Persian: تا انگشتم به خون هموطنانم آلوده نشود

[Ali Smith]

سلام

What does تا انگشتم به خون هموطنانم آلوده نشود mean?

My guess: Lest my finger not be sullied with the blood of my fellow countrymen.

متشكرم

 

[Qureshpor]

Yes, I would say your translation is correct. An alternate could be...."I won't vote in case my vote is stained with the blood of my compatriots.

 

[PersoLatin]

تا انگشتم به خون هموطنانم آلوده نشود

Literally: so that my finger will not be stained with the blood of my compatriots

And more poetically put by yourself:

My guess: Lest my finger not be sullied with the blood of my fellow countrymen.

 

[Ali Smith]

Thanks. I picked a deliberately poetic translation because I feel the author was trying to be poetic. Why else would he have used ارسال كردن instead of فرستادن?

 

[PersoLatin]

Why else would he have used ارسال كردن instead of فرستادن?

In fact ارسال كردن is more formal than poetic, Persian poetry which gives us the idea of ‘poetic’ rarely uses Arabic based words (ارسال), of course Arabic words are used but for me as a Persian speaker, it is the Persian words & the nuances the poets create with them, is the attraction. I am sure that’s the same for Arabic speakers & Arabic poetry.