essentiellement voyageur

English translation: transient/transitory

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
French term or phrase:essentiellement voyageur
English translation:transient/transitory
Entered by: Helene Tammik

16:04 Nov 13, 2019
French to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Poetry & Literature
French term or phrase: essentiellement voyageur
The description "essentiellement voyageur" is applied to the medium of paper in the following paragraph. The context is a discussion of 17th century engravings relating to horses. The writer is comparing the use of paper in art, in which the artist's hand enjoys more freedom, with the use of metal plate, which results in something more fixed:

Le papier comme médium tactile, mouvant, essentiellement voyageur, accueille sur sa surface des énergies à des degrés d’intensité différents. Le dessin comme pensée à l’œuvre proclame, dans sa désinvolture, un droit à l’errance, tandis que la gravure presse et fige l’idée. Lorsque la main se heurte au métal, le repentir n’est plus vraiment possible.

I would welcome any suggestions as to how one might translate the adjective "voyageur" here, as it applies to paper. To describe it as "travelling" sounds decidedly odd to me.
Martin Fyles
United Kingdom
Local time: 04:02
transient/transitory
Explanation:
I would suggest something along these lines, or fleeting/in flight/ephemeral, in contrast to the permanence of metal.
Selected response from:

Helene Tammik
Local time: 05:02
Grading comment
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
3 +6transient/transitory
Helene Tammik
4 +2Eminently trans/portable
Carol Gullidge
4 +1essentially mobile
Lisa Jane
3 +1inherently roaming/roving
Wolf Draeger
4inherently impermanent
Sally Bird
4inherently (more) freeflow/responsive
Yvonne Gallagher
4fluid in nature
Ben Gaia
3essentially amenable
SafeTex
3Intrinsically unrestrained
ormiston


Discussion entries: 12





  

Answers


24 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +6
transient/transitory


Explanation:
I would suggest something along these lines, or fleeting/in flight/ephemeral, in contrast to the permanence of metal.

Helene Tammik
Local time: 05:02
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 4
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thank you for your suggestion, Helene!


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Sheri P
24 mins

agree  Wolf Draeger
1 hr

agree  Eliza Hall
2 hrs

agree  Stephanie Benoist: I really love "ephemeral" even though it's a bit over the top
5 hrs

agree  Timothy Rake
1 day 28 mins

agree  Cyril Tollari: Agree with the idea (of being in transit), but I think there is a biblical ref missing with this choice of words.
1 day 2 hrs
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41 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
essentially mobile


Explanation:
or unstationary...

In the sense that it moves about under the artist's hand, it is flexible and responsive to the movement impressed onto it by the pencil

Lisa Jane
Italy
Local time: 05:02
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in ItalianItalian
PRO pts in category: 4

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Nicole Acher: good choice
10 hrs
  -> Thanks Nicole!
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +2
Eminently trans/portable


Explanation:
Portable/transportable/mobile

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2019-11-13 17:16:30 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Sorry, I didn’t see Lisa’s “mobile” as I took so long to post this!

Carol Gullidge
United Kingdom
Local time: 04:02
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 80

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  ormiston: Still, I think your reading deserves an agree. Yes, flexible in that it tolerates movement
2 days 16 hrs
  -> Thanks :))

agree  Sasha Barral-Robinson: But I think essentially transportable is the direct meaning, but you may have to adapt the sentence overall, stressing that it is 'light and transportable' in nature as opposed to other early mediums: stone tablets, frescoes, mozaics, slates etc.
13 days
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2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
essentially amenable


Explanation:
this is how I see it after the asker's comprehensive explanation of what is meant.
Amenable = capable of being acted upon in a particular way; susceptible.
or in another dictionary
ready or willing to answer, act, agree, or yield; open to influence, persuasion, or advice; agreeable; submissive; tractable:


SafeTex
France
Local time: 05:02
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
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2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +1
inherently roaming/roving


Explanation:
I'm thinking voyageur is intended to link back to horses, so if possible the translation should retain the broader metaphor of motion, hence "roaming" or a close synonym.

If this is the same text as Asker's question on depictions of the conversion of Saul on the road to Damascus, then the writer appears to be very deliberate in his choice of words and mindful of their literary effect.

Example sentence(s):
  • As a palpable, shifting and inherently roaming medium, paper conveys energy of varying intensity.
  • As a palpable, shifting and inherently roving medium, paper absorbs energy of varying intensity.
Wolf Draeger
South Africa
Local time: 06:02
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 32

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Cyril Tollari: Agree with the idea of roving, but I think there is a biblical ref missing with this choice of words.
1 day 4 mins
  -> Thanks, Cyril! Interesting take!
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16 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
inherently impermanent


Explanation:
This is an option that could work: it provides a direct contrast to the physical properties of the metal.

Sally Bird
France
Local time: 05:02
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Daryo: "impermanent" ??? I wouldn't label "impermanent" something that can be preserved for centuries ... for far longer than magnetic tapes, hard disks, USB drives ...
2 days 1 hr
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23 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
inherently (more) freeflow/responsive


Explanation:
been thinking about this since yesterday and this solution just came to me

Le papier comme médium tactile, mouvant, essentiellement voyageur

the paper is a tactile medium, fluid, inherently (more) freeflow or responsive

or even
inherently allowing more freeflow movement,

Yvonne Gallagher
Ireland
Local time: 04:02
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 32
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1 day 3 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
fluid in nature


Explanation:
A more relaxed rendering perhaps.

Ben Gaia
New Zealand
Local time: 17:02
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 12
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2 days 4 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
Intrinsically unrestrained


Explanation:
Plenty nice suggestions, but in light of the discussion, the idea here is that the medium does not impose the constraints of engraving, it is Greer to go where it pleases...

ormiston
Local time: 05:02
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 24
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