This site uses cookies. Some of these cookies are essential to the operation of the site, while others help to improve your experience by providing insights into how the site is being used. For more information, please see the ProZ.com privacy policy.
Cookie settings
fogli di cui occupa cinque facciate intere
copia di bottega

Glossary entry

Italian term or phrase:

territorio discontinuo

English translation:

disconnected/disjointed/patchwork landscape

Added to glossary by Isabelle Johnson
Apr 27, 2013 16:09
11 yrs ago
1 viewer *
Italian term

territorio discontinuo

Italian to English Other Geography
I'm unclear whether this means uneven ground? hilly? Or something else entirely.

I monasteri femminili di San Zaccaria e San Lorenzo di Castello, fondati nel IX secolo, sorgono nel territorio discontinuo e prevalentemente agricolo dell’altomedioevo

Any help much appreciated.
Proposed translations (English)
2 +3 disconnected/disjointed/patchwork landscape
4 +2 discontinuous territory
4 +1 agriculture/farming-dominated territorial patchwork
4 varied landscape
3 -1 rolling/hilly

Discussion

Isabelle Johnson (asker) Apr 29, 2013:
Birgitte As Giles said above I had already noted that it was in the Venetian lagoon and I don't need to see photos to see what it looks like! Thank you Giles for pointing that out for me.
Giles Watson Apr 28, 2013:
It is the Venetian lagoon, isn't it? @ Birgitte

Isabelle said below that the context is the Venetian lagoon which, seen from the air, does look rather "patchworky".

"Discontinuous" doesn't really render this idea as it implies a one-dimensional broken-line perception of space. The more obviously two or three-dimensional "fragmented (territory)" is a better option if you don't want to use "territorial patchwork".
BrigitteHilgner Apr 28, 2013:
Instead of asking for more suggestions ... you should provide more information: in which Italian region are these "monasteri"? I'm pretty sure that google provides some information about them and you might even find photos about the region.
Marco Solinas Apr 27, 2013:
Rolling I too lean towards "discontinuity" of elevation. Perhaps "rolling" could convey this idea (if you decide that that is the meaning) without involving hills.

Put me among the non-"intelligent", but "discontinuous territory" means nothing to me.
Isabelle Johnson (asker) Apr 27, 2013:
Hello everyone and thanks very much for your suggestions. I'm still unclear, though, I must admit. Like Phil, discontinuous territory doesn't mean much to me and the tone of my text is serious but not inaccessible. I would be inclined to go for hilly/rolling but am worried about the fact that there aren't many hills on the Venetian islands... I rather like Wendy's patchwork but am not entirely sure that this is really what it is referring to. Any further thoughts?

Proposed translations

+3
26 mins
Selected

disconnected/disjointed/patchwork landscape

l'area orientale è un territorio discontinuo e caotico, privo di connessione con el resto della città
www.comune.napoli.it/flex/cm/pages/.../NLLETTER:ID=484

e frammentato, con un territorio discontinuo e interrotto da mari o da altri stati.
http://liberaliperisraele.ilcannocchiale.it/glamware/blogs/b...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 37 mins (2013-04-27 16:46:27 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Unfortunately I can't open the link to this text, but if you google it it will come up.
...la existencia de Estados con territorio discontinuo –el caso español con los archipiélagos o el enclave de Llivia

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2013-04-27 17:10:52 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Please read territory and not landscape.
Peer comment(s):
disagree Tom in London : if the Author had wanted to say "landscape" s/he would have written "paesaggio".
24 mins
Accepted. Don't know why I didn't write territory
agree philgoddard : I like "patchwork", presumably meaning varied, and I think landscape makes more sense than territory.
1 hr
Thanks, Phil. Yes, it came automatically to mind, though strictly speaking I know its not the precise translation as Tom pointed out.
agree mlreid : I agree with Wendy - sorry I should have written this earlier. Zaccaria is in the main part of Venice whereas San Lorenzo di Castello is on another island entirely. And you cannot seriously imagine hills in Venice.
3 hrs
Thanks a lot!
agree Arabella Fiona Palladino : with Phil
3 hrs
Thanks, Arabella
agree BrigitteHilgner : patchwork
20 hrs
Thanks, Brigitte
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thanks very much indeed to you and everyone else for their very helpful suggestions."
-1
10 mins

rolling/hilly

either will do and are widely used for agricultural areas that are of this type such as around Siena
Peer comment(s):
disagree Tom in London : there's nothing in the given text to suggest that this territory is hilly or otherwise. If anything, the discontinuity refers to its multiple uses.
39 mins
Something went wrong...
+2
27 mins

discontinuous territory

why rack your brains for something different, when this would be just fine?

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 48 mins (2013-04-27 16:57:30 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Given the "serious" tone of the remainder of the text, I would not think this is a chatty guidebook for the fun-seeking tourist but is rather serious. My suggestion tries to stay at that level without "popularising". The intelligent reader will know exactly what is meant by "discontinuous territory".
Peer comment(s):
neutral philgoddard : But what does this mean?//There's no need to be rude. I'm intelligent, I have no idea what this means, and you haven't explained it.
5 mins
You know what a territory is. You know what "discontinuous" means. A discontinuous territory is a territory that's discontinuous. That's the only possible explanation I can think of.
agree mlreid : I agree with Tom. If you see where the two monasteries are located, then you see that they are disconnected or unconnected. So you could easily use either of these adjectives. And in general, discontinuo means that anyway.
3 hrs
agree EirTranslations
4 hrs
Something went wrong...
3 hrs

varied landscape

I think it means it's varied, not uniform - varied, predominantly agricultural in use, etc.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 4 hrs (2013-04-27 20:35:43 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

or "countryside"
Something went wrong...
+1
4 hrs
Italian term (edited): territorio discontinuo e prevalentemente agricolo

agriculture/farming-dominated territorial patchwork

... of the early Middle Ages.

Wendy is on the right lines with "patchwork", which is sufficiently general to embrace both physical geography and land use. You could try shifting this to the head of the noun phrase and the others notions will fall into place.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 14 hrs (2013-04-28 07:09:05 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

That should be "other notions" of course.

The female monasteries stood "in the farming-dominated territorial patchwork of the early Middle Ages". Given the lagoon context of islands, sandbars and so on, the best direct equivalent of "territorio discontinuo" is probably "fragmented territory", which might become "fragmented, farming-dominated territory of the early Middle Ages".
Peer comment(s):
agree Daniela Zambrini
15 hrs
Something went wrong...
Close search
Term search
  • All of ProZ.com
  • Term search
  • Jobs
  • Forums
  • Multiple search