Login or register (free and only takes a few minutes) to participate in this question.
You will also have access to many other tools and opportunities designed for those who have language-related jobs (or are passionate about them). Participation is free and the site has a strict confidentiality policy.
08:33 Nov 28, 2011
Spanish to English translations [PRO] Architecture
Spanish term or phrase:Razón de Claustra
Hello. This is from a text on the restoration of a monastery church, northern Spain:
"7 Restauración de la Razón de “Claustra” del Convento, cerrado al exterior con la presencia de tapias y cerramientos"
The author uses capitalisation, italics and quotation marks continuously through the text to mark anything even remotely "significant", so I wouldn't attach too much importance to it.
It makes sense of course to think of a closed cloister: "Claustro" means "closed room" to begin with, as Simon mentioned, and besides this feature is very common among Spanish romanic (claustro en forma de galerías cerradas). But as I pointed out before, the way this sentence is written, closed here must fe refering to something else: Claustra es femenino y cerrado masculino. Por eso pregunté a Simon si le sería posible preguntar al cliente, porque la frase es un poco rara.
Sí, aparece así, pero este texto está lleno de comillas, mayúsculas etc. donde yo personalmente no las pondría. Además el autor emplea muchas palabras de latín y griego, que es lo que creo que ha hecho aquí, 'claustra' significa 'recinto encerrado' en latín
Claustra está entre comillas en el original? Y en mayúscula? Es que me parece muy rara esa frase: "Restauración de la Razón de “Claustra” del Convento, cerrado al exterior con la presencia de tapias y cerramientos". Parece que "cerrado" se refiere al convento, ya que "claustra" está en femenino, y si es así la frase de verdad es un poco extraña, no? Por qué indicar aquí que el convento está cerrado si estamos hablando de la restauración del claustro? Por cierto, ese término en femenino es muy poco frecuente. Quizás un localismo, no sabría. Puedes preguntar al cliente?
"Razón" can mean so many things in Spanish and I often leave it out. In this case I would just say "Restoring the cloister of the convent"
Automatic update in 00:
Answers
1 hr confidence:
restoration of the cloister for its original purpose
Explanation: I'm not at all sure, but this is the idea I'm getting. Perhaps this will help to spark other ideas
Nikki Graham United Kingdom Local time: 02:52 Specializes in field Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 533
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thanks Nikki, I think yours and Charles' answers essentially denote the same thing: they are restoring the 'cloistery' nature of the complex (if only such an adjective existed...) by rebuilding the enclosures.
conception (of the monastery) as a "claustra" or enclosed community
Explanation: Sticking my neck out a little...
Following on from the previous question, where I have argued that "razón" is being used to mean the architectural conception or system underlying the construction of a building, I believe what they're saying here is that the "razón" of this monastery was as a "claustra", and that is what they are restoring.
A key question is quite what "claustra" means here. It seems to have two possible meanings:
1. "Galería que cerca el patio principal de una iglesia o convento." (synonym of claustro)
2. "Habitación cerrada, en que viven personas religiosas." http://dicter.eusal.es/lema/claustra
I think the second meaning is involved here: the idea of an enclosed religious community. Here is another example of a similar use of the word:
This seems to me to fit in which the bit at the end, which describes the "convento" as being (originally, I take it) "cerrado al exterior con la presencia de tapias y cerramientos"-
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 1 hr (2011-11-28 09:51:35 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
I'd be tempted, in fact, to take a slight liberty and put "original conception". There may be a better word than "conception" that I haven't thought of, but I believe that's the idea.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 1 hr (2011-11-28 09:58:47 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
Let us remember that the basic functional sense of "cloister" is an enclosed space where members of the religious community in question were secluded from the outside world. This sense is reflected in the adjective "cloistered".
Charles Davis Local time: 03:52 Works in field Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 52
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thanks Charles, a well reasoned answer. It fits my text because the author seems to have a fondness for using terms in their original sense; he uses several Greek and Latin terms in this way.
Reference information: Morfológicamente, en los monasterios hispanos se distinguen claramente dos conceptos:
Clausura del conjunto, que es denominada con el nombre de claustra.
Dependencias claustrales, denominadas domus.
La claustra era un cerramiento exterior que aislaba y protegía el edificio monacal, algo muy importante para la vida religiosa que se pretendía cultivar. En uno de los capítulos de la regla de San Isidoro se dice:
«La fábrica del monasterio solamente tendrá en su recinto una sola puerta y un solo postigo para salir al huerto.»
Aconseja luego que la ciudad quede alejada y que se respete ante todo la clausura. Para ello sugiere construir un cerramiento o tapia para las dependencias monásticas y otro que incluya el huerto. Este primer cerramiento es el llamado claustral o claustra.
The translation workplace 
peer agreement (net): +1
