Jun 13, 2013 08:11
11 yrs ago
Spanish term

muera de fino

Spanish to English Art/Literary Poetry & Literature
Actually the words from an aria or something similar...

Acabe mi amor,
fallezca mi fe
y muera de fino
mi fiel padecer.
Pues de esto consigo
no ver que el laurel a que yo aspiro
de mí ausente esté.

I haven't tidied up the meter and so on but I have this so far

May my love run dry,
may my faith fail me
***y muera de fino***
my loyal suffering.
Thus do I ensure I do not see
the honour to which I aspire
is absent in me.

Discussion

William Pairman (asker) Jun 13, 2013:
Thanks Patricia! And thanks for drawing my attention to "loyal pain" not sounding right!
@William, "ceaseless", just great, to my humble point of view! And to Charles...accurate and brilliant as always :)
Charles Davis Jun 13, 2013:
I think it would be perfectly OK. "Fiel" implies unwavering, after all, so "ceaseless" is not too much of a step. I think Patricia has a point; there's something about "loyal" that doesn't quite sound right.
William Pairman (asker) Jun 13, 2013:
Would it be changing things too much to say... May my love run dry,
may my faith fail me
may my ceaseless suffering
die of devotion

Proposed translations

47 mins
Selected

may (my loyal suffering) die of devotion

"Fino" is being used here in the unusual and rather archaic sense of "amoroso". "Morir de fino" is to die of love. I've suggested "die of devotion" because I thought the alliteration and the rhythm might suit your version, and also because "fino" specifically implies faithfulness or constancy in love.

"Morir de fino" comes up in a number of old Spanish plays. Moreto uses it a couple of times in the seventeenth century. Here are examples:
http://www.google.es/search?num=100&biw=1024&bih=653&site=we...

The meaning "amoroso, afectuoso" for "fino" is still in the DRAE (definition 5).
http://lema.rae.es/drae/?val=fino

It's there in the first RAE dictionary, dated 1732. It's the third definition of "fino":
"Significa tambien amoroso, segúro, constante y fiél, como amigo fino &c."
This is illustrated by a passage from the play También se ama en el abismo by Salazar y Torres (seventeenth century):
Porque en tan heróico intento,
sepan que muero de
fino,
y no de infelice muero."

I can't post a link to this that works, but you can see it (and also subsequent RAE dictionaries) at http://ntlle.rae.es/ntlle/SrvltGUILoginNtlle

So "morir de fino" is a literary set phrase.

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Note added at 59 mins (2013-06-13 09:10:40 GMT)
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In practice you may want to turn it round and say something like

"may I die of devotion
in my loyal suffering",

which is what it means, in effect.
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Many thanks Charles, Patricia and Andrés, you've been an incredible help"
46 mins

and come to an end my continuous pain...

I would change "fiel" for "continuous", I don't like "loyal", my point of view William...
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Reference comments

40 mins
Reference:

Yo entiendo que "morir de fino" es
agotarse, extinguirse, consumirse.

Por si sirve de algo.
Note from asker:
¡Gracias Andrés!
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