Re: Natlang (Italian) Translation Question Help?

On Sun, 6 Jul 2003 15:44:28 -0400, Roger Mills <romilly@...> wrote:

>Steg Belsky wrote:
>
>  So would anyone be able to translate this Italian (at least it looks
>  like Italian to me) quote for me?
>  it's the intro to chapter 15.
>
>  Don Alfonso: "Eccovi il medico, signore belle."
>  Ferrando and Guglielmo: "Despina in maschera, che triste pelle!"
>        - Lorenzo da Ponte, Così fan Tutte
>
>  RM-- Is that from the libretto to the opera?
Yep.

>  Probably a good translation there.  My attempt---
>
>  Don A.:  Here's (Here comes, Behold) the doctor, lovely ladies.
>  F & G:  (It's) Despina in disguise (in a mask), what sad skin.
>  (That last phrase is literal and perhaps has some idiomatic meaning,
>  like 'What an ugly mug' ???)
My copy of the libretto w/ translation is in storage, but I'm pretty sure
the last bit is something like, "what a joke!" Right after this, Despina
lists a number of languages she claims to speak (unfortunately, I don't
think any were conlangs).

Jeff