Allegado

[Penyafort]

In Spain, the Government has stated that this Christmas 'holidays' you'll only be allowed to move in order to visit familiares ('relatives') and allegados,

According to the DRAE Spanish dictionary, an allegado is someone close to another person either in kinship, friendship, relationship or trust.

In words of the minister of Health, though, an allegado is "someone who, not being a relative in a traditional way, has some special affective bonds with us".

It seems that special care has been taken to use this precise term and not any similar ones (conocidos, amigos, etc), perhaps considering this from a legal point of view. But the fact that the term in itself can also be so wide in meaning leaves the interpretation of it to be somewhat open and uncertain.

So I'm curious now about it: if something like this was said in your country, what would be the closest equivalent to allegado in your language?

 

[elroy]

"loved ones" in English?

 

[TheCrociato91]

Your question reminds me of a very similar context. When announcing the newly-introduced covid measures, the Italian government has stated that you can only visit your congiunti, which basically means relatives (literally: conjoined, joined together). The funny thing is that it's a word that's rarely used in daily conversation, to the point that many people had to look it up to know what it meant exactly (and this also led to jokes and memes about the choice of a legalese word as opposed to a more understandable one). It also has some element of ambiguity to it, although not as much as allegados seems to have. According to some definitions, it includes not only relatives but also close friends and people you live with.

According to this dictionary, allegado translates into Italian as:
1 congiunto, parente (= relative)
2 amico, intimo (= close friend)
es un allegado de la familia: è un amico di famiglia

 

[Chrzaszcz Saproksyliczny]

In Polish, rodzina suggests your biological family (common root with words for childbirth) while bliscy (proximate, close ones) could include a chosen family or your sexual partner. If you want to define a rule that affects households, and not just families of relatives, you could use the word gospodarstwo domowe (household, lit. a home economic unit), although it is a little long.

 

[Penyafort]

"loved ones" in English?

That certainly embraces the idea but I'd say it's either too general or even more subjective.

Your question reminds me of a very similar context. When announcing the newly-introduced covid measures, the Italian government has stated that you can only visit your congiunti, which basically means relatives (literally: conjoined, joined together).

Very interesting. My first association would be to relate congiunti to Catalan cònjuges (or cónyuges in Spanish) or even more to the French conjoints, but I see that congiunti encompasses something wider, which then might apply as a possible equivalent indeed.

In Polish, rodzina suggests your biological family (common root with words for childbirth) while bliscy (proximate, close ones) could include a chosen family or your sexual partner. If you want to define a rule that affects households, and not just families of relatives, you could use the word gospodarstwo domowe (household, lit. a home economic unit), although it is a little long.

Allegado does not necessarily mean belonging to the same household, so I guess bliscy would be a better option here, although I ignore whether the scope of it might be wider then.

 

[elroy]

I'd say it's either too general or even more subjective.

Can you elaborate? (For what it's worth, it's very commonly used in the US.)

 

[rajulbat]

"someone who, not being a relative in a traditional way, has some special affective bonds with us".
This really is no different than a "close friend."

Here is an excerpt from an Irish website describing "Phase 2" of the gradual COVID19 gathering restrictions:

Slightly larger groups of people will be allowed to attend funerals. However, attendance will still be restricted to immediate family and close friends and limited to a maximum number of mourners for a limited period of time.

Here is a sentence from an article in Fortune regarding the effect of COVID19 on people's social lives:

With millions of Americans working from home and avoiding socializing outside of their immediate family and close friends, much has been written about plummeting sales for industries that thrive on people going out, like makeup, and clothing retailers.

 

[Penyafort]

Can you elaborate? (For what it's worth, it's very commonly used in the US.)

I'd say the loved ones in English has its equivalent in los seres queridos in Spanish, which is something definitely close in meaning, but wider in scope from my point of view. Because I would include many people in that definition that wouldn't really be as close as an allegado. But again, we're dealing with somewhat subjective terms, so that maybe other native speakers wouldn't even agree with me.

"someone who, not being a relative in a traditional way, has some special affective bonds with us".
This really is no different than a "close friend."

Here is an excerpt from an Irish website describing "Phase 2" of the gradual COVID19 gathering restrictions:


Here is a sentence from an article in Fortune regarding the effect of COVID19 on people's social lives:

I think so. After all, a friend is someone who, in theory, we love and/or trust. So they are loved ones who are close to us. And yet, the translation of 'close friend' is amigo íntimo in Spanish, which many would distinguish from an allegado. Maybe -I'm guessing here- because we don't always choose our allegados, as we do with our friends.

 

[alfaalfa]

Ciao,

someone who, not being a relative in a traditional way, has some special affective bonds with us".

Last spring they created a new definition:
Affetti stabili

 

[apmoy70]

Nothing similar in Greek I'm afraid, the stereotypical phrase used here is «συγγενείς, φίλοι και γνωστοί» [siɲ.ɟeˈnis ˈfi.li ce ɣnɔˈsti] --> relatives, friends and acquaintances

 

[Welsh_Sion]

There's the colloquial (I suppose) expression in English, one's nearest and dearest, which has the merits of rhyme and a pleasant sound to the ear. But I don't think it has any legal currency and sounds impossibly vague (and subjective?) to qualify as a legal definition of anything.

 

[merquiades]

Close relations, close friends

Les proches en français

 

[ThomasK]

Not so sure as for Dutch: but "close friends" would be nauwe vrienden. It reminds of me the Corona buddies, which were spread from Wuhan: everyone was allowed to have one C buddy, which did not require some family bond or other...