Plate atlas The Map of Untranslatability

Atlas / Plate 06

Plate 06 · from English

The Importance of Being Earnest

The title is a homophone: earnest the virtue, Ernest the name. German can almost keep it. French builds a different pun. The usual Spanish title drops the pun and changes “being” to “being called.”

Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest (1895).

Where the line breaks

ENParts
BeingGerund of the copula
earnestAdjective
ErnestProper name
ENSourceThe Importance of Being Earnest
BeingSource
earnestSource
ErnestSource
DE German Usual rendering Ernst sein ist alles
sein Arrives
ernst Thins Connotation
Ernst Thins Connotation

Usual rendering. One of several usual German titles, beside Bunbury and other Ernst/ernst variants. German has many titles for this play; the pun they reach for is the same.

FR French Usual rendering L’Importance d’être Constant
être Arrives
constant Thins Sound or wordplay
Constant Thins Sound or wordplay

Usual rendering. The most common French title. Constant is a name and an adjective meaning steadfast. Other French titles have tried Aimé, Fidèle, or sérieux. A rebuilt pun, not the old one. The plate counts that as thinning: a joke arrives, and it is a new joke.

ES Spanish Usual rendering La importancia de llamarse Ernesto
llamarse Breaks Mechanism mismatch
— Breaks Sound or wordplay
Ernesto Breaks Sound or wordplay

Usual rendering. The widespread Spanish title.

Text alternative

German “Ernst sein ist alles” (usual rendering): thins: connotation. French “L’Importance d’être Constant” (usual rendering): thins: sound or wordplay. Spanish “La importancia de llamarse Ernesto” (usual rendering): breaks: sound or wordplay.

Being Gerund of the copula

“Being Earnest” is both possessing the virtue and being the man named Ernest.

What happens to “Being” in each lane
LaneFormStatusBreakWhat happens
German sein Arrives — The copula stays.
French être Arrives — The copula stays.
Spanish llamarse Breaks Mechanism mismatch “Being” has become “being called.” The copula was the hinge of the pun.

earnest Adjective

Sincere, steadfast, serious in the moral sense. Homophone of the name, not a lookalike spelling.

What happens to “earnest” in each lane
LaneFormStatusBreakWhat happens
German ernst Thins Connotation ernst means serious. Earnest is steadfast and sincere. Near, not the same virtue.
French constant Thins Sound or wordplay A different virtue, chosen because it puns in French. Steadfast is nearer earnest than sérieux is, and it is still a substitution.
Spanish — Breaks Sound or wordplay No adjective. The virtue-meaning of earnest is gone.

Ernest Proper name

The name the plot turns on. Gwendolen and Cecily want to marry a man called Ernest. The sound is the machine.

What happens to “Ernest” in each lane
LaneFormStatusBreakWhat happens
German Ernst Thins Connotation Ernst is a real German name, pronounced like ernst and distinguished in writing by the capital. The homophone survives with a shift in the adjective.
French Constant Thins Sound or wordplay The man is renamed so the joke can live. Ernest does not pun in French.
Spanish Ernesto Breaks Sound or wordplay The name remains, translated, and no longer sounds like a virtue. A Spanish reader can fairly ask why the name matters.

The joint

English earnest and Ernest are the same sound. The plot is the pun: the women are in love with the name because the name sounds like the virtue. Translate the virtue only, and the plot loses its reason. Translate the name only, and the title is a puzzle.

German is the lucky lane. Ernst is a name and ernst means serious. The sound-play survives. What thins is the virtue: earnestness is steadfast sincerity, and ernst is seriousness. Close enough for the play to work, not a photocopy.

French usually renames him Constant, a man and a steadfastness. The machine is the same kind of machine, a name that is an adjective, and the adjective is not Wilde’s. That is a successful compensation. It is also a different title. Spanish La importancia de llamarse Ernesto keeps a name, changes “to be” into “to be called,” and lets the homophone die. The play then has to carry, in the dialogue, a joke the title no longer tells.

Why this break matters to a reader

A reader of the Spanish title is promised a story about why a name matters, and is not told that the name means the virtue the heroines are buying. A reader of the French title is promised a different virtue, constancy, which the English play was not named for. A reader of the German title is nearest the stall Wilde set up. The pun is the plot. If it breaks, the plot needs a footnote, or a new pun, to stand.