Glossary entry (derived from question below)
English term or phrase:
a fit of absence of mind
Spanish translation:
en un ataque/momento de despiste/de distracción
English term
Degrees in Translation & English Studies
Native in: Spanish
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a fit of absence of mind
Se trata de una frase bastante citada sobre la cuestión, del historiador John Robert Seeley. No estoy seguro sobre el sentido de la misma.
La traducción es para España.
"56. The Sole Arbitrator devoted a lengthy footnote to the history of British charter companies in his Preliminary Award.73 The commonly quoted quip about the British Empire is that it was acquired "in a fit of absence of mind”.(74) That quip reflects the truth that many of Britain’s colonies began as private ventures (albeit sanctioned by the government) for personal and corporate profit. This was the case, most notably, for North America (the Virginia Company of Plymouth and the Virginia Company of London) and Asia (the East India Company)."
Proposed translations
Spain
Golf, Literature and Religion Specialist
Native in: Spanish 
Works in: English to Spanish, French to Spanish, Spanish
en un ataque/momento de despiste
Opciones en el mismo registro irónico del dicho original:
- "el Imperio británico se creó en un ataque de despiste"
- "el Imperio británico fue adquirido en un momento de despiste"
| agree |
Mónica Algazi
: momento. Saludos, Bea.
3 mins
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Saludos y gracias, Mónica - Bea
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| agree |
Natalia Pedrosa
: Con Moni. Saludines.
4 hrs
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Saludos y gracias, Natalia - Bea
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United Kingdom
experienced and well qualified linguist
Native in: English (Variant: UK)
Works in: Spanish to English, English, Spanish, and 3 more.
una tempesta de una ausencia de mente
"There's a quote about the British Empire which states that it was acquired in a 'fit of an absence of mind'. Many of the British colonies began as private ventures."
Uruguay
ATA-certified English-Spanish translator
Native in: Spanish (Variant: Latin American)
Works in: English to Spanish
una serendipia
https://dle.rae.es/serendipia
https://queviral.com/serendipia-descubrimientos-por-casualid...
Reliable translations, wide experience
Native in: Spanish
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Argentina
A practical read without spilling a drop
Native in: Spanish (Variants: Argentine, Latin American, US)
Works in: English to Spanish
Discussion
We constantly betray by our modes of speech that we do not reckon our colonies as really belonging to us; thus if we are asked what the English population, is, it does not occur to us to reckon-in the population of Canada and Australia.
Se referiría así a un aparente momento de inconsciencia general, donde nadie parecía darse cuenta del hecho mismo de formar parte de un Imperio en vez de sólo una isla aislada con relaciones ultramarinas.
En cuanto a traducción, diría que la idea de "un ataque" más que de "un momento" le confiere una fuerza equivalente al original; un ataque, un acceso de inconsciencia general/generalizada. Y usaría inconsciencia más que despiste o distracción por ayudar, creo, a centrar el sentido del original.
Así, por ejemplo,
Se suele citar habitualmente la ocurrencia de que el Imperio Británico fue conseguido en un acceso de inconsciencia general.
"We seem, as it were, to have conquered and peopled half the world in a fit of absence of mind. While we were doing it, that is in the eighteenth century, we did not allow it to affect our imaginations or in any degree to change our ways of thinking; nor have we even now ceased to think of ourselves as simply a race inhabiting an island off the northern coast of the Continent of Europe."
Aquí el texto de Seeley: https://web.viu.ca/davies/H479B.Imperialism.Nationalism/Seel...