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arrimado

English translation: tenant farm worker

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
Spanish term or phrase:arrimado
English translation:tenant farm worker
Entered by: Myriam S

10:38 Nov 1, 2006
Spanish to English translations [PRO]
Social Sciences - Government / Politics / Puerto Rico
Spanish term or phrase: arrimado
The sentence is as follows, "la personalidad colonizada comparte la mentalidad agrícola del arrimado que vive y cultiva la tierra del lugarteniente."
Myriam S
United States
Local time: 20:28
tenant farm worker
Explanation:
Or peasant, but that has pejorative connotations.

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Note added at 2 hrs (2006-11-01 13:22:03 GMT)
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Notice that the Oxford dictionary definitions are all pejorative:
arrimado /a : (Col, Méx, Ven fam) scrounger, freeloader (colloq), sponger (BrE colloq). and they may not be quite suitable for your context.
Selected response from:

neilmac
Spain
Local time: 02:28
Grading comment
I think both tenant farm worker and sharecropper are appropriate answers in this instance. Thank you both neilmac, and thank you cecourtright for suggesting sharecropper.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +6tenant farm worker
neilmac
4farm laborer//peon
bigedsenior
3serf/subject
Carol Gullidge
4 -1dependent, retainer, menial
Patricia Rosas
2 -2a parasite/a lazy peon
Gad Kohenov


  

Answers


7 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +6
tenant farm worker


Explanation:
Or peasant, but that has pejorative connotations.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs (2006-11-01 13:22:03 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Notice that the Oxford dictionary definitions are all pejorative:
arrimado /a : (Col, Méx, Ven fam) scrounger, freeloader (colloq), sponger (BrE colloq). and they may not be quite suitable for your context.

neilmac
Spain
Local time: 02:28
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 200
Grading comment
I think both tenant farm worker and sharecropper are appropriate answers in this instance. Thank you both neilmac, and thank you cecourtright for suggesting sharecropper.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Maria Garcia
0 min
  -> Gracias Maria :-)
agree  Christina Courtright: good but "tenant farmer" is of wider usage - sharecropper if he pays tribute in crops to owner
3 hrs
  -> Thank you CC
agree  Matthew Smith: I agree with cecourtright, I think tenant farmer is more common
5 hrs
  -> Cheers Matthew
agree  Rolando Julio Arciniega: According to Moliner's daffynition
5 hrs
  -> Thanks :-)
agree  Patricia Rosas
7 hrs
  -> Cheers Patricia
agree  Eric Ayala: Cecourtright is right. See the asker's comment about Moliner's definition #3. A relevant example of usage is found here: http://commdocs.house.gov/committees/resources/hii43229.000/... . Just Ctrl+F the term "arrimado."
1 day 4 hrs
  -> a handy link ther :-)
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3 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 2/5Answerer confidence 2/5 peer agreement (net): -2
a parasite/a lazy peon


Explanation:
Parasite (a Mexican term). I found the refrain "El muerto y el arrimado en el tercer dia apestan". ("Houseguests and fish stink after three days"). It is difficult to translate this slang word.

Gad Kohenov
Israel
Local time: 03:28
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in FrenchFrench, Native in HebrewHebrew
PRO pts in category: 28
Notes to answerer
Asker: According to the definition I found in María Moliner's "Diccionario del uso Español," arrimado-a is 1. participio adj. de "arrimar [se]." 2. (Hispam) n. Persona que vive en casa de otro, a su costo o amparo. 3. (Hispam) Persona a la que se concede un pedazo de tierra y que siembra una parte de ella para sí y otra para el dueño de la propiedad. However, it is always good to consider the different gradations of words and how they evolve in common usage.


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  neilmac: Racist and uinnecessarily pejorative in my opinion (see note)
3 hrs
disagree  Matthew Smith: I agree with Neil
19 hrs
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41 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
serf/subject


Explanation:
I think the sense is perhaps meant to be a little derogatory, but only in the sense of Lord of the manor v serf/coloniser v colonised/slavedriver v slave/king v subject

In other words, in their own country, they were reduced to being the 'underlings'

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 3 hrs (2006-11-01 14:21:47 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

yes, it is a different period of history, but what I'm talking about is a universal/timeless psychological/sociological attitude. It happens the world over, and is repeated time and time again throughout history - whenever any group of people is subjugated (colonized, in this case) by another!

Carol Gullidge
United Kingdom
Local time: 01:28
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 84
Notes to answerer
Asker: According to the definition I found in María Moliner's "Diccionario del uso Español," arrimado-a is 1. participio adj. de "arrimar [se]." 2. (Hispam) n. Persona que vive en casa de otro, a su costo o amparo. 3. (Hispam) Persona a la que se concede un pedazo de tierra y que siembra una parte de ella para sí y otra para el dueño de la propiedad. It is a particularly historical experience in Latin America and probably equivelant to serfdom, but in a different period of history and context


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  neilmac: The meaning is not the same, serfs were vassals, unable to leave their jobs, whereas these people "se arriman" or work for the landowners by choice.
2 hrs
  -> no! I think they're talking about the subjugation of the people who were colonised, and the attitudes this induced. Of course, we don't have much context, but in all the work I've done on colonization, the colonizer/colonized theme is constant
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3 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): -1
dependent, retainer, menial


Explanation:
Since it is clear that these people labor as farmers, you might want to use one of these terms (rather than tenant farmer). A "retainer" is defined by Merriam-Webster's as: a person attached or owing service to a household...

Patricia Rosas
United States
Local time: 17:28
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 156

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  Matthew Smith: I don't think any of these terms have agricultural connotations, but rather, as you point out, are domestic servants
1 hr
  -> you may be right, Matthew, but I'm not sure that arrimado has an agricultural connotation--doesn't it refer to people who are like "indentured servants" - regardless of the type of work they perform?
neutral  neilmac: Matt is right, they are farmers here, not bonded menials.
3 hrs
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7 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
farm laborer//peon


Explanation:
... in Latin America..
'Sharecropper' in Puerto Rico, see DRAE

The word peon is derived from the Spanish peón, in its archaic root connoting a person who travels by foot rather than mounted on a horse (see caballero), and the derivation peonage are English words which have a variety of related meanings: In Spanish-speaking countries, especially those in Latin America, where the hacienda system kept laborers unfree to leave the estate, peon has a range of meanings related to unskilled or semi-skilled work or manual labour, whether referring to a low ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peon

bigedsenior
Local time: 17:28
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 120
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