# Ukrainian: Los Desaparecidos (SP) / The Disappeared Ones: відсутня / vіdsutnya?



## Michael Aaretun

My mission is to translate the Spanish phrase Los Desaparecidos or in English The Disappeared Ones into Ukrainian. So far I've come up with the words in the subject line. I cannot get the Russian or Ukraine language to translate back into either English or Spanish to check accuracy.

Thank you in advance.

I'm currently on a sailing boat in Mexico working on a manuscript.  The term is intended to be used as the name of a  waterfront bar in Odessa owned by a Spanish merchant mariner  from Cadiz married  to a Ukraine woman. The cantina or bar is named in honor of his brother lost in the conflicts of South America.

The rest you must wait for.

/s/ Michael Aaretun


----------



## swintok

Two possibilities might be зниклі or пропавші.  The problem with both, however, is that they translate more accurately in the passive sense of something having been lost.  Зниклі види тварини (lit. lost types of animals) is used for extinct animal species and пропавші безвісти for people who were lost without a trace (e.g., in war or a shipwreck) or who disappeared without a trace (e.g., fled into hiding).

The term "the disappeared" in English has a more active and sinister connotation of someone who was taken away by someone else and was never seen again as a result.

I'll leave it to others who have a much better developed sense of the nuances of Ukrainian to provide other suggestions.


----------



## Duya

As a speaker of another Slavic language, I like the sound and connotation of proposed "vidsutnya"; its cognate in BCS, _odsutni_, translates most closely to 'absent', without sinister undertones, and with a glimpse of hope that he will be back one day. However, as our languages are rich in false friends (i.e. traps for the unaware), a native speaker will have to confirm if it carries similar shades in Ukrainian too.


----------



## jazyk

What about загубленi?


----------



## Michael Aaretun

The connotation is in fact sinister as it is the term used in the southern cone countries of South America referring to the victims of the death squads some 40 or so years ago.  The intention is the cantina is a sort of living monument to a family member of the cantina owner.

I suppose residents of gulags or of facilties such as St. Elizabeths hospital in Washington DC during WWII would to some degree be as valid bearing in mind the outcomes were often wildly different.

A secondary purpose is to curb the attempts to change definitions and erase memories of the past.

I shall continue to follow the discussion with great interest hoping to find that A is still A.

Michael Aaretunby


----------



## swintok

Both відсутні and загублені are still to my ear much too passive and do not convey the right tone.  Having thought about it long and hard, I think the two terms that might be closer to the original Spanish would be безвістні (the "unknowns" or "without traces") or забрані (the taken).


----------



## DenisBiH

The International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, that seems to deal with the issue the OP is describing, seems to get translated to Ukrainian as either _Міжнародна конвенція про захист усіх осіб від насильницьких *зникнень*_ or as _Міжнародна конвенція для захисту всіх осіб від насильницьких *зникнень*_, so perhaps _зниклі _is the best choice?


----------



## Selyd

Nosotros decimos "*Зниклий безвісти/Зниклі безвісти*". De cualquiera categoria de victimos.
_пропавші _- So we do not speak. We speak only _пропав /perderse/_.
_відсутні _- Simply is absent /estar ausente/
_загубленi _- To lose /perder/
_забрані _- To take away /arrancar/
The speech goes about everybody, about which there is no information - is alive whether or not, place of stay, condition and other.


----------



## Ukrainito

Me da que* зниклі *será lo más adecuado y claro.


----------

