Plate atlas The Map of Untranslatability

Atlas / Plate 24

Plate 24 · from Spanish

sobremesa

English can say “we stayed and talked.” It has no noun for that stretch of time. Portuguese has the same form and, in current use, means a course of the meal.

Spanish noun, defined by the Real Academia as the time one stays at the table after eating. Literally sobre, upon or after, plus mesa, table. The old Spanish sense “dessert” is marked unused. In current Portuguese, sobremesa usually means the dessert course.

Where the line breaks

ESParts
sobreUpon, after
mesaTable
the nounA named interval
ESSourcesobremesa
sobreSource
mesaSource
the nounSource
EN English Gloss for this plate staying on at the table
staying on Thins Lexical gap
at the table Arrives
— Breaks Lexical gap

Gloss for this plate. A gloss. “After-dinner conversation” is the usual longer substitute, and it misplaces the meal: the sobremesa is often after lunch.

PT Portuguese Parallel expression sobremesa
sobre Thins Connotation
mesa Thins Connotation
dessert Breaks Connotation

Parallel expression. The same form, in current Portuguese, usually means dessert. A false friend, not a cousin that drifted a little.

FR French Gloss for this plate le temps passé à table après le repas
après Arrives
à table Arrives
— Breaks Lexical gap

Gloss for this plate. A gloss. French has no established noun for this interval.

DE German Gloss for this plate das Sitzenbleiben nach dem Essen
nach Arrives
— Thins Lexical gap
— Breaks Lexical gap

Gloss for this plate. A gloss.

JA Japanese Gloss for this plate 食後も席を立たない時間
食後 Arrives
席 Thins Lexical gap
時間 Breaks Lexical gap

Gloss for this plate. A gloss: the time you do not leave your seat after the meal.

Text alternative

English “staying on at the table” (gloss for this plate): breaks: lexical gap. Portuguese “sobremesa” (parallel expression): breaks: connotation. French “le temps passé à table après le repas” (gloss for this plate): breaks: lexical gap. German “das Sitzenbleiben nach dem Essen” (gloss for this plate): breaks: lexical gap. Japanese “食後も席を立たない時間” (gloss for this plate): breaks: lexical gap.

sobre Upon, after

A prefix-like preposition: on top of, and by extension after. The time sits on the far side of the meal.

What happens to “sobre” in each lane
LaneFormStatusBreakWhat happens
English staying on Thins Lexical gap The aftermath is described, not prefixed.
Portuguese sobre Thins Connotation The form is identical. The parse goes to the course served at the table.
French après Arrives — The aftermath is said.
German nach Arrives — After, said in the open.
Japanese 食後 Arrives — After the meal.

mesa Table

The table you do not leave. The word names a stretch of time by the furniture.

What happens to “mesa” in each lane
LaneFormStatusBreakWhat happens
English at the table Arrives — The furniture arrives.
Portuguese mesa Thins Connotation The table is still in the word, now as the place a course is set.
French à table Arrives — The table arrives.
German — Thins Lexical gap The gloss can forget the table and keep only the sitting. The Spanish word cannot.
Japanese 席 Thins Lexical gap A seat, not specifically the table as the Spanish word’s root.

the noun A named interval

Not the conversation only, and not the dessert. The interval in which people remain seated after eating. It can be a short one. It is still a thing with a name.

What happens to “the noun” in each lane
LaneFormStatusBreakWhat happens
English — Breaks Lexical gap No established English noun for the interval. A phrase describes it each time.
Portuguese dessert Breaks Connotation A Portuguese reader who has not been taught the Spanish sense will hear a course, not an interval of talk.
French — Breaks Lexical gap A noun phrase you build, not a headword you already have.
German — Breaks Lexical gap No established noun.
Japanese 時間 Breaks Lexical gap An interval you describe. Not one conventional noun.

The joint

The Real Academia’s definition is plain: the time one stays at the table after having eaten. Sobre plus mesa. It is not the talk considered as a genre, though talk is what people do in it, and it is not the dessert. An older Spanish sense, “dessert,” is recorded and marked unused. That old sense is why the Portuguese collision is intelligible, and why it is still a collision.

Current Portuguese sobremesa is the dessert course. A Portuguese reader who meets the Spanish word in a novel of long lunches, and is not warned, will think the sweet dishes were wonderful. The false friend is the sharpest break on the plate. English, French, German, and Japanese do not betray you. They merely make you build a phrase every time. “After-dinner conversation” is the English phrase that adds its own error: the sobremesa belongs at least as much to lunch.

Nothing here is unsayable. A narrator can write “we stayed two hours.” What the noun gives a Spanish sentence is the right to treat that stay as a known object, the way “weekend” is a known object. Languages without the noun use a description. The description works. It works as a description.

Why this break matters to a reader

In a scene, the difference is between a named social institution and a bit of lingering. “We had a long sobremesa” tells a Spanish reader what kind of afternoon it was. “We kept talking after lunch” tells an English reader the facts and not the institution. The Portuguese dessert-reading tells the wrong facts. Of the three, only the third actually misleads. The second is a gap. The plate is here to keep those apart.