# Declinazione Donna



## piccologu

Buongiorno
la galleria dove lavoro sta organizzando una mostra fotografica dal titolo _Declinazione Donna._ Per la traduzione in inglese avrei pensato a "Interpretation of the woman". Secondo voi rende?
Grazie!


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## Pietruzzo

"Declinazione"(declension) is the set of inflections of a word(in Latin for example) and is a metaphor that usually means "all about" something.
My courageous attempt:
Inflections of "woman"


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## johngiovanni

I take it that "declinazione" is an analogy with the linguistic meaning of "declension", given that "Declinazione donna è un mondo variegato dove ogni donna, nel suo contesto, lascia il suo fondamentale e insostituibile contributo" appears in the description of the exhibition.
So perhaps you could keep the linguistic metaphor -"The Declension of Woman" or go for something like "Woman in her Infinite Variety".


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## QueenTitania

What about "Women of the World", "A World of Women"  or "Woman's World"? I would keep the alliteration as in the Italian version. Maybe an English native speaker can suggest a better solution.


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## sorry66

johngiovanni said:


> "Woman in her Infinite Variety".


Sounds like you're taking the ps!

Maybe 'Diverse Women'.



QueenTitania said:


> "Women of the World"


This one sounds best.


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## johngiovanni

sorry66 said:


> Sounds like you're taking the ps!



Certainly not my intention.  Not in _this_ forum, anyway!
I would not use the article "_The_ Woman" is a point I was trying to make.
I agree about the alliteration, and was even wondering about a mixture of Italian and English as in "Donna Declension".
It's a title, and this is the world of art, so perhaps "Donna Declension" is not much more weird than "Declinazione Donna".


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## sorry66

"Not in _this_ forum" - that's ok, then!
I didn't realise we were translating the title of a photo exhibition. I suppose "Donna Declension" might work if the visitors understand a bit of Italian - but they would also have to know 'declension' too, which is not that common a word.
'Superlative Woman' plays on the grammatical theme so I suggest that too.


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## rrose17

_Parsing Women
First Person Woman_
Too esoteric?


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## bicontinental

_Women Defined.
_
Bic.


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## johngiovanni

sorry66 said:


> I didn't realise we were translating the title of a photo exhibition. I suppose "Donna Declension" might work if the visitors understand a bit of Italian - but they would also have to know 'declension' too, which is not that common a word.


I agree.  The "obscurity" seems to be part and parcel of this art (criticism) world.

I don't go for "Woma/en Defined", as I think it's dangerous to suggest that woman is definable!

"Parsing" does seem esoteric, but then any analogy with the linguistic analysis sounds dodgy.  (I cannot imagine a female photographer using this sort of expression in this context.)


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## sorry66

Singular Woman?



bicontinental said:


> Women Defined.


I agree with John.


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## Gwunderi

A me invece piace molto quanto suggerito da Johngiovanni:
"Woman in her Infinite Variety".

Non so invece che farne del titolo italiano - che significa "Declinazione Donna"? Si, ora l'avete spiegato, ma dover prima indovinarne il significato non è per niente di mio gusto, anzi … (lasciamo perdere)


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## sorry66

Gwunderi said:


> "Woman in her Infinite Variety"


As I've said above, to me it sounds a little sarcastic ( if you think about how 'infinite variety' is often used)  but depending on the exhibition it could be a great title.
Here is a famous example:
"Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale
Her infinite variety; other women cloy
The appetites they feed, but she makes hungry
Where most she satisfies; for vilest things
Become themselves in her"


Gwunderi said:


> che significa "Declinazione Donna"?


If you don't know what it means, how can you judge which translation is best?!


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## Kotlas

"Women Defined" is the best.


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## Gwunderi

sorry66 said:


> If you don't know what it means, how can you judge which translation is best?!



Some users have explained what it means, so now I know 

But you're right that I'm not to judge which translation is best, and if you could not see that English is not my native language I think I wouldn't have answered at all (in fact I've answered two English posts today and thought myself: now you better stop). E.g. I didn't know what associations "infinite variety" could arouse (?) in English; so I'm well aware of these tricky problems.

"Woman in her Infinite Variety" simply sounds very good to me, I spontaneously agreed with it.


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## sorry66

Kotlas said:


> Declinazione means decline (caduta).


I didn't realise that.
So that's the same as the English word 'declension'
_archaic
a condition of decline or moral deterioration.
"the declension of the new generation"_

'Women Declined' ?! (it all depends on the exhibition - this is like 'women refused')
'Declining Women' ? ( here it could mean 'deteriorating' or 'refusing', as well as containing the grammatical reference as in 'women declined')



Gwunderi said:


> "Woman in her Infinite Variety" simply sounds very good to me, I spontaneously agreed with it.


(Sorry, I overlooked the last part of your post #12.)
It's a well-known cliché but I find that's it's used negatively. (I probably would have suggested as a possibility myself but John beat me to it!)
Of course, women may wish to reclaim the saying and they often have!

We really need to know more about the exhibition to judge what's best!


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## Gwunderi

"In declino" is very often used also today:

"Il suo talento è in declino" / "una società in declino" / "la mia situazione finanziaria è in declino" ecc.

Ma si tratta di due sostantivi diversi, "il declino" e "la declinazione (dei verbi)". Una chiarificazione: conosco benissimo entrambi i sostantivi, soltanto il "costrutto" "Declinazione Donna" proprio non sò (sapevo) cosa significasse.

