cambusiere

[theartichoke]

Hi all,

While I've learned what a cambusiere is (my sentence is simply "Si era imbarcato per Singapore . . . come cambusiere"), I'm not sure what the most common English term is. I've found "ship's pantryman," a term I'd never heard before and for which the OED gives examples mainly from the 19th and early 20th centuries. Does anyone know if this term is still commonly used, and, if not, which term is?

 

[You little ripper!]

A quick squiz on Google reveals a few websites giving the job description of a ship Pantryman. I don't know how common it is; I've never heard it. Reverso translates it as 'ship's steward'.🙂

 

[Paulfromitaly]

My dictionary suggests storekeeper.

 

[theartichoke]

Thanks, everyone. I'll probably go with "steward": it's a bit less exact than cambusiere, from what I can tell, but the rest of what the text has to say about this guy has zero to do with his work on the ship, so there seems little point to using a precise and unusual term for it, rather than a more general one that everyone recognizes. Unless, I suppose, cambusiere is as unfamiliar a term to most Italians as pantryman is to English-speakers?

 

[alenaro]

Thanks, everyone. I'll probably go with "steward": it's a bit less exact than cambusiere, from what I can tell, but the rest of what the text has to say about this guy has zero to do with his work on the ship, so there seems little point to using a precise and unusual term for it, rather than a more general one that everyone recognizes. Unless, I suppose, cambusiere is as unfamiliar a term to most Italians as pantryman is to English-speakers?

It's currently in use, but certainly unfamiliar to many as I would classify it as "specialised terminology". Any literate Italian, anyway, should know what a "cambusa" is... and therefore a "cambusiere".

 

[alfaalfa]

Ciao

Unless, I suppose, cambusiere is as unfamiliar a term to most Italians...

Any literate Italian, anyway, should know what a "cambusa" is... and therefore a "cambusiere".

don't forget we are a people of poets, artists and... sailors
Anyway, there are several "La Cambusa" in Italy, so I'd say it's a pretty common word.