Latin passage from "The Leopard"

[Mark Goffee]

Hi,

A friend is trying to find a translation for a latin sentence in
Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa's novel "The Leopard," and I thought that
perhaps you wise and learned individuals would be able to help.

The sentence is: "Non olet...optime foeminam ac contubernium olet"

This is how it appears in the book:
"Angelica was just Angelica, a flower of a girl,
a rose merely fertilized by her grandfather's
nickname (Mmerda). Non olet, he repeated, non
olet: in fact, optime foeminam ac contubernium
olet."

Thank you kindly,
Mark

[August de Man]

> "Angelica was just Angelica, a flower of a girl,
> a rose merely fertilized by her grandfather's
> nickname (Mmerda). Non olet, he repeated, non
> olet: in fact, optime foeminam ac contubernium
> olet."

"It doesn't smell", he repeated, "It doesn't smell: in fact, it just
smells deliciously of women and living together".
"It" is the nickname, merda = shit.
"Contubernium" is living together with a slave girl.

August de Man
____________________________________
"Mark Goffee" <moviesta...@hotmail.com> schreef in bericht
news:a7572009.0408...@posting.google.com...

[August de Man]

Better: "it smells of a woman and living intimately together with
her".

"Contubernium" is living closely together, soldiers in a tent
(tabernaculum)
or slaves in a hut (taberna), that is why this was the right word.

AdM

[Mark Goffee]

Thank you very much! It is most appreciated.

Mark

"August de Man" <audeman apenstaart wanadoo punt nl> wrote in message news:<412b2cde$0$59015$b83b...@news.wanadoo.nl>...