Glossary entry (derived from question below)
Jan 15, 2013 02:58
11 yrs ago
Italian term
botte
Italian to English
Other
History
ancient unit of measurement?
Hi guys! I'm translating "1453:The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West" by Roger Crowley into Chinese.
There is one passage:
On 9 April therefore, they drew their ten largest merchantmen up in front of the boom in close array and with bows forward’. Barbaro faithfully recorded their captains and the size of each one, ranging from that of Zorzi Doria of Genoa, ‘2,500 botte’, to one of ‘600 botte’
I checked Italian dictionary, "botte" seems to mean barrel. But it doesn't make sense here.
Since it is talking about the size of ships, is "botte" perhaps an ancient Italian unit of measurement?
Thanks!
There is one passage:
On 9 April therefore, they drew their ten largest merchantmen up in front of the boom in close array and with bows forward’. Barbaro faithfully recorded their captains and the size of each one, ranging from that of Zorzi Doria of Genoa, ‘2,500 botte’, to one of ‘600 botte’
I checked Italian dictionary, "botte" seems to mean barrel. But it doesn't make sense here.
Since it is talking about the size of ships, is "botte" perhaps an ancient Italian unit of measurement?
Thanks!
Proposed translations
(English)
| 4 +4 | barrel |
Isabelle Johnson
|
Change log
Jan 17, 2013 07:27: Isabelle Johnson Created KOG entry
Proposed translations
+4
4 hrs
Isabelle Johnson
Italy
Italy
Native in English
Specializes in field
Italy
CIOL-certified, humanities, tourism
Native in: English (Variant: British) 
Works in: Italian to English
Related KudoZ points
:
80
Selected
barrel
If no one's going to put it in as an answer I will. There's no doubt that barrels were used to measure a ship's capacity. There are even a few modern usages. E.G:
axaforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=12898&start=60 - 100k - Similar pages
World of LNG
Oct 17, 2009... to date: a 472,000-barrel ship to be built by France's Ciotat shipyard, ....
Zeebrugge terminal: The 600 million cf/d LNG terminal in Belgium is ...
www.scribd.com/doc/21188522/World-of-LNG - 239k - Similar pages
axaforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=12898&start=60 - 100k - Similar pages
World of LNG
Oct 17, 2009... to date: a 472,000-barrel ship to be built by France's Ciotat shipyard, ....
Zeebrugge terminal: The 600 million cf/d LNG terminal in Belgium is ...
www.scribd.com/doc/21188522/World-of-LNG - 239k - Similar pages
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Michael Korovkin
: La botte(o bolla)indicava il contenitore per vino utilizzato per valutare le dimensioni di una nave.La botte veneziana,nel secolo XIII,valeva circa 450litri.Nel XV secolo doveva pesare 640 chilogrammi;successivamente,la botte veneziana valeva 751,17 litri
34 mins
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| agree |
Peter Cox
4 hrs
|
| agree |
Tony Shargool
: Absolutely. Just as nowadays we talk of 'containerization'
4 hrs
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| agree |
Valentina Rocchi
12 hrs
|
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Discussion
http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/stazzatura_(Enciclopedia...