Re: [for Italian users] how to translate "spanner"?

[Davide Liessi]

Hi all.
As a native Italian speaker, I would like to comment on the possible
translations that emerged so far.
It is a rather long message, I apologize in advance.
My preferences about the possible translation are at the end.


I think that neither "tensore" nor "estensore" are good translation
for Lilypond's "spanner", for the following reasons.

Notation Reference 5.4.6. defines spanners as objects that «extend
over several notes or even several bars».

The word "tensore" has two main meanings: the first is "something
which stretches/tightens something else" (also in anatomy), which
doesn't seem correct to me in this case; the second is the
mathematical concept of "tensor" which definitely has nothing to do
with Lilypond spanners.

The main meaning of "estensore" is "something that extends something
else" (also in anatomy) which seems better, but still isn't perfect: a
spanner _does not_ extend something over notes, it is _itself_
extended; however it could be acceptable, since one could think of the
spanner as a tool extending _a mark_ over notes.
(For the same reason, as noted by Phil Holmes, also in English
"spanner" and "extender" aren't synonyms at all.)

The concept of k-spanners in graphs is indeed very similar to
Lilypond's spanners. Unfortunately, although I studied some graph
theory, I don't remember having encountered the Italian version of
"(k-)spanners" and I don't have an Italian graph theory book at home
right now, so I can't find the Italian translation for it.

The Italian for «the segments of a bridge between the vertical
supports [that are] called spans» in English (cited by Mogens Lemvig
Hansen) is "campata". Although the concept can be similar to what we
are looking for, the Italian word "campata" only has the literal
meaning of "bridge span", so maybe it isn't so immediate to use it
with a figurative meaning.

I would definitely discourage names such as "spannatore": they don't
suggest the right meaning at all as martinwguy noted about "demister".
I also totally agree with him about (not) using "spanner" as an anglicism.
Other neologisms based on "span" may sound even better and be equally
not evocative.
"estensore" would still be way better.

The word "ponte", i.e. "bridge", is often used with figurative
meanings, but in a musical context it already has the musical meaning
of "bridge" in songs.
Also, it conveys more the concept of something linking two parts, or
extending from a point to another (i.e. with focus on the start and
end points), rather than something that extends over something else.

So in the end I am left with "indicazione estesa" (Gianluca D'Orazio,
"extended mark/indication") and "oggetto esteso" (Francisco Vila,
"objeto de extensión", "extended object"), that both have the right
meaning in our context.
The former is more precise, but the latter sounds better to my ear.


If I had to vote, my preferences would be in first place "oggetto
esteso" and in second place "indicazione estesa".
If for some reason they couldn't be used, my vote would go to
"estensore" (despite the wrong literal meaning) or "ponte" (despite
not being so evocative).

I hope this helps, and not having bored you all :)
Best wishes,
Davide