Glossary entry

Portuguese term or phrase:

a virago

English translation:

the woman (in latin)

Added to glossary by airmailrpl
Mar 12, 2009 04:34
15 yrs ago
41 viewers *
Portuguese term

a virago

Portuguese to English Law/Patents Certificates, Diplomas, Licenses, CVs Divorce Certificate
OK this strikes me as very strange. Found in a divorce certificate from Brazil, from Minas Gerais, this appears to be a PEJORATIVE TERM, and in a divorce certificate?! It mystifies me.

full context: O Juiz decretou a Separação Judicial do casal, sendo que a virago passa a usar o nome de [maiden name of wife appears here].

and again, in the same paragraph:
O Juiz decretou o Divórcio Por Conversão do casal, sendo que a virago continua a usar o nome de [maiden name again appears here].

I have searched high and low for translations of this word, "virago".

After a lot of agonizing, I have come up with, in the first instance:
The Judge decreed the JUDICIAL SEPARATION of the couple; being that the impudent woman (??) started using the name of [maiden name].

and in the 2nd instance:
The Judge decreed a Divorce by Conversion [another term I'm unsure of, but that is another question] of the couple, being that the impudent woman (??) continues to use the name of [maiden name].

Can anyone help me with this? "Impudent woman" just doesn't seem professional AT ALL, but neither do the other translations of the word "virago". Check it out. It seems to be a loaded word. I get "mannish woman", "shrew", "bold, courageous woman", etc etc.

Has anyone ever seen this before? Is it old-world sexism? Old-school attitudes surfacing in an official document? The document is dated 2006, by the way.

Muito obrigado pela ajuda!
Change log

Mar 14, 2009 06:19: airmailrpl changed "Edited KOG entry" from "<a href="/profile/1031528">gcaldas1's</a> old entry - "a virago"" to ""the woman (latin)""

Discussion

Marlene Curtis Mar 12, 2009:
sentir insultada
http://www.sualingua.com.br/01/01_virago.htm
Achei pertinente esta citação.
Marlene Curtis Mar 12, 2009:
... ser aplicado a qualquer mulher; segundo, porque (cometo o pecado de citar a mim mesmo) "as palavras são o que valem hoje, não o que valiam há trezentos anos". Se eu usar hoje o termo virago com relação a uma mulher, ela terá todo o direito de se senti
Marlene Curtis Mar 12, 2009:
Há quem ainda hoje, na área jurídica, insista em opor ao "cônjuge-varão" o "cônjuge-virago", alegando motivos etimológicos. Estão duas vezes sem razão: primeiro, porque etimologicamente virago nunca foi um feminino genérico de varão, que pudesse
airmailrpl Mar 12, 2009:
See the "Peer comments " on my suggestion
Christina Paiva Mar 12, 2009:
Hi G!I had never heard this word before, nor some of its syn.:) As for your question about old-world sexism, it might be. but also prejudice or maybe the judge is a friend of the now ex-husband. In addition, people in MG are very conservative...

Proposed translations

+6
35 mins
Selected

the woman (latin)

Virago is a term that refers to a strong, brave, or warlike woman (from Latin vir "a man", compare Tomboy). The term has also been used to refer to a noisy, bossy, and scolding woman. It is closely related to termagant, which is a quarrelsome, scolding woman and shrew, which is a nagging woman

Latin Bible
Virago is the Latin Bible's word for "woman." It was the name given by Adam to the first woman when she was created out of his rib. (The name was later changed to "Eve.") The Latin Bible says:

Dixitque Adam hoc nunc os ex ossibus meis et caro de carne mea haec vocabitur virago quoniam de viro sumpta est.
"And Adam said: This now is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man."

The Middle English poem Cursor Mundi retains the Latin name for the woman in its otherwise Middle English account of the creation:

Quen sco was broght be-for adam, Virago he gaf her to nam; þar for hight sco virago, ffor maked of the man was sco. (lines 631-34)
"When she was brought before Adam, Virago was the name he gave to her; Therefore she is called Virago, For she was made out of the man."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virago

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Note added at 55 mins (2009-03-12 05:30:20 GMT)
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Main Entry: vi·ra·go
Pronunciation: \və-ˈrä-(ˌ)gō, -ˈrā-; ˈvir-ə-ˌgō\
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural vi·ra·goes or vi·ra·gos
Etymology: Middle English, from Latin viragin-, virago, from vir man — more at virile
Date: 14th century
1 : a loud overbearing woman : termagant
2 : a woman of great stature, strength, and courage
Note from asker:
thank you so much for responding...so you think an appropriate translation would be just "woman"? OK....
Peer comment(s):

agree rhandler : Woman or "female spouse", that's it. This is the correct translation. "Virago" is just the feminine of "varão", no other meaning implied.
7 hrs
thank you
agree Gilmar Fernandes : This is it! I live in Minas and also got divorced here. That's just the way the Courts refer to the woman and the man is called VARÃO in these legal proceedings. Standard terms. Nothing to do with other adjectives or homossexuality at all.
7 hrs
thank you
agree Amy Duncan (X)
7 hrs
thank you
agree Alexandra Gouveia
11 hrs
thank you
agree Mary Palmer : agree 100%
11 hrs
thank you
agree Carlos Quandt : feminino de varão; não creio que o juiz quis ofender...
1 day 7 hrs
thank you
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Hey thanks to ALL of you for your help. Very interesting debate, I though. Am going to go with just "woman", being that any other translation would probably offend the clients! And we dont want to go around doing that, do we. ;-] But I will let my project manager know of the quandary caused by this wacky term..."
1 hr

the homosexual woman

Houaiss:

Virago
mulher de aspecto, inclinações sexuais e hábitos masculinos;

derogatory: anchona, homaça, machão, machoa, machona, marimacho, mulher-homem, mulher-macho, paraíba, virago

1. mulher de aspecto e atitudes masculinizadas
2. mulher valentona
3. *mulher homossexual*

Hope this helps :)



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Note added at 3 hrs (2009-03-12 07:58:09 GMT)
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G. DON!T USE THIS TRANSLATION. The dictionary I use is a very good unabridged dictionary - but I should know better than looking up the term in a sole reference.. and on a second thought, found the following in a second distionary:

sf (lat virago) 1 **Feminino de varão**. 2 Mulher esforçada, destemida. 3 Mulher muito forte e de maneiras varonis; marimacho.
http://michaelis.uol.com.br/moderno/portugues/index.php?ling...

Maybe the judge is highly educated and decided to use this term. I believe few people in Br would know the other meaning.. (I certainly didn't) So you should go with airmailrpl suggestion. In En it will be offensive and it is probably wrong. Moreover, I was not thinking the kind of problems this would cause to your client.

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Note added at 3 hrs (2009-03-12 08:04:50 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

G. DON!T USE THIS TRANSLATION. The dictionary I use is a very good unabridged dictionary - but I should know better than looking up the term in a sole reference.. and on a second thought, found the following in a second distionary:

sf (lat virago) 1 **Feminino de varão**. 2 Mulher esforçada, destemida. 3 Mulher muito forte e de maneiras varonis; marimacho.
http://michaelis.uol.com.br/moderno/portugues/index.php?ling...

Maybe the judge is highly educated and decided to use this term. I believe few people in Br would know the other meaning.. (I certainly didn't) So you should go with airmailrpl suggestion. In En it will be offensive and it is probably wrong. Moreover, I was not thinking the kind of problems this would cause to your client. Soory...
Note from asker:
wow! you think that's what they were referring to in the certificate? interesting! my gosh, so i could translate this as "the lesbian"? or just "homosexual woman"? hmmm.... thanks so much for your input!
Something went wrong...
5 hrs

female (spouse)

my suggestion:
In most divorce decrees that I have encountered in English, they don't refer to the coulple as man and woman, it's male or female and usually spouse pretty much everywhere. Therefore my suggestion of female. She might be mainly but it doesn't make her a lesbian or homo sexual.
look at 'viagro' defenition:
virago
nome femininodepreciativo mulher de aspecto varonil e modos geralmente associados ao homem; mulher-homem

(Do lat. virago, (nom.), «id.»)

Often the female spouse will be the first to inquire, by telephone, ... contract that will probably be incorporated in a divorce decree. ...
www.divorcenet.com/states/new_york/divorce_mediation_an_alt... -

In the interim between the decree nisi and absolute divorce defendant ... A decree nisi does not give the female spouse capacity to sue as feme sole. ...
links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0042-6601(193711)24%3A1%3C77%3ABOPVOP%3E2.0.C... -
Something went wrong...
-1
7 hrs

mannish woman

Favor ver abaixo. Mulher virago não é necessariamente lésbica, mas sim uma mulher brava, com trejeitos masculinos.

http://www.sualingua.com.br/01/01_virago.htm

What is virago? Definition of virago Portuguese English To Portuguese - virago. s. virago, mulher varonil ... English Spanish To English - virago. n. virago, mannish woman ...
www.dictionarist.com/virago - 22k

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Note added at 7 hrs (2009-03-12 12:21:04 GMT)
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OR

TERMAGANT
n. shrewish and quarrelsome woman
Peer comment(s):

disagree T o b i a s : Context is divorce certificate.
4832 days
Something went wrong...
8 hrs

virago/termagant

another suggestion...you can use simply "virago" as a term in English

1. A woman of extraordinary stature, strength, and courage; a
woman who has the robust body and masculine mind of a man;
a female warrior.

To arms! to arms! the fierce virago cries. --Pope.

2. Hence, a mannish woman; a bold, turbulent woman; a
termagant; a vixen.
Virago is a term that refers to a strong, brave, or warlike woman (from Latin vir "a man", compare Tomboy). The term has also been used to refer to a noisy, bossy, and scolding woman. It is closely related to termagant, which is a quarrelsome, scolding woman and shrew.

Good luck!
Something went wrong...
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