Glossary entry

Spanish term or phrase:

cohorte de vestales

English translation:

clutch of maidens

Added to glossary by Reed James
Apr 10, 2014 21:30
10 yrs ago
Spanish term

cohorte de vestales

Spanish to English Bus/Financial Tourism & Travel Argentinian mixology article
Puede que la confección de un bouquet floral y su transporte hacia la habitación por una "cohorte de vestals" sea la máxima expresión del refinamiento estético en establecimientos como los de la cadena de lujo ***.

Piecing it together I get "a cohort of vestal virgins". Methinks I have it wrong.

Discussion

neilmac Apr 11, 2014:
Definition: august: adjective
1. inspiring reverence or admiration; of supreme dignity or grandeur; majestic:
Es decir, "menos cutre". "No sex please, we're British". Basically, what I mean is that anything remotely likely to evoke a scholboy snigger should be avoided.
Alejandro Alcaraz Sintes Apr 11, 2014:
@Neilmac You're right about my other options (I shouldn't have given them), except for "procession", which I actually prefer to "bevy". I can imagine these maidens marching solemnly, in a very orderly fashion, to deliver their bouquet. On the other hand, to me "cohort" has other connotations: the very word makes me think of Roman legions or, worse, of statistics.

As for keeping out "virgins", the only reason I can see is that it is actually redundant. Vestals were supposed to be virgins, but I don't really see why keeping it would make the text less "august".
neilmac Apr 11, 2014:
Virgins - in or out? I think that "virgins" should be suppressed if we want to maintain a more august tone: "The 'Earia or Vesta was a sacred tradition guarded by vestals as a temple of worship."
philgoddard Apr 10, 2014:
Thanks!
Reed James (asker) Apr 10, 2014:
It's vestales. There's some autocorrect that thinks it should be English...
Reed James (asker) Apr 10, 2014:
a designer bar at a luxury hotel Repensar el bar, se llamaba el encuentro que patrocinó la marca francesa de champagne Mumm. Además de Cabrera, asistieron al evento Carlos Moreno, Javier Rufo, Óscar Durán,Francesco Cavagionni, el DJ Johan Walt y el interiorista Lorenzo Castillo. La conclusión de aquella reflexión en grupo no podía ser otra que lo expresado de nuevo en este tuit iniciático: la coctelería ofrece una oportunidad espectacular a los hoteles de conectar con su clientela a través de sus liturgias.
Claro que no cualquier coctelería. Todos los convocados a aquel debate acreditan una sobrada solvencia como barmen creativos, originales incluso en su apostura, gerentes de su propio negocio y actores de un espectáculo que en tiempos pasados identificaba a la hotelería y que se perdió cuando los promotores inmobiliarios entendieron que el negocio de un hotel era vender camas. Acabados estos arribistas inmobiliarios y extinta la hotelería como factoría de colchones, ahora toca iniciar un severo reciclaje hacia el hotel experiencial vivido como una fábrica de emociones. Lo hemos repetido hasta la saciedad en nuestros seminaries...
philgoddard Apr 10, 2014:
It does look like a cohort of vestal virgins, but it's hard to know because you've given so little context. Could we have several sentences, please? Is it vestals or vestales? And what is the connection with mixology?

Proposed translations

+2
22 hrs
Selected

clutch of maidens

maidens as in "innocent" young girls (also maid, as in Maid of Orleans, but I don't think this would be appropriate for a hotel!)

I'm not keen on retaining the virgins in this context as it could give quite the wrong impression of what sort of a hotel this is!

I think bevy is OK (but see the comment in the first link below) but feel that gaggle sounds too down-market. In any case, I'm concentrating more on resolving the crucial 'vestals' rather than 'cohort'. I'm sure that if need be, you could come up with something for that without any help from us!

Here are a few online examples:

Lords Hansard text for 1 Dec 1998 (181201-07)
www.publications.parliament.uk › ... › Lords Hansard‎

... Lords in congratulating the--I shall not call them a bevy of maidens; I think that it is an inappropriate expression--the clutch of maidens we have heard today.

..

