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bonificación de la mano de obra

Glossary entry

Spanish term or phrase:

lazo

English translation:

strapwork

Added to glossary by Linda Grabner
Jul 9, 2019 04:31
4 yrs ago
Spanish term

lazo

Spanish to English Art/Literary Architecture
I'm working on an academic article, peninsular Spanish to American English, on the history of architecture in early modern Spain. The information I've found so far seems to indicate that the lazo is used as a decorative element (a bow or ribbon), but now, in the sentence I'm working on, it looks more like they're using it to indicate a structural element or building material:

con salas rectangulares y cámaras cuadradas cubiertas con **artesonados de lazo** e incluso mocárabes

He's describing the basic floor plan and construction of a "Castilian" house (as an architectural style, and as opposed to a "Morisco" style house). Doesn't this syntax sound like the ceiling is made of a substance called "lazo"?

Anyway, here's what I've got:

with rectangular rooms and square bedrooms topped with **coffered ceilings of lazo** and even mocarabes.

Any ideas of what this might be, or how I might be misinterpreting it (such that "lazos" is still somehow being used to mean "bows")?
Proposed translations (English)
3 +5 strapwork
3 lace/ribbon
References
Artesonado

Discussion

Charles Davis Jul 10, 2019:
Good solution. And I'm not all that surprised you've decided against "stalactite squinch"; it has a certain ring to it, but it doesn't sound very graceful. :-)
Linda Grabner (asker) Jul 10, 2019:
muqarna(s) options redux Well, like you, I've kept digging, and now that I know better what it's in reference to (and actually found some images, which definitely helped a lot), I think I've got a handle on it. I found one source that claimed that muquarna was the term used for the feature in Islamic/Arabic cultures, but mocarabe was used for the same feature in Spanish architecture. However, I also decided that the term "honeycomb vaulting" would be a good compromise between "authentic" architectural lingo and enough descriptiveness to help the layman out without offending any architectural experts. And no, just on aesthetic grounds, I don't think I could bring myself to use "stalactite squinch". :-)
Charles Davis Jul 10, 2019:
Do you fancy "stalactite squinch"? The Met uses it:
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/449461
Charles Davis Jul 10, 2019:
Though (back-pedalling a little) I think you could adopt one of Cindy's perfectly correct alternatives in that question (stalactite work or honeycomb work) to make it a bit more accessible if you like.
Charles Davis Jul 9, 2019:
@Linda I think so, yes. "Mocarabe" is the Spanish term, and although I wouldn't be surprised if some people do use it in English (possibly because they don't know what it is), I think most specialists call this feature a muqarna(s). There's no question that this is a term used in English in relation to Islamic architecture. That's what I would do.

Here's a previous question I've only just found. The answerer is/was an art specialist:
https://www.proz.com/kudoz/spanish-to-english/architecture/8...

As for whether to gloss the meaning, personally I wouldn't. Even if it weren't an article for specialists in architecture, I always tend to feel that if readers don't understand a term all they have to do is google it; they don't even have to buy a dictionary these days. If they can't be bothered, that's their problem. But in this context I think it's not only unnecessary but actually undesirable, since it implies that readers will not have heard of it, and specialist readers don't like being patronised.
Linda Grabner (asker) Jul 9, 2019:
Hi Charles I saw both mocarabe (without an accent for the English spelling) and muqarna (which I only found without the S on the end) when I went looking for English translations. I thought about glossing the meaning, but since it is supposedly an article geared towards experts in architecture, I thought it probably wasn't necessary. But I may yet decide to do so, now that I think more about it.

The reason I left it mocarabe was simply because that was the "translation" I found first. I discovered muqarna purely by accident as I was digging for something to do with lazos (go figure), and from the source I was reading, I wasn't sure if they were saying that was the term used in English or not, whereas it looked like mocarabe WAS a recognized English form. Again, I'll have to think about this more before I decide for sure. But I take it you're inclined to think muquarna is the way to go?
Charles Davis Jul 9, 2019:
I'm not sure whether the singular should be a muqarna or a muqarnas: you find both forms.
Charles Davis Jul 9, 2019:
Hi Linda Are you OK with mocárabe? I mention it because I didn't know what it meant until I looked. The word is commonly spelt like that though clearly it must originally have been moçárabe, i.e. the old spelling of mozárabe.

Here it means a kind of decorative element:

"El artesonado tiene forma octogonal, está decorado con estrellas de seis puntas recorridas por un cordón y muestra en el centro un mozárabe (un elemento arquitectónico decorativo a base de prismas yuxtapuestos)."

In English I think "mocárabes/mozárabes" would be called "muqarnas".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muqarnas

"The arched niche at the mosque's entrance facing Wazir Khan Chowk is richly decorated with floral motifs, and features one of Lahore's first examples of a muqarna - an architectural element found at the Alhambra in Spain, as well as on several imperial mosques in Iran."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wazir_Khan_Mosque

Proposed translations

+5
1 hr
Selected

strapwork

Lazo:

Término: Lacería
http://tesauros.mecd.es/tesauros/bienesculturales/1195551
Lazaría gl Llaceries ca Strapwork en
RDF/XMLNotation3RDF/JSONJSON-LD
Definición
Motivo ornamental compuesto por molduras* o líneas que siguen un modelo geométrico y que se cruzan y enlazan alternativamente entre sí, manteniendo el ritmo y la simetría. En ocasiones, incluyen figuras* en el interior de los elementos geométricos.

In the history of art and design, strapwork is the use of stylised representations in ornament of ribbon-like forms. These may loosely imitate leather straps,[1] parchment or metal cut into elaborate shapes, with piercings, and often interwoven in a geometric pattern. ... carved in wood, or moulded in plaster
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strapwork

Tapestry in the Renaissance: Art and Magnificence
https://books.google.es/books?isbn=1588390225 - Traducir esta página
Thomas P. Campbell, ‎Maryan Wynn Ainsworth, ‎Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.) - 2002 - ‎Art
The canopy represents a shallow coffered ceiling, decorated with strapwork

Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art & Architecture: Three-Volume Set
https://books.google.es/books?isbn=019530991X -
Jonathan Bloom, ‎Sheila S. Blair, ‎Sheila Blair - 2009 - ‎Architecture
Coffered ceilings of this type continued to be con-structed in Spain until the late 17th century.
The panels, which were nailed or glued to the rafters and collar-beams and concealed the entire roof structure, were usually decorated with elaborately carved and joined strapwork. The laths, which left the rafters and collar-beams visible, were usually painted.
Peer comment(s):
agree neilmac : Google images has loads of examples....
38 mins
Thanks, Neil!
agree Charles Davis : Yes
1 hr
Thanks, Charles!
agree bigedsenior
1 hr
Thanks, Bigedsenior!
agree Adolfo Fulco
15 hrs
Thanks, Adolfo!
agree JohnMcDove
1 day 18 hrs
Thanks, John :-)
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
9 hrs

lace/ribbon

Something went wrong...

Reference comments

1 hr
Reference:

Artesonado

Coffered is about right.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artesonado

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2019-07-09 05:58:50 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

And here's lazo:
http://www.glosarioarquitectonico.com/glossary/lazo/
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