Translating royal names is a relic of European history
It is time to give it up
The weekend after Queen Elizabeth II died, the continental European press was much taken with the arrangements for the royal transition. But readers of the Diari de Girona—which explained in Catalan the change in titles of the former Prince of Wales and his wife—might have been a bit baffled. They would have encountered a few familiar people: Elisabet II was the late queen, and the former Príncep Carles is her son. But who is this Llitera of which the paper spoke? Readers on Twitter figured it out: a llitera is a stretcher or a bunk-bed in Catalan, or a translation of the Spanish camilla, little bed. The paper quickly restored the new queen consort’s name to Camilla.
This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “Posh in translation”
Culture September 24th 2022
- Rugby brings South Africa together—if only for 80 minutes
- The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan echoes in today’s war
- In China, surveillance crushes lives—and improves them
- Sixty years ago, James Bond and the Beatles made debuts
- The “Jena Set” was the heart of German Romanticism
- Translating royal names is a relic of European history
From the September 24th 2022 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the editionMore from Culture
Want to spend time with a different American president?
Five presidential biographies to distract you from the news
Los Angeles has lost some of its trailblazing architecture
How will it rebuild?
What firms are for
The framework for thinking about business and capitalism is hopelessly outdated, argues a new book
Greg Gutfeld, America’s most popular late-night host, rules the airwaves
The left gave him his perch
Astrology is booming, thanks to technology and younger enthusiasts
Gen Z is full of stargazing users
Why matcha, made from green tea, is the drink of the moment
Is it really a healthy alternative to coffee? Not the way Gen Z orders it