(And I overlooked your "edit", sorry66, sorry  )

Edit: Giusto, scusate, i verbi si coniugano, non si declinano, come osserva più sotto QueenTitania (era venuto in mente anche a me DOPO aver spento il PC


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## sorry66

Gwunderi said:


> oltanto il "costrutto" "Declinazione Donna" proprio non sò (sapevo) cosa significasse.


I agree with John (quote below) that the term is deliberately obscure, as befits the art world.


johngiovanni said:


> The "obscurity" seems to be part and parcel of this art (criticism) world.


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## novizio

The OP could help everyone to help he or she if the OP would explain generally the theme and what it is about women that the exhibit is attempting to communicate. It shouldn't be that difficult since the OP works at the gallery.


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## johngiovanni

Could piccologo please confirm that this is the exhibition:  Declinazione donna
(In post 3 I quoted from this site).
Sorry66 has already quoted the lines from "Antony and Cleopatra" by Shakespeare which were the inspiration for the "Woman in her infinite variety" suggestion.


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## tsoapm

johngiovanni said:


> "Woman in her Infinite Variety"





sorry66 said:


> Sounds like you're taking the ps!


I certainly wouldn’t go that far. It might benefit from being toned down a little: Woman in All Her Variety


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## QueenTitania

"Declinazione Donna" is not that obscure; it is just a short form, pleasant-sounding, for "La declinazione della donna" or better "Le declinazioni della donna" which means basically "Woman in her Infinite Variety", as johngiovanni suggested, or the different forms/aspects of women (in the world) [see also the link to the photo exhibition].
I don't get the association with the censored word...sorry.
By the way, in the Italian grammar "declinazione" is used for nouns, not for verbs (for the latter ones we use "coniugazione") -> see also the discussion coniugazione e declinazione (dei verbi italiani) .
For me, we just need to find a shorter and more euphonic English title.
"Women Defined" sounds too rigid in the meaning, while


sorry66 said:


> 'Women Declined' ?! (it all depends on the exhibition - this is like 'women refused')
> 'Declining Women' ? ( here it could mean 'deteriorating' or 'refusing', as well as containing the grammatical reference as in 'women declined')


seem not to convey the right meaning at all.
Given that it's hard to keep the alliteration (which I like), what about "Women Depicted" or "Women Portrayed"? I don't know if they make sense or they sound well to an English speaker.


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## Fooler

It's supposed to mean _elenco/sviluppo _(caratteriale-sociale etc)

This thread can help declinare le caratteristiche
 http://forum.wordreference.com/threads/si-declina.1768153/

My try


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## King Crimson

I do not dare to venture into a translation of the OT, but I'd like to say that 'declinare' and 'declinazione' as used in this context are one of the pet peeves of mine, a word (verb) sufficiently vague that can be warped to mean just about everything (or nothing), especially in fields like the arts and humanities, which are not conspicuous for the precision of their terminology.
If you don't believe me, have a look at other existing threads (for example here and here), where other unfortunate foreros, both native and non-native speakers, have been trying to get their head around a decent translation of this term.
And good luck to the OP for 'declinazione donna'


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## sorry66

QueenTitania said:


> seem not to convey the right meaning at all.


Well, of course, but I've given other suggestions. As I said, these suggestions are only possible if you take the meaning to be 'decline' . It was in response to Kotlas but his suggestion about 'fallen women'  etc. has been removed. (post # 14 has been completely changed)


QueenTitania said:


> Given that it's hard to keep the alliteration (which I like)


 I don't think it's that important.


QueenTitania said:


> "Women Defined" sounds too rigid in the meaning,


I don't think that's the problem, as others have said here - this sounds negative  - as woman is 'indefinable'!
Which brings to mind another suggestion 'Indefinable woman'!

I've had a look at the exhibition link (thanks, John) and the artist says:
"_vorrebbero ritrarre e rappresentare, al di là di ogni stereotipo, tutta la complessità degli elementi propri della natura femminile_."

For something that defies stereotypes, I would go with my own suggestion from post # 11:
Singular Woman
(as well as being a grammatical term, 'singular' also means 'great/remarkable' so it's a flattering description. 'Singular' can also indicate that we're talking about 'individual' portraits, which is the case here)
or
Woman in All Her Variety (re: @tsoapm)

@kingcrimson It seems like we can take out pick!


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## Tellure

Che ne dite di qualcosa tipo "Wide World of Women" o "Women Wide World"? 
Potrebbe rispecchiare il significato di "declinazioni" o è altra cosa?


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## sorry66

Tellure said:


> "*The *Wide World of Women" o "Women Wide World*Women Worldwide *"


Re: your avatar - that could be my problem!


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## Tellure

sorry66 said:


> Re: your avatar - that could be my problem!


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## QueenTitania

@sorry66, I like Singular Woman (or Singular Women?)! (sorry, I didn't see it when you first proposed it)
"Women Worldwide" is good too for me (alliteration!  )


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## Paulfromitaly

> *NOTA:*
> 
> Ricordo a tutti che WR non fa servizio di transcreation. Lo scopo della discussione era quello di tradurre l'espressione "declinazione X" e non di inventare un titolo cool per la mostra.
> 
> Grazie


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