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At 02:49 PM 11/25/97 -0500, you wrote:
>Alan, I agree with you.  On the semantic scale in my
>native-English-speaker brain, "masculine" is closer in meaning to
>"macho" than "male" is.  Interestingly, the entry in Roget's II gives
>"manly" as the item that should be viewed for the word "male" and
>then proceeds to list "male" right after the word "macho."  My
>semantic netword rebels against that close of an identification.  If
>the author wants to avoid giving the impression of "macho" then I
>think she should follow your advice.
 
 
Two points. First, what "macho" has come to mean in English is entirely
different from what "macho" means in Spanish (especially mexican
spanish)--and this suggestion that the word be translated in accordance with
an English-language misinterpretation of it  (i.e., masculine" is closer in
meaning to "macho" than "male" is) is a terrific example of the cultural and
linguistic hegemony practiced by English-only speakers.
 
Second, the issue here isn't "male" vs. "masculine" vs. any other synonym in
**English,** fercrissake.
 
Rather, it's the original author's point that "historiography has been
traditionally considered intrinsicamente masculina."
 
In other words, that it is male-dominated, male-oriented, male-bound, or
male-inflected, *or* that history is traditionally  interpreted through a
masculine perspective (which is a use of "masculine" that is, I think,
acceptable in the context) *or* that studies in the *field* are skewed by
the masculine influence.
 
I don't much like the translator's proposed use of "male" alone (because why
is "male" as an adjective any better than "masculine" as an adjective? Both
uses are metaphorical), and would instead suggest some sort of adjective
compound to get the point across.
 
W.
 
 
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