Help for translation

[laura.zanarini]

Hi everybody! 
I'm Laura, from Italy, I'm new here 

Sooo... I'm translating the tale "Homecoming" by Robin Hobb (of course!) from "Epic Legends of Fantasy" for an Italian publishing house and I need help from you experts of the series of the Realm of the Elderlings, because I haven't (unfortunately) read the books.

The author talks about "Elder Kings and their Harlot Queens"... can someone tell me who are they, and, ehm... I mean... why harlot??!

Antoher question, the tales is divided into chapters, each one beginning with "day 10th, 11th etc... of the Fish Moon" or the Plow Moon, Greening Moon.. and so on. Is this kind of calendar used in the books?

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help me!!

[Lady Persephone]

Hi Laura,

I'm not really sure I can be much help here, but I have read Homecoming and all of the books in the Realm of the Elderlings and I can answer some of your questions:

1. " the tales is divided into chapters, each one beginning with "day 10th, 11th etc... of the Fish Moon" or the Plow Moon, Greening Moon.. and so on. Is this kind of calendar used in the books?"  Yes, this calendar is specific to Jamaillia and the Rain Wilds.  It originated in Jamaillia.  It's never actually explained by I assume it was instituted back in the days of the Old Empire and has remained, much as we still use the Roman calendar in many European countries and in North America.

2.  "Elder Kings and their Harlot Queens"... can someone tell me who are they, and, ehm... I mean... why harlot??!"  - The 'Elder Kings' would be the elderlings of the Old Empire who co-existed with dragons.  A 'queen' is how Elderling women are referred to, as are female dragons, and female cats.  As to the word 'harlot' I'm not exactly sure.  As the elderings were a long lived race due to their proximity and interaction with dragons, it was revealed in the Rain Wild Chronicles that a woman could take more than one mate in her life time because of being so long-lived, etc.  There was a whole discussion about their being called 'harlot' queens somewhere on this forum but I couldn't tell you where.  You'd have to read through all of the posts or perhaps consult the wiki?  One of the mods here, Farseer, touched on it I think, but I don't know what's become of her.  Anyway, I'm thinking 'harlot' because they could take on more than one mate, but I might be way off there.  In the time of the Homecoming story the Elderling race has been exterminated from the world and they only exist in tales, manuscripts, and tapestries, later on in Elderling-made objects, clothing, jewelry, tools, etc.  I think there are a lot of misconceptions about who they truly were.

Anyway, hope this helps!

[Mervi]

Hi Laura and welcome! I'm very glad to hear this excellent story will be translated into Italian!

Lady Persephone already did a great job answering your questions. As to the calendars, there are a couple of  short articles in the wiki where I've tried to organize all the information about them. It seems to be a somewhat local calendar (so not used in all the books that take place in other lands in the same universe) and it also develops and changes in the stories that happen later.

May I suggest you also visit our good friends at bloodmemories.it? They would be the best experts at telling you which terms may have already been used in the previous Italan translations for words that are specific to the Elderlings mythology so you don't have to try to re-invent the wheel so to speak! I will also give them a shout about this thread here. 

If there are any other questions about the story or the world in general, please feel free to ask more questions! We'll be more than happy to help as best as we can.

[laura.zanarini]

Thank you everyone for your very useful advice!