# Too beautiful for Earth



## mhambster

I have a friend who is getting a tattoo and relied on Google Translate to tell her how to say "Too beautiful for Earth" in Arabic. What she got was "ميلة جدا للأرض", which I think means something more like "very beautiful land". At the least, I think the phrase should start with either "للغاية،  or "جداً". Really, though, I have almost no ability in Arabic. Could someone please tell what is the proper translation for this phrase?


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## jack_1313

Is the first word ميلة or جميلة?


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## Mahaodeh

جميلة جداً للأرض can be translated to 'very beautiful for earth', but that would not mean in Arabic the same thing as it would in English.
A better translation would be: جميلة أكثر من اللازم على الأرض while I would say that this is a literal translation, but in Arabic the idiomatic expression doesn't really work too well. I would advise against it. Maybe if you could explain what idea exactly she wants to convey, we could suggest a better expression.


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## elroy

I'm sorry, Maha, but since this is for a tattoo, I feel obligated to say


Mahaodeh said:


> جميلة أكثر من اللازم على الأرض


 This is entirely unidiomatic and particularly unfavorable for a tattoo, where brevity and flow are of the essence.

I don't think the issue is what the English means, but the fact that in Arabic "too" often doesn't lend itself well to translation - as is unfortunately the case here.

I thought of something with the verb فاق, such as جمال يفوق الكون (literally, "a beauty that transcends the universe").


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## Mahaodeh

I agree that the literal translation doesn't really work in Arabic, that's why I thought maybe we need to know what she wants to express so that we could come up with something that does work.


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## elroy

The meaning is that this person's beauty is beyond that of this world; it's "out of this world."  This reminds me of the line "This world was never meant for one as beautiful as you" from the song "Vincent" by Don McLean (beautiful song, by the way).

What do you think of my suggestion?


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## jack_1313

In my own words, I understand the expression as meaning that this person is so beautiful that they don't really belong on/fit in with this (sometimes ugly?) world.

I can think of various way to phrase that idea but I doubt they would sound good.

جمال يفوق الكون seems like a good approximation to me. I conveys the same message, though I'm not sure the nuances are quite the same.


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## elroy

jack_1313 said:


> I can think of various way to phrase that idea but I doubt they would sound good.


 Let's hear them!


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## jack_1313

I can usually express myself clearly in Arabic, but I also recognize that my writing will lack the idiomatic quality essential to an expression like this one. That’s why I hesitate to offer direct suggestions and prefer to defer to native speakers.

Initially I was thinking جمال لا يناسب هذا العالم, which I would understand along the lines of “Beauty that doesn’t fit in with (lit. suit) this world”. I think this could be misunderstood and might sound bizarre.

I also thought of جمال لا مكان له في هذا العالم (“Beauty that has no place in this world”). Again, there is potential for misunderstanding. جميلة إلى حد أن لا مكان لها في هذا العالم (I'm not 100% sure that we don't need a dummy ه on أن here) is a literal translation of how I understand the idea, but this sounds to me like something a serial killer would say before claiming his latest victim.


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## mhambster

I just spoke with my friend, who is actually a friend of my sister-in-law, which is why I didn't know this in the first place, but the tattoo is a tribute/memento in memory of her child that passed away. She had a miscarriage, so she doesn't know the gender. In any case, the feeling behind the phrase would be melancholy, I feel. Something along the lines of the child being too precious to be a part of this world, so was taken back into heaven. I'm just trying to capture her mood for those of you helping. I speak a number of Latin languages, and wouldn't be able to translate this accurately without that kind of information. It dives deep into symbolic meaning and idiom.

So, with that extra knowledge, are there any strong opinions about how it should be phrased? Obviously, literal word-for-word meaning is not the priority. I agree with jack_1313, with this kind of meaning, I'd really love to defer to someone with native proficiency.

Thank you very much in advance for your help.


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## jack_1313

Based on the details you added, I actually think my suggestion of جمال لا مكان له في هذا العالم ("A beauty that has no place in this world") turned out to be pretty appropriate. I would also consider the past-tense equivalent: جمال لم يكن له مكان في هذا العالم - "A beauty that had no place in this world". But I would show any phrase I wrote to native speakers _whose expertise in written Arabic I trust _(such as those who have responded to this thread) before tattooing it on my body. I'll be interested to see the responses/other suggestions.

Although I think Apricot misunderstood the intent of the tattoo because of a lack of context (it initially seemed like a testament to the beauty of the person bearing it), I agree with her general sentiment: Why should this tattoo be in Arabic?

I'll send you a private message with a few other pointers that are too off-topic to post here.


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## mhambster

Thank you, Jack_1313. I'll look for your message.


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## elroy

jack_1313 said:


> Based on the details you added, I actually think my suggestion of جمال لا مكان له في هذا العالم ("A beauty that has no place in this world") turned out to be pretty appropriate. I would also consider the past-tense equivalent: جمال لم يكن له مكان في هذا العالم - "A beauty that had no place in this world".


 My issue with these is that I find them too long/cumbersome for a tattoo.  (I feel the same about your other suggestions, and I also agree that جمال لا يناسب هذا العالم is unclear.) 

Here's an idea: جمال أسمى من هذا العالم, literally "a beauty more sublime than this world", or, if you want to keep it as short as possible, جمال أسمى من الأرض, "a beauty more sublime than Earth."


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## mhambster

I like both of these latter suggestions. Does anyone else here in the forums have any thoughts or opinions?


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## AndyRoo

I thought of another possible way of saying it:

أجمل من أن تسكن هذا العالم 
=_ too beautiful to reside in this world_ [addressing a boy in the second person or speaking of a girl in the third person].

I am pretty sure أجمل من أن is OK for "too beautiful to...", but am not sure how the whole phrase sounds.


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## cherine

I like it.


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## elroy

I don't think it flows quite well enough for a tattoo.  The successive function words (من أن) break the flow somewhat.  Also, I think explicitly saying تسكن makes it less poetic.


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