4359 El Ciruja
Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2006 01:57:41 -0600
From: "Ruddy Zelaya" <ruddy@milongas.com>
Subject: [Tango-L] El Ciruja
To: <tango-L@mit.edu>
Hola Naifas y Garabos!
I would like to talk a bit about the tango 'El Ciruja'... at the risk of sounding pedantic :-)
My hope is that some of you may find it interesting. Jake, feel free to use this email as you see fit.
It is not intended as a criticism on your translation or anything of the sort. In fact, I would like to
commend you for providing this service to your community. Doing an accurate translation is hard
work sorely undervalued by those who have never attempted one. Moreover, this particular tango
requires an amount of knowledge beyond the grasp of most people (let alone a gringo ;-)
Kudos for given it a shot.
Best regards to y'all.
-- ruddy
==================================================================================
El Ciruja is considered to be one of the best examples of lunfardo-inspired tangos ever written.
The tango was a result of a bet between the lyricist, the singer and later actor Francisco Alfredo Marino,
and the composer, bandoneonist Ernesto de la Cruz. Turns out that sometime in 1926 Marino said to de la Cruz,
"I'll bet you that I can write a song that could be a complete sampler of low-class words [un muestrario completo
de palabras arrabaleras]" De la Cruz is said to have replied, "I'll bet you that if you write the lyrics I can write the
music and turn them into a hit". Now, the remarkable thing is that neither man were "low-class". Both were a
ccomplished musicians and in no way participated in the lifestyle described in the lyrics. Nevertheless, they
managed to do it and both of them won... and so did we.
The lunfardo word 'ciruja' is derived from the Spanish word 'cirujano' by apocope
(https://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=apocope). Of course, the lunfardo meaning is not quite the same
as the Spanish, nevertheless Jake was closer to the mark than even he suspects as you will see shortly.
Cirujano = surgeon. That's a fact that can be verified on any Spanish to English dictionary.
A 'ciruja', however, is not a surgeon and it is *not* a bum as incorrectly stated on this list.
A bum is a tramp, vagrant, lazy or shiftless person. A ciruja is a person that has a job, albeit a very humble one.
Their job consisted in going through the garbage dumps picking up the refuse that could be salvaged, recycled or
traded for money. The origin of the word has to do with the fact that cirujas used a stick with a nail attached to
one end with which to impale and pick up the refuse from the ground. A surgeon's scalpel could be described as
a stick with a sharp blade attached to the end, giving rise to the sarcastic similarity.
Another possibility is that the origin of the simile is that cirujas collected bones from garbage dumps and slaughter
houses to sell to soap factories. The relationship between bones and the medical field needs no further explanation.
Anyway, the bottom line is that the word ciruja seems to be a cruel gibe on the word cirujano. The lunfardo word
for bum or vagrant, by the way, is 'linyera'.
[sources: Asi Nacieron Los Tangos (This is how the tangos were born) by Francisco Garcia Jimenez;
Nuevo Diccionario Lunfardo (New Lunfardo Dictionary) by Jose Gobello;www.todotango.com online lunfardo dictionary;
VOX Diccionario Actual de la Lengua Espa?ola;Las Letras del Tango, Antologia Cronologica 1900-1980 by Eduardo Romano;
Letras de Tango, Seleccion 1897-1981, Vol. I, by Jose Gobello]
El Ciruja
Lyrics: Francisco A. Marino
Music: Ernesto de la Cruz
Como con bronca, y junando As if angry, and glancing
de rabo de ojo a un costado, from the corner of an eye to the side,
sus pasos ha encaminado his steps he set out
derecho pa'l arrabal. straight for the suburb.
Lo lleva el presentimiento A forefeeling tells him
de que, en aquel potrerito, that, in that little lot,
no existe ya el bulincito it exists no more the little house
que fue su ?nico ideal. that was his only ideal.
Recordaba aquellas horas de garufa He remembered the hours of revelry
cuando minga de laburo se pasaba, when he didn't have a job,
meta punguia, al codillo escolaseaba pickpocketing, gambling at cards
y en los burros se ligaba un metej?n; and winning big at the racetrack;
cuando no era tan junao por los tiras, when he wasn't as known to the police,
la lanceaba sin tener el manyamiento he would woe her without knowing
una mina le solfeaba todo el vento that the woman was stealing all his money
y jug? con su pasi?n. and toyed with his passion.
Era un mosaico diquero She was a young attractive girl
que yugaba de quemera, that worked burning garbage at the dump,
hija de una curandera, daughter of a [female] phony doctor,
mechera de profesi?n; shoplifter by profession;
pero viv?a engrupida but she lived infatuated
de un cafiolo vidalita with a young pimp
que le pasaba la guita to whom she would give the money
que le shacaba al mat?n. that she stole from el ciruja.
Frente a frente, dando muestras de coraje, Face to face, given signs of courage,
los dos guapos se trenzaron en el bajo, the brawlers fought down by the port,
y el ciruja, que era listo para el tajo, and el ciruja, who was good with the knife,
al cafiolo le cobr? caro su amor... made the pimp pay dearly for his love...
