# The One



## alahay

I'm trying to think of a translation of "The one" as in "he is the one" and I can't get very far (maybe "l'unico" in italian?).


----------



## Outsider

You mean as in the _Matrix_ films...?


----------



## alahay

Outsider said:
			
		

> You mean as in the _Matrix_ films...?


Exactly! 

I wonder how did they manage to translate that movie or this connotation specifically to other languages...


----------



## Outsider

It's difficult in Portuguese. To be honest, I don't remember how they did it in the film. It's been a while, and film translations are not exactly shining examples of translation, as a rule. 
I might have translated it as _O Certo_, "The Right One", or _O Escolhido_, "The Chosen One", or maybe _O Eleito_, also "The Chosen One", though I'm pretty sure that's not the translation I saw in the cinema.

P.S. In case you're wondering, _O Único_, _O Um_ and _O Uno_ would not work as translations. The first can only mean "The Only One" (which Neo wasn't ), the second would have a numerical sense, "The Number One", and the third would have a philosphical sense, "The Whole", "The Universe".


----------



## elroy

For those of us who didn't see the films, what exactly is the connotation?


----------



## nichec

elroy said:
			
		

> For those of us who didn't see the films, what exactly is the connotation?



Hello to all:
Hummm..... In the movie, Neo, the main male character, is the chosen one according to the prophecy who would be able to save the human world (there are also other worlds in the film)

I watched it in English. But I guess the translation in Chinese would be something very close to "the saver of the world"


----------



## alahay

elroy said:
			
		

> For those of us who didn't see the films, what exactly is the connotation?


I was just refering to the idiomatic english connotation of "the one" which might not exist in other languages. If you literally translate "the one" to "el uno" or "l'un" or "l'uno" it won't carry the meaning...

As for the movie, Neo was not exactly the chosen one but maybe the one to be chosen; avoiding specification about his uniquness is simply expressed by being "the one".


----------



## Outsider

The One is an especially gifted individual, who has been prophesized to lead his enslaved people to freedom. So, it's reminiscent of the concept of "Messiah", in Judaism and Christianity. 
Wikipedia entry with story details.


----------



## nichec

alahay said:
			
		

> As for the movie, Neo was not exactly the chosen one but maybe the one to be chosen; avoiding specification about his uniquness is simply expressed by being "the one".


 
point taken. There is another movie from Jet Li that's called "The One", isn't it? I think they translate it as "the saver of the world" in Chinese....Oh, but I guess you are not so interested in Chinese....


----------



## Outsider

alahay said:
			
		

> I was just refering to the idiomatic english connotation of "the one" which might not exist in other languages. If you literally translate "the one" to "el uno" or "l'un" or "l'uno" it won't carry the meaning...


Yes, you can also say "She's the one" in the sense of "She's the right woman for me", "the woman I'm going to marry", etc.


----------



## Elieri

I guess the closest you get in swedish is _den utvalde_, the chosen one. A litteral translation of "the one" wouldn't work, it'd be either _den ende_, meaning the only one, or _ettan_, meaning the first one or the number (1) itself.


----------



## Mutichou

I haven't seen the movie, but I think it's "l'élu" in French ("the chosen one"); "l'unique" doesn't sound as good.


----------



## Whodunit

Elieri said:
			
		

> I guess the closest you get in swedish is _den utvalde_, the chosen one. A litteral translation of "the one" wouldn't work, it'd be either _den ende_, meaning the only one, or _ettan_, meaning the first one or the number (1) itself.


 
Same in German. 

I didn't see the movie either, but as many films use this expression, I'd use it for a "Matrix translation" (), too:

*Der Auserwählte* (The chosen one)

Something like "_der Eine_" would work, but not in this context, because it would imply that that is the man you want to marry, as Outsider already explained.


----------



## alahay

Outsider said:
			
		

> Yes, you can also say "She's the one" in the sense of "She's the right woman for me", "the woman I'm going to marry", etc.



Thanks for the ecample Outsider, I'd like to have "the one translated" regardless of the matrix unless you're telling me that "the one" isn't context-free-translatablle.


----------



## Outsider

I suppose that is what I am saying. We don't have a phrase like "the one" _per se_. It has to be "the [something] one".


