Glossary entry (derived from question below)
Spanish term or phrase:
arrimado
English translation:
tenant farm worker
Added to glossary by
Myriam S
Nov 1, 2006 10:38
17 yrs ago
7 viewers *
Spanish term
arrimado
Spanish to English
Social Sciences
Government / Politics
Puerto Rico
The sentence is as follows, "la personalidad colonizada comparte la mentalidad agrícola del arrimado que vive y cultiva la tierra del lugarteniente."
Proposed translations
(English)
| 4 +6 | tenant farm worker |
neilmac
|
| 4 | farm laborer//peon |
bigedsenior
|
| 3 | serf/subject |
Carol Gullidge
|
| 4 -1 | dependent, retainer, menial |
Patricia Rosas
|
| 2 -2 | a parasite/a lazy peon |
Gad Kohenov
|
Proposed translations
+6
7 mins
Selected
tenant farm worker
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.
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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.
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
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."
-2
3 hrs
Gad Kohenov
Israel
Israel
Specializes in field
Israel
30 years of experience+satisfied clients
Native in: French 
, Hebrew
Works in: English to Hebrew, Hebrew to English, French to Hebrew, and 8 more.
Related KudoZ points
:
28
a parasite/a lazy peon
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.
Note from 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 comment(s):
| disagree |
neilmac
: Racist and uinnecessarily pejorative in my opinion (see note)
3 hrs
|
| disagree |
Matthew Smith
: I agree with Neil
19 hrs
|
41 mins
Carol Gullidge
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
Native in English
Works in field
United Kingdom
poetically precise prose with... panache
Native in: English 
Works in: French to English, Spanish to English, English
Related KudoZ points
:
84
serf/subject
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'
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Note added at 3 hrs (2006-11-01 14:21:47 GMT)
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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!
In other words, in their own country, they were reduced to being the 'underlings'
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Note added at 3 hrs (2006-11-01 14:21:47 GMT)
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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!
Note from 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 comment(s):
| 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
|
-1
3 hrs
Patricia Rosas
United States
United States
Native in English
Specializes in field
United States
servicios para autores académicos
Native in: English
Works in: Spanish to English, English
Related KudoZ points
:
156
dependent, retainer, menial
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...
Peer comment(s):
| 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
|
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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
|
7 hrs
farm laborer//peon
... 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
'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
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