaning is the same.
4 days
  -> Thanks. :-)
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Reference comments


7 hrs
Reference: context

Reference information:
La colonie française en Algérie: 200 ans d'inavouable : ... - Page 358
books.google.be/books?id=gq5EAQAAIAAJ -
Lounis Aggoun - 2010 - ‎Snippet view
Ou alors, à quoi serviraient ces quelque 700 kilomètres forçant une forêt de matin du monde, vierge comme on dit si bien, pour mettre à quelques heures d'un Atlantique mollasson le roboratif plateau batéké, près des sources de l'Ogooué ...

http://books.google.be/books?id=gq5EAQAAIAAJ&q="forêt de mat...

writeaway
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 66
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