----------



## jester.

Whodunit said:
			
		

> Same in German.
> 
> I didn't see the movie either, but as many films use this expression, I'd use it for a "Matrix translation" (), too:
> 
> *Der Auserwählte* (The chosen one)
> 
> Something like "_der Eine_" would work, but not in this context, because it would imply that that is the man you want to marry, as Outsider already explained.



In fact this is the translation used in the movies.


(Actually I only liked the first one...)


----------



## Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li!

Czech doesn't use articles and relies little on auxiliary bits like "one", so there's no reasonable way to translate "The One" directly. In The Matrix, Neo's title was "Vyvolený", literally "the Chosen One", although gramatically speaking it means simply "chosen-masculine-singular".


----------



## Josh_

*المحتار  *(al-mukhtaar) means the chosen one in Arabic.

I guess you one could also use *المنتقى *(al-muntaqan) -- the selected (or picked) one.

I have not seen the movie in Arabic, so I do not know what word they chose for the phrase "the one."


----------



## The Umlaut

"El elegido" in spanish (lit: The chosen one.)


----------



## cherine

Josh Adkins said:
			
		

> *المختار *(al-mukhtaar) means the chosen one in Arabic.
> I guess you one could also use *المنتقى *(al-muntaqan) -- the selected (or picked) one.


I prefer the first one "al-mukhtar", it literary means the chosen one. (there's a typo though, Josh). The other word is a bit weird in this context, it means the selected, the transliteration is al-muntaqa.
And I've seen the film (great one) the Arabic translation was al-mukhtaar


----------



## Tyfo

Danish;

"Den udvalgte". (The chosen one).


----------



## alahay

cherine said:
			
		

> I prefer the first one "al-mukhtar", it literary means the chosen one. (there's a typo though, Josh). The other word is a bit weird in this context, it means the selected, the transliteration is al-muntaqa.
> And I've seen the film (great one) the Arabic translation was al-mukhtaar



How about *Al-Moustafa* (in Gibran's "The Profet")?
Al-Moustafa also means the chosen one however has higher morality than Al-Moukhtar since Al-moukhtar is the one chosen by people (N.B. moukhtar also means mayor) while Al-Moustafa is the one chosen by God!


----------



## Sirène

Mutichou said:
			
		

> I haven't seen the movie, but I think it's "l'élu" in French ("the chosen one"); "l'unique" doesn't sound as good.


I haven't seen it either (how helpful!) but that's how I would have translated it myself.
L'élu.


----------



## cherine

alahay said:
			
		

> How about *Al-Moustafa* ...


Moustafa doesn't only have a religious connotation, but it's true that it's "higher" -in its connotation- than "mukhtar". Notice that moustafa has the same root as the word "safwa" (elite), maybe this shows what I mean by "higher".
So if we try to translate the two words to English, we'd maybe say that moukhtar means : chosen (among others), and moustafa means something like : chosen _atop_ others,  I don't think it has a direct meaning in other languages.
Anyway, the movies subtitles had the word "mokhtar" and not "mostafa" which by the way sounds a bit too formal too.

N.B. I didn't know that moukhtar means mayor, is this a colloquial usage or something ?


----------



## elroy

cherine said:
			
		

> N.B. I didn't know that moukhtar means mayor, is this a colloquial usage or something ?


 
I was familiar with it - well, I knew that it meant some type of leader in a city; maybe not "mayor," but something along those lines.

I don't know if it's just colloquial.  Either way, it would make sense since the mayor is "chosen" by the people - or by whoever it was that appointed him.


----------



## cherine

Oh, I remember now, there's even a song of Fayrouz : ya mukhtar el makhatir.
Yes I think it means a mayor, and I like Elroy's explanation of the "etymology" of this title.
So to get back to the title topic, I still vote "mokhtar"


----------



## MarX

In Indonesian: *satu-satunya*

*satu* = one


----------



## blue_jewel

In Tagalog: Ang Nag-iisa; isa (one)


----------



## Mahaodeh

cherine said:


> N.B. I didn't know that moukhtar means mayor, is this a colloquial usage or something ?


 
In Iraq, Al Mukhtaar is something like sheikh al-hara (شيخ الحارة) or al-3umda (العمدة) in traditional urban neighbourhoods. He was a guy elected/choosen by the neighbourhood to represent them to the authorities, he is less than a mayor.

I wouldn't use al-mustafa because in general use it refers to the Prophet Mohammed; although the word is not exclusive of any other use I would imagin that it might cause uneasy sentiments if it were used in such a context as that of the Matrix.