Attawondaronk - Page 20 - Google Books Result
books.google.co.uk/books?isbn=1462049141
J. R. Montgomery - 2011 - ‎Fiction
A clutch of maidens farther upstream splashed in the water, pretending not to notice the unattached youths who always gathered to show offwhen the girls were ...


Chocolatiers of the High Winds - Page 87 - Google Books Result
books.google.co.uk/books?isbn=161390049X
H.B. Kurtzwilde
A clutch of maidens had chosen this bit of riverside for their morning baths. "You have to go down,"Thiervy said. "That would be the nor— mal thing to do


Double Mountain Crossing - Page 101 - Google Books Result
books.google.co.uk/books?isbn=0917990587
Chris Scott Wilson - 2010 - ‎JUVENILE NONFICTION
He would never hunt again, or break the sleek grey pony his uncle had promised him from the herd, or pick a wife from the clutch of maidens who had already

Oakland Tribune, Monday, May 12, 1975, Page 50
newspaperarchive.com/oakland-tribune/1975-05-12/page-50‎

12 May 1975 - Her idea: 100 males in burlap sarongs pulling a primitive cart with a clutch of maidens in gauzy white linen, female sjaves en route to the ...


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Note added at 1 day12 hrs (2014-04-12 10:02:11 GMT)
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Or possibly "handmaidens" (as in female attendants, and not to be confused with female escorts in this posh bar!).
Rather old-fashioned, but this gets in the connotations of chasteness and also of being waited

But I'm not sure if "a clutch of handmaidens" would work so well. Maybe something along the lines of "a succession of handmaidens"

But if "cohorte"i s really bothering you, then maybe this should be 2 separate questions, i.e., one for each term…?

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Note added at 1 day12 hrs (2014-04-12 10:02:56 GMT)
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not sure what happened to "waited ON"!
Peer comment(s):

agree Charles Davis : "Maidens" is an excellent idea and actually enables you to call them virgins without seeming to.
3 hrs
thanks Charles - that was the idea :)
agree neilmac : I like handmaidens... and "coterie of handmaidens" gets 80+ hits...
14 hrs
thanks neilmac - I hadn't thought of "coterie":) It somehow sounds deceptively feminine!
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
+3
23 mins

a bevy of vestal virgins

bunch, crew, group, procession

Suerte.
Peer comment(s):

agree patinba : Yes, although I would be tempted to skip the "virgins" as the Spanish does.
15 mins
Thank you. (Yes, "vestals" alone dhould be fine. )
agree philgoddard : I wouldn't skip the virgins. It would sound odd if you did.
46 mins
Thank you, Phil.
agree neilmac : Cohort is better than "bevy" IMHO and I wouldn't use "bunch" or "crew" either unless aiming for bathos. I'd probably leave out "virgins" too.
8 hrs
Thx, Neil. See my answer to your discussion entry.
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11 hrs

gaggle of vestals

For bathetic effect. I google hit...

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Note added at 11 hrs (2014-04-11 08:52:51 GMT)
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http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gaggle

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Note added at 11 hrs (2014-04-11 08:53:34 GMT)
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Goggle gaggle for a giggle...

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Note added at 11 hrs (2014-04-11 08:54:37 GMT)
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Oops, I meant "Google gaggle..."

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Note added at 1 day12 hrs (2014-04-12 10:12:25 GMT)
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I was actually posting "gaggle" tongue in cheek. Discussed this over lunch with some Brits yesterday and they said bevy was OK. I think "coterie" or "entourage" could work if you really don't like "cohort", which actually works for me as it sounds vaguely classic.

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Note added at 1 day12 hrs (2014-04-12 10:18:07 GMT)
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https://www.google.com/search?q="coterie of handmaidens"

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Note added at 1 day12 hrs (2014-04-12 10:19:25 GMT)
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"Entourage of handmaidens" gets over a thousand hits:
https://www.google.com/search?q="entourage of handmaidens"

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Note added at 1 day12 hrs (2014-04-12 10:21:49 GMT)
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However, if we change handmaidens to vestals, there are no Google hits...
Something went wrong...
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