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> when noun genders are used for allegoric purposes Ugh, really? How disappointing.

• int_19h 9y ago
  Just to give an example, consider this short poem: https://de.wikisource.org/wiki/Ein_Fichtenbaum_steht_einsam https://de.wikisource.org/wiki/Ein_Fichtenbaum_steht_einsam Now try translating this to a language where the tree names are gendered differently, such that e.g. both are male, or both are female.
  • smsm42 9y ago
    That is exactly what happened to the Russian translation: https://ru.wikisource.org/wiki/%D0%9D%D0%B0_%D1%81%D0%B5%D0%B2%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B5_%D0%B4%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%BC_%D1%81%D1%82%D0%BE%D0%B8%D1%82_%D0%BE%D0%B4%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%BA%D0%BE_(%D0%9B%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%BC%D0%BE%D0%BD%D1%82%D0%BE%D0%B2) https://ru.wikisource.org/wiki/%D0%9D%D0%B0_%D1%81%D0%B5%D0%... In Russian, both words are female.
    • int_19h 9y ago
      Yeah, Russian is the one I was thinking of. Although it's actually more complicated, because there's more than one Russian translation, and this problem was tackled in different ways. Lermontov just did a straightforward translation, changing the implied meaning. Tutchev and Fet both changed the pine to another tree such that the word is male: cedar or oak (in the latter case, this also required changing the described environment in which it grows).