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Portuguese to English translations [PRO] Social Sciences - Anthropology
Portuguese term or phrase:máscara de arame
This is an account of an attack on two farm labourers in 1912 in the Azores by a group of vigilantes in disguise - "dois com máscaras de arame". Now, the term is used nowadays for the mask worn in the sport of fencing and a beekeeper's veil, but the context is the rural Azores at the beginning of the last century. Can anyone suggest a convincing translation?
Explanation: Wire masks have been used for a long time. Look at this example, on the Carnival of Venice:
7kty210 txt
Then toward spring I should like to go to Florence and Venice, and visit the ... Everybody wore or carried a wire mask as protection against this white, ... www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext05/7kty210.txt
Also, baseball players (catchers) wear wire masks, and have done this much before 1912. Look at this example:
eReader.com: Excerpt from My TeamBack in the early part of the last century , catchers didn ' t have any ignorance tools except a crude wire mask . They squatted back behind the plate with ... www.ereader.com/.../book/excerpt/22448?book=My_Team:_Choosi...
Bassmedia - css, html, aplikacje internetowe
(Baseball) The catcher's wire mask. [1913 Webster] ... called because an English family named Gage imported the greengage from France, in the last century. ... www.bassmedia.art.pl/rage
I thought the Venice Carnival example was quite interesting, and at least contemporary with my text. I don't think we'll ever get to the bottom of this, and the author has been dead this last 80 years. 3 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer
Thinking about this, it occurs to me that the mask may have been something that was naturally to hand in an Azorean village in the early 20th century - something to do with agriculture perhaps. Anyone got an Azorean grandmother?
Explanation: Wire masks have been used for a long time. Look at this example, on the Carnival of Venice:
7kty210 txt
Then toward spring I should like to go to Florence and Venice, and visit the ... Everybody wore or carried a wire mask as protection against this white, ... www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext05/7kty210.txt
Also, baseball players (catchers) wear wire masks, and have done this much before 1912. Look at this example:
eReader.com: Excerpt from My TeamBack in the early part of the last century , catchers didn ' t have any ignorance tools except a crude wire mask . They squatted back behind the plate with ... www.ereader.com/.../book/excerpt/22448?book=My_Team:_Choosi...
Bassmedia - css, html, aplikacje internetowe
(Baseball) The catcher's wire mask. [1913 Webster] ... called because an English family named Gage imported the greengage from France, in the last century. ... www.bassmedia.art.pl/rage
rhandler Local time: 21:43 Native speaker of: Portuguese PRO pts in category: 3
Grading comment
I thought the Venice Carnival example was quite interesting, and at least contemporary with my text. I don't think we'll ever get to the bottom of this, and the author has been dead this last 80 years.
27 mins confidence: peer agreement (net): -1
barbed wire mask
Explanation: barbed wire mask
Could it be this?
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 58 mins (2006-10-19 18:03:43 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
Your're right, my mistake.
Susy Ordaz Local time: 01:43 Native speaker of: English, Portuguese
Notes to answerer
Asker: Nice of you to contribute, Susy, as always, but barbed wire was invented in Illinois in 1874 and I doubt it was in use in the Azores in 1912. Not sure how it would disguise you either. lexical
The translation workplace 
peer agreement (net): +2
