# Neînţeles



## Mallarme

In the Romanian-English dictionary I use, "neînţeles" is translated as "misunderstood."  "Misunderstood" means wrongly understood, incorrectly understood.  I'm wondering if "neînţeles" could mean NOT understood.  If it could mean both, which meaning comes to your (you native Romanians') mind first?

I would greatly appreciate any thoughts on this question.  Thank you!

P.S.

To give you some context, I'm wondering about "neînţeles" as it is used in a poem ("In loc de Introducere") by Max Blecher.  The line is: _Cuvinte, desene neînţelese ale scrisului acest_


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## farscape

I don't know how proficient you are in Romanian, but here is the dictionary definition for *neînţeles*:

"Care  nu este sau nu poate fi înțeles, priceput, explicat; greu de priceput,  de explicat; care nu poate fi cuprins de mintea omenească; inexplicabil;  tainic, misterios"

(That which is not or cannot be understood, explained, comprehend; hard to understand, explain; that which cannot be fathomed by the human mind; impossible to explain; mystique, mysterious).

And since we have the context  you are right, misunderstood cannot be used to translate _neînţeles_ there; _incomprehensible_ is a much better choice.

Best,

.


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## Csaba

Neînțeles suggests 'not understood' to me. If you want it to mean 'incomprehensible,' you can use the slightly different 'de neînțeles.' In fact, this latter usage is more common, I think (just checked on Google to make sure). Of course, there is no clear line between not understood, misunderstood and incomprehensible.


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## Mallarme

Thank you very much to both of you! Your replies are very helpful!


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