La bocca di Chiara divenne epilettica

[LDATirro]

In a passage that recalls Dante's "femmina balba", the following sentence appears: "La bocca di Chiara divenne epilettica". I know that translated this means "Chiara's mouth became epileptic", and while I know the writer is making reference to the disease, I also know that the translation in English is not really correct. What word could I use in place of "epileptic" in the English translation?? Mouths do not become epileptic, only people do....

Help!

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http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=61257

 

[Paulfromitaly]

Hello there and welcome
I believe that in this passage the authors means that Chiara was dribbling.

 

[ConusMagus]

LDATirro, I agree with you, the same reasoning about epileptic mouth is worth in italian. To express the meaning you have to use a paraphrase so you could say "Chiara's mouth shown a grimace as she had an epileptic crisis"

Bye.

 

[LDATirro]

Thank you for welcoming me! I had never thought of dribbling... would that effectively get across the idea that she was having an epileptic seizure , as I know that is why the word was used.

Grazie del tuo aiuto!

 

[Paulfromitaly]

Thank you for welcoming me! I had never thought of dribbling... would that effectively get across the idea that she was having an epileptic seizure , as I know that is why the word was used.

Grazie del tuo aiuto!

I don't know anything about the context, but you do
If Chiara is not actually having an epileptic seizure, then the sentence is figurative and the message the author wants to get across might be Chiara's dribbling.