Glossary entry (derived from question below)
Mar 13, 2007 23:15
17 yrs ago
Japanese term
逸材
Japanese to English
Marketing
Furniture / Household Appliances
Product literature
From some product literature (probably a pamphlet)
for a piece of traditionally made furniture, there is this
sentence as an opening description:
そのしなやかな美しさと機能性から、
古くは、高貴な身分の人にしか使うことを許されなかった逸材。
Just the very last word, 逸材, has got me. All the
dictionaries define it as "a great talent". Now, does
this mean 逸材 refers to the craftsman? It would
seem that it refers to the piece of furniture, but in that
case 逸材 should be rendered something different,
like "a great work", "an equisite piece of artistry", or
something flowery llike that.
How do I translate 逸材?
Also, anyone know what's up with
http://www.alc.co.jp/ ? The page comes up,
but then it won't return any requests.
for a piece of traditionally made furniture, there is this
sentence as an opening description:
そのしなやかな美しさと機能性から、
古くは、高貴な身分の人にしか使うことを許されなかった逸材。
Just the very last word, 逸材, has got me. All the
dictionaries define it as "a great talent". Now, does
this mean 逸材 refers to the craftsman? It would
seem that it refers to the piece of furniture, but in that
case 逸材 should be rendered something different,
like "a great work", "an equisite piece of artistry", or
something flowery llike that.
How do I translate 逸材?
Also, anyone know what's up with
http://www.alc.co.jp/ ? The page comes up,
but then it won't return any requests.
Proposed translations
(English)
| 1 | masterpiece |
V N Ganesh
|
| 3 +1 | exceptionally exquisite piece of work |
Nozomi Kugita
|
Change log
Jul 6, 2007 12:39: V N Ganesh Created KOG entry
Proposed translations
2 hrs
Selected
masterpiece
masterpiece furniture
QA Arm Chair. Pictures of my work are available through either one of the 'gallery' pages. 'Gallery 15' has been scaled to fit on a 15" monitor. ...
www.tonykubalak.com/index_frame.html - 2k
QA Arm Chair. Pictures of my work are available through either one of the 'gallery' pages. 'Gallery 15' has been scaled to fit on a 15" monitor. ...
www.tonykubalak.com/index_frame.html - 2k
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "This description does fit with much of the passage, which goes into detail about the craftsmanship and high order of the product. Plus, another "wonderful" person I know suggested this exact same term to me, offline. Thanks, VN."
+1
1 hr
Nozomi Kugita
United States
United States
Native in Japanese
United States
Simple. Concise. Bring People Together.
Native in: Japanese (Variants: Standard-Japan, Hakata, Kansai) 
Works in: English to Japanese, Spanish to Japanese, Japanese
exceptionally exquisite piece of work
You have kinda already answered to your question, so I was not sure if I should note my idea... Anyway, 逸材 is generally used to describe a person with a great talent, but in this context, it is used for a piece of furniture. And so, I would put something like "exceptionally exquisite piece of work." Or need more dressing-up?
By the way, checked the alc.co.jp. It doesn's work for me either. I pinged it and request got timed out.
By the way, checked the alc.co.jp. It doesn's work for me either. I pinged it and request got timed out.
Note from asker:
| Nozomi, Thank you so much. I was very tempted to go with your answer, it affirms my idea!. But as I mentioned, a second person I trust also suggested "masterpiece", so I'll opt for that one. Thanks again! |
Discussion
for the reminder. I do use other online dics., but there's no
substitute for ALC when it comes to getting contextual examples.
Yet, in this sentence it does refer to the piece of furniture, right?
Since both of you agree that the word must actually have been 逸品,
I'll proceed assuming that is so. Thank you!
page comes up fine, but it just won't return any results.