Hoy, ya libre'e la gayola y sin la mina, Today, freed from jail and without the girl,
campaneando un cacho'e sol en la vedera, seeing a ray of sunshine on the road,
piensa un rato en el amor de su quemera thinks a little while about the love of his burning-girl
y solloza en su dolor. and sobs in his pain.
Date: Fri, 02 Jun 2006 13:40:18 -0400
From: "TangoDC.com" <spatz@tangoDC.com>
Subject: Re: [Tango-L] El Ciruja
To: tango-L@mit.edu
Hi Ruddy,
Many thanks for your post-- I found it very helpful. Thanks too for the
encouragement; it always lights an extra match under my ass to see that
someone else is actually interested in the devil-cote details of this
stuff. (And again, I welcome critiques, comments, disagreements,
questions, or whatever-- so don't refrain, and don't feel any need to
hedge.)
I've read a few notes about the use of lunfardo in "El ciruja" before,
but your etymology was entirely new to me... I hadn't thought of the
stick. "Bum" was just a placeholder in my note, until I found something
more particular than Viviana's original suggestion (ciruja = "schlep"),
or until I could check if my own ("ragpicker") was more to the point.
Now that you've filled in some blanks for me, I'll finish up my research
and re-post the lyric when it's ready.
One further question though, if you don't mind... Viviana and I went
over the lyric, word by word, after my recitation. She found one other
item for me to double-check: the term "engrupida." In context, Vivi
suggested the translation "She thought she was big shit [with the pimp
she hung out with]." I haven't found any other support for the reading,
however, although my instincts incline me to side with her. Any thoughts?
Thanks again,
Jake Spatz
Washington, DC
p.s. Does anyone know what happened to the GARDEL server? It has been
acting rather strange for the past few months (e.g., not allowing
searches, parsing accented characters oddly). It's here, in case you
need the address: https://argentina.informatik.uni-muenchen.de/tangos/
Ruddy Zelaya wrote:
> Hola Naifas y Garabos!
> I would like to talk a bit about the tango 'El Ciruja'... at the risk of sounding pedantic :-)
> My hope is that some of you may find it interesting. Jake, feel free to use this email as you see fit.
> It is not intended as a criticism on your translation or anything of the sort. In fact, I would like to
> commend you for providing this service to your community. Doing an accurate translation is hard
> work sorely undervalued by those who have never attempted one. Moreover, this particular tango
> requires an amount of knowledge beyond the grasp of most people (let alone a gringo ;-)
> Kudos for given it a shot.
>
> Best regards to y'all.
> -- ruddy
>
> ==================================================================================
> El Ciruja is considered to be one of the best examples of lunfardo-inspired tangos ever written.
> The tango was a result of a bet between the lyricist, the singer and later actor Francisco Alfredo Marino,
> and the composer, bandoneonist Ernesto de la Cruz. Turns out that sometime in 1926 Marino said to de la Cruz,
> "I'll bet you that I can write a song that could be a complete sampler of low-class words [un muestrario completo
> de palabras arrabaleras]" De la Cruz is said to have replied, "I'll bet you that if you write the lyrics I can write the
> music and turn them into a hit". Now, the remarkable thing is that neither man were "low-class". Both were a
> ccomplished musicians and in no way participated in the lifestyle described in the lyrics. Nevertheless, they
> managed to do it and both of them won... and so did we.
>
> The lunfardo word 'ciruja' is derived from the Spanish word 'cirujano' by apocope
> (https://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=apocope). Of course, the lunfardo meaning is not quite the same
> as the Spanish, nevertheless Jake was closer to the mark than even he suspects as you will see shortly.
> Cirujano = surgeon. That's a fact that can be verified on any Spanish to English dictionary.
> A 'ciruja', however, is not a surgeon and it is *not* a bum as incorrectly stated on this list.
> A bum is a tramp, vagrant, lazy or shiftless person. A ciruja is a person that has a job, albeit a very humble one.
> Their job consisted in going through the garbage dumps picking up the refuse that could be salvaged, recycled or
> traded for money. The origin of the word has to do with the fact that cirujas used a stick with a nail attached to
> one end with which to impale and pick up the refuse from the ground. A surgeon's scalpel could be described as
> a stick with a sharp blade attached to the end, giving rise to the sarcastic similarity.
> Another possibility is that the origin of the simile is that cirujas collected bones from garbage dumps and slaughter
> houses to sell to soap factories. The relationship between bones and the medical field needs no further explanation.
>
> Anyway, the bottom line is that the word ciruja seems to be a cruel gibe on the word cirujano. The lunfardo word
> for bum or vagrant, by the way, is 'linyera'.
> [sources: Asi Nacieron Los Tangos (This is how the tangos were born) by Francisco Garcia Jimenez;
> Nuevo Diccionario Lunfardo (New Lunfardo Dictionary) by Jose Gobello;www.todotango.com online lunfardo dictionary;
> VOX Diccionario Actual de la Lengua Espa?ola;Las Letras del Tango, Antologia Cronologica 1900-1980 by Eduardo Romano;
> Letras de Tango, Seleccion 1897-1981, Vol. I, by Jose Gobello]
>
> El Ciruja
> Lyrics: Francisco A. Marino
> Music: Ernesto de la Cruz
>
> Como con bronca, y junando As if angry, and glancing
> de rabo de ojo a un costado, from the corner of an eye to the side,
> sus pasos ha encaminado his steps he set out
> derecho pa'l arrabal. straight for the suburb.
