carved cut

English translation: carved passage - carved path

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)

English term or phrase:	carved cut
Selected answer:	carved passage - carved path
Entered by:	updownK

01:18 Jun 6, 2017

English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Art/Literary - Poetry & Literature

English term or phrase: carved cut

The air was stagnant deep within the CARVED CUT of the Royal Road leading down to the flat approach to the bridge across the Idaho River. The road turned to the right out of the manmade immensity of rock and earth.
--quoted from the SF fiction God Emperor of Dune (link: https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&q=“carved cut of the R...
The royal road was built on a giant manmade mountain. But what is the CARVED CUT?
Thank you!

updownK KudoZ activity Questions: 74 (none open) Answers: 6 China
Local time: 06:10

carved passage - carved path

Explanation:

2.6 A passage cut or dug out, as a railway cutting or a new channel made for a river or other waterway.
‘the cut connected with the Harborough arm of the canal’

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/cut

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/carve

Would that make sense for you?

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Note added at 17 hrs (2017-06-06 18:52:07 GMT)
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"Carve something out" is also

2 Establish or create something through painstaking effort.

So, I'd take you could interpret something like,

... painstakingly established/created path

Or as Robert suggest, "incised path" may do the trick.

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Note added at 1 day1 hr (2017-06-07 02:37:04 GMT) Post-grading
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You're welcome!
Glad to be of help!

Selected response from:

JohnMcDove
United States
Local time: 15:10

Grading comment

Thank you! I tend to use the connotation of "painstakingly established/created path" in my translation!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED

4 +3

strongly delineated, distinctive excavation

B D Finch

3 +3

carved passage - carved path

JohnMcDove

Answers

8 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): +3

strongly delineated, distinctive excavation

Explanation:
The meaning of "cut" is as given by JohnMcDove https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/cut

However, to really understand this expression, you need to think about why the author has chosen to supplement "cut" with the adjective "carved". If one rejects the idea that he just liked using two words where one would do, and takes into account the following "the manmade immensity of rock and earth", then "carved cut" comes over as a strongly delineated feature cut into the rock, with clear lines and a distinctive shape.

This helps ensure that "cut" is not a prosaic feature like that seen on most railways that alternate cuts and embankments. (Those of us of a certain age might think of Tony Hancock's address at Railway Cuttings.)

B D Finch
France
Local time: 00:10
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 84

Notes to answerer

Asker: Thanks a lot! Excellent nuance just as John said! But I have to choose.

1 hr confidence:

peer agreement (net): +3

carved passage - carved path

JohnMcDove
United States
Local time: 15:10
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

Spanish
PRO pts in category: 8

Grading comment

Thank you! I tend to use the connotation of "painstakingly established/created path" in my translation!

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)

agree

Sheila Wilson

4 hrs

-> Thank you very much, Sheila. :-)

agree

Yvonne Gallagher

6 hrs

-> Thank you very much, Gallagy. :-)

agree

Robert Forstag: In my view, "carved passage/path" is a comprehensible paraphrase of the unusual (and rather redundant) "carved cut." // Phil makes a valid point: perhaps "incised path" to avoid the repetition of "carved."

10 hrs

-> Thank you very much, Robert. :-) Yes, "incised path" may do the trick too. Somehow I like Blackfeet Indians tautologies, "The way to cross the river is to cross the river"... ;-)

neutral

B D Finch: Afraid I think your "Establish or create something through painstaking effort" is totally wrong here. It only applies when used as a metaphor, e.g. to carve out a career.//No, I think it's conceptually wrong.

1 day 5 hrs

-> It may be so, in English. I.e., "totally" wrong as a collocation. Yet, it may make sense conceptually speaking, for the purposes of a Chinese translation. UpdownK must take it then, with a grain of Himalayan salt.//Is a "excavation" done without sweat?

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