TRADUguide - Your Guide to Translators and Translation Agencies

71 months ago

Barbara Cochran (a guest user) asked this question:

This question has already been answered and rated. Therefore, no new answers can be given.

71 months ago

Vicki Santamaria   wrote:

He got her into the seat (boosting her) with his hand

My references:

Diccionario de la Real Academia. If you don’t have the app on your phone, you can find it on line. Always my first reference.

The asker rated this answer best

71 months ago

Vicki Santamaria   wrote:

he lifted her to the seat with only muscle power

My comment:

To all: always first check a good explanatory dictionary of the source language.

Indeed, translating dictionaries do not offer translations for all the different meanings of the source term!

As you can see here below, under Your References, Wordreference only gives some translations for the meanings of "a pulso"!

See https://www.wordreference.com/es/en/translation.asp?spen=a%20pulso

N.B. "freehand" is only used in expressions like "to draw freehand". (= sin apoyar el brazo)

My references:

Explanatory (!) English dictionary:

"12. a pulso loc. adv.

1. ***Haciendo fuerza con la muñeca y la mano, pero sin apoyar el brazo***:

***levantó la caja del suelo a pulso***.

=> in French: à la force des bras = in English: with only muscle power (*)

2. Con mucho esfuerzo, sin ayuda de otros:

consiguió el puesto a pulso."

at https://es.thefreedictionary.com/pulso

(*) as in: "***À la force des bras***, les Canadiens parviennent à **installer un canon** sur une colline avoisinante."

cmhg-phmc.gc.ca

= "***With only muscle power***, the Canadians managed to install a cannon on a neighbouring hillside."

at https://www.linguee.fr/francais-anglais/traduction/%C3%A0+la+force+des+bras.html

(also at https://fr.glosbe.com/fr/en/%C3%A0%20la%20force%20des%20bras)
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FRENCH:

"à force de bras : Se dit en parlant de travaux, de transports pour lesquels on n’emploie que la seule force des bras."

Ex.: "les bagages, les vivres et les munitions furent ***portés à force de bras***"

https://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/%C3%A0_force_de_bras

---
"Il fait également des haltères (...) qu'il ***lève à la force des bras***"

https://www.cnrtl.fr/definition/bras

and, on the same page:

"− Loc. adv. ou adj.
♦ À bras (d'homme), ***à force de bras*** :

***(Mû) avec la seule force de l'homme, en particulier celle de ses bras, sans aucune aide extérieure animale ou mécanique (cf. à main*)***.

Des charrettes de boulanger tirées à bras d'homme (Flaubert, La 1reÉducation sentimentale,1845, p. 15).

***Il se souleva péniblement à force de bras*** (Bosco, Le Mas Théotime,1945, p. 214):

46. Ce moteur, fonctionnant jadis à bras d'homme, ensuite à manège, puis à vapeur, aujourd'hui enfin, le plus souvent, à l'électricité, est attelé à un tambour... E. Schneider, Le Charbon,1945, p. 247.

SYNT. Porter, mouvoir, actionner qqc. à bras; pompe mue à bras d'homme; transports qui se font à bras; ***se hisser à force de bras***."

Comments by other colleagues on this answer:

71 months ago

   wrote:

Barbara, I also found "levantar una silla a pulso → to *lift* a chair ***with one hand***" lower on the FreeDictionary page!... And in French there is also such expression as "à la foice du poignet/des poignets", but I can't find the English translation, it's similar to "à la force des bras/à force de bras": "À la force du/des poignet(s) : En utilisant principalement les poignets pour fournir un effort physique intense. Ex.: Il a *soulevé* le kader **à la force du poignet**" at https://www.cnrtl.fr/definition/force. My understanding is that the guy was on top of the carriage and, from there, lifted the woman from the ground onto her seat, using his muscles only and not helped with any tool, like having her climb on a chair first, or by having another guy push her up to help with the effort of lifting her onto the seat. So my first translation is still valid... Muscle power only. And it corresponds to most other meanings of "a pulso": "with nobody's (and nothing's) help".

71 months ago

   wrote:

Barbara, My final answer: "he lifted her clean off the ground and onto the seat", see https://es.thefreedictionary.com/pulso ("tomar un mueble a pulso → to lift a piece of furniture clean off the ground"). "Clean": "4. Informal: = Entirely; wholly. Ex.: he clean forgot the appointment." at https://www.thefreedictionary.com/clean. Cf. a similar sentence on the Web: "His hands clamped roughly around her hips, ***lifting her clean off the ground and onto*** his shoulder." at https://www.quotev.com/story/5629756/With-the-Beating-of-Your-Heart/11 . It looks like a novel, like your own source text, so the phrasing is a bit more romantic than "with muscle power only", which was not erroneous, I guess, but less in the tone of the novel...

71 months ago

Ffion Marianne Moyle   wrote:

He got her to sit down hands free or freehand

My comment:

This literally means he got her to sit down without thinking about it i.e. impulsively or with relative ease otherwise put without having to force her to do it

71 months ago

Charles Ferguson   wrote:

got her to sit beside him without helping her up

My comment:

Used word search on Windows 10.

My references:

WordReference.com