----------



## Juri

The ointed (by God)?


----------



## apmoy70

Greek:

1/ *«O διαλεχτός, η διαλεχτή, το διαλεχτό»* [ο ði.alexˈtos] (masc.), [i ði.alexˈti] (fem.), [to ði.alexˈto] (neut.) --> _the chosen one_ < ByzGr deverbal nominal *«ὁ διαλεκτός, ἡ διαλεκτή, τὸ διαλεκτόν» ο dialektós* (masc.), *ē dialektḗ* (fem.), *tò dialektón* (neut.) < Classical v. *«διαλέγω» dĭălégō* < compound; Classical adverb and preposition *«διά» diá* --> _in two, apart, through_ (PIE *dis- _apart_ cf Lat. dis-, Alb. ç- _apart_) + Classical v. *«λέγω légō* --> _to collect, gather, count, recount, say_ (PIE *leǵ-/*les- _to gather/collect_ cf Hitt. lešš-/lišš- _to pick, gather_, Lat. legere, ToA/B läk- _to see_, Proto-Germanic *lesaną > Ger. lessen, Eng. lease, Dt. lezen).

2/ *«Ο ένας και μοναδικός»* [o ˈenas ce monaðiˈkos] (both masc.) --> _the one and only_; the nominal *«μοναδικός»* [monaðiˈkos] (masc.) --> _unique, one of a kind, one and only, singular_ < Classical nominal *«μοναδικός, -κή, -κόν» mŏnădikós* (masc.), *mŏnădikḗ* (fem.), *mŏnădikón* (neut.) < Classical Greek nominal *μόνος, -ίᾱ, -ον mónŏs* (masc.), *mŏníā* (fem.), *mónŏn* (neut.) --> _alone_ < **μόνϝος *mónwŏs* (PIE *mon-u̯o- _alone_ cf Arm. մանր (manr), _small, thin_).

3/ *«O εκλεκτός, η εκλεκτή, το εκλεκτό»* [ο eklekˈtos] (masc.), [i eklekˈti] (fem.), [to eklekˈto] (neut.) --> _the selected one_ < ByzGr deverbal nominal *«ὁ ἐκλεκτός, ἡ ἐκλεκτή, τὸ ἐκλεκτόν» ο eklektós* (masc.), *ē eklektḗ* (fem.), *tò eklektón* (neut.) < Classical v. *«ἐκλέγω» ĕκlégō* < compound; Classical preposition and adverb which is often used as first element in compounds *«ἐκ» ĕk/«ἐξ» ĕk͡s* (the latter before vowel) --> _out, from_ (PIE *h₁eǵʰs-/*h₁eḱs- _out_ cf Lat. ex/ex-, ec/ec- _out of, from_) + Classical v. *«λέγω légō* (see above).
"The One" (Neo) in the movie "the Matrix" was translated as «ο εκλεκτός» in Greek. 

Within religious context:

A/ *«O Μεσσίας»* [o meˈsi.as] (masc.) --> _the Messiah_ < Koine Gr masc. *«ὁ Μεσσίας» hŏ Mĕssíās*, transliteration by the LXX scholars who translated the Hebrew Bible into Koine Greek of the Hebrew *מָשִׁיחַ *(mashiakh), _the anointed one_.

B/ *«Ο Χριστός»* [o xrisˈtos] (masc.) --> _the anointed one, the Christ_ a calque for Hebrew מָשִׁיחַ (see above) which is (the Greek noun) a deverbative of the Classical v. *«χρίω» kʰrī́ō* --> _to graze, spread, (be)smear, enqueue, anoint, plaster_ (PIE *gʰrei(H)- _to strike_ cf Lith. _grieti_nėlė, _cream_, _grieti_nė, _sour cream_, Proto-Germanic *grīmô > Eng. grime, Dt. grijm, Fr. grimace, Sp. grimazo).

C/ *«Ο Ων»* [o on] (masc.) --> _He who is/exists_ a calque for the Hebrew _tetragrammaton_ i.e. the name of God in the Hebrew Bible; the Greek name is the active present participle *«ὤν» ṓn* (masc.) of the v. *«εἰμί» e̯imí* --> _to be_ (PIE *h₁es-mi- _to be_, old athematic root present with exact correspondences in several IE languages).

_Edit_: Added «εκλεκτός»


----------

