Dante: che io vi ho scorte

N

nicole.monique

New Member
usa, english
Hello!
I have never taken any Italian, ever, but I am still required to translate a passage of Dante's Inferno for one of my graduate school classes. It is a slow but generally rewarding process. However, I am coming across major difficulties with translating words that he shortens with apostrophes. In phrases like "ch'i' v'ho scorte" at the end of one line and "com'i' v'intrai" at the end of another, I do not know what the apostrophes represent, and therefore, can't look the words up without their correct spellings. My guess is that some letters have been taken out, but I don't know which ones or how many. Are these normal Italian contractions, or a Dante thing? Are there standard letters for Italian contractions or might Dante take out letters according to his own will? Can anyone solve this mystery?
 
    • nicole.monique said:
    Hello!
    I have never taken any Italian, ever, but I am still required to translate a passage of Dante's Inferno for one of my graduate school classes. It is a slow but generally rewarding process. However, I am coming across major difficulties with translating words that he shortens with apostrophes. In phrases like "ch'i' v'ho scorte" at the end of one line and "com'i' v'intrai" at the end of another, I do not know what the apostrophes represent, and therefore, can't look the words up without their correct spellings. My guess is that some letters have been taken out, but I don't know which ones or how many. Are these normal Italian contractions, or a Dante thing? Are there standard letters for Italian contractions or might Dante take out letters according to his own will? Can anyone solve this mystery?
    Click to expand...

    Well, Dante is nothing but the foundation of Italian itself...but his writings date to Middle Ages so that sthg changed meanwhile! ;)
    "ch'i' v'ho scorte" stands for "che io vi ho scorte", "com'i' v'intrai" stands for "come io vi entrai". These contractions are not being used anymore, they're part of very ancient literary Italian

    DDT
     
    Ciao nicole.monique,

    è alquanto strano dover tradurre passaggi di poesia in italiano antico per chi non ha mai studiato l'italiano.

    Sarebbe come dire a un bambino in prima elementare di interpretare un pezzo di Shakespeare...

    Comunque, in genere, l'apostrofo sta ad indicare l'eliminazione di una vocale:
    i' = io
    v'intrai = vi entrai
    com' = come
    ch' = che
    v' = vi

    I hope this helps :)
     
    Also bear in mind that in literary Italian (especially in Dantes time period) vi = ci = there
     
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