> Lo lleva el presentimiento A forefeeling tells him
> de que, en aquel potrerito, that, in that little lot,
> no existe ya el bulincito it exists no more the little house
> que fue su ?nico ideal. that was his only ideal.
>
> Recordaba aquellas horas de garufa He remembered the hours of revelry
> cuando minga de laburo se pasaba, when he didn't have a job,
> meta punguia, al codillo escolaseaba pickpocketing, gambling at cards
> y en los burros se ligaba un metej?n; and winning big at the racetrack;
> cuando no era tan junao por los tiras, when he wasn't as known to the police,
> la lanceaba sin tener el manyamiento he would woe her without knowing
> una mina le solfeaba todo el vento that the woman was stealing all his money
> y jug? con su pasi?n. and toyed with his passion.
>
> Era un mosaico diquero She was a young attractive girl
> que yugaba de quemera, that worked burning garbage at the dump,
> hija de una curandera, daughter of a [female] phony doctor,
> mechera de profesi?n; shoplifter by profession;
> pero viv?a engrupida but she lived infatuated
> de un cafiolo vidalita with a young pimp
> que le pasaba la guita to whom she would give the money
> que le shacaba al mat?n. that she stole from el ciruja.
>
> Frente a frente, dando muestras de coraje, Face to face, given signs of courage,
> los dos guapos se trenzaron en el bajo, the brawlers fought down by the port,
> y el ciruja, que era listo para el tajo, and el ciruja, who was good with the knife,
> al cafiolo le cobr? caro su amor... made the pimp pay dearly for his love...
> Hoy, ya libre'e la gayola y sin la mina, Today, freed from jail and without the girl,
> campaneando un cacho'e sol en la vedera, seeing a ray of sunshine on the road,
> piensa un rato en el amor de su quemera thinks a little while about the love of his burning-girl
> y solloza en su dolor. and sobs in his pain.
>
>
>
Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2006 14:54:46 -0700
From: Duende de Tango <duendedetango@mac.com>
Subject: Re: [Tango-L] El Ciruja (Lunfardo), Engrupida (Lunfardo ,
Spanish)
To: tango-l@mit.edu
engrupida/engrupido in Spanish means stuck-up,
conceited, smooth-talking (Argentina, Chile)
engrupida/engrupido in Lunfardo means an important person; stuckup
the verb engrupir, in Spanish means to con; and
the verb engrupirse, in Spanish means to be conned; get conceited, put on airs;
the verb engrupir, in Lunfardo means to lie and cheat
La Ciruja, en Lunfardo means someone who is
looking for something to eat from trash.
(Of course, cirujano in Spanish means surgeon!)
>Hi Ruddy,
>
>Many thanks for your post-- I found it very helpful. Thanks too for the
>encouragement; it always lights an extra match under my ass to see that
>someone else is actually interested in the devil-cote details of this
>stuff. (And again, I welcome critiques, comments, disagreements,
>questions, or whatever-- so don't refrain, and don't feel any need to
>hedge.)
>
>I've read a few notes about the use of lunfardo in "El ciruja" before,
>but your etymology was entirely new to me... I hadn't thought of the
>stick. "Bum" was just a placeholder in my note, until I found something
>more particular than Viviana's original suggestion (ciruja = "schlep"),
>or until I could check if my own ("ragpicker") was more to the point.
>Now that you've filled in some blanks for me, I'll finish up my research
>and re-post the lyric when it's ready.
>
>One further question though, if you don't mind... Viviana and I went
>over the lyric, word by word, after my recitation. She found one other
>item for me to double-check: the term "engrupida." In context, Vivi
>suggested the translation "She thought she was big shit [with the pimp
>she hung out with]." I haven't found any other support for the reading,
>however, although my instincts incline me to side with her. Any thoughts?
>
>Thanks again,
>
>Jake Spatz
>Washington, DC
--
Date: Fri, 02 Jun 2006 18:15:13 -0400
From: Hector Pablo Pereyra <pablo@thezvimigdal.com>
Subject: Re: [Tango-L] El Ciruja (Lunfardo), Engrupida (Lunfardo ,
Spanish)
To: <tango-l@mit.edu>
Now,
translating Ciruja as cirujano is not such a mistake.
Ciruja in lunfardo is the short version for Cirujano (surgeon). Many words
in lunfardo have differente menanings.
At the beginning of the XX century the trash was carried in wagons and this
wagons where covered by a thick cloth (lona). In order to look for stuff
inside the wagons this people will use a knife to cut through the cloth. The
idea is that they were "practicing surgery" to the wagon to take out the
contents. That's way they were called "cirujanos" and soon it changed to the
short version "ciruja".
So, next time you get operated you can call your surgeon "ciruja"
ciao
Pablo Pereyra
