¿Cómo traducir "pánfilo"?

Even though I'm embarrassed to admit it, I don't know the exact meaning of the word "pánfilo", I have heard it some times.

The two times I heard it, they both had different meaning.
In the lyrics of the Tango:
Marioneta
circa 1928
Music:Juan José Guichandut
Lyrics: Armando Tagini
Marioneta. Tango (1928)

Quote:

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-¡Arriba, doña Rosa!...
¡Don Pánfilo, ligero!...
Y aquel titiritero
de voz aguardentosa
nos daba la función.

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And another time was when I was clumsy this morning and dropped a cup of coffee, and my father said "dale pánfilo!" in the tone of "come on dumb-dumb!"

I know it was the name of a Spanish explorer form way back, but that's as far as my knowledge goes.

Anyone care to help a little?

It's indeed a word used by the elder. It technically means "silly," "dumb," and such, but mostly used within the family. So, while negative in meaning, I think it's softer than the words it replaces. Where it comes from, though, I don't know.

RAE defines "pánfilo" as someone who is naive and a bit slow.
It comes from the Greek term pámphilos, which means "kind", which is interesting, and a bit sad, if you consider how it's used.

Apparently, it was also the name for a game involving matches and whispering the word "pánfilo", but I couldn't quite get it. Anybody knows this game?

Yo lo he escuchado en el contexto de la procrastinación. :(

Quote:

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Originally Posted by reminder

Yo lo he escuchado en el contexto de la procrastinación. :(

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Could you expand the context? or tell us what do you mean?

I found procrastinating as being a sloth or deliberatively postponing responsibilities with mundane tasks, rather than being a silly or dumb person.

Also "panfilo" or "pánfilo" isn't named in the thread.

About the Tango Lyrics on it selves it seems that Doña Rosa and Don Panfilo were characters of the play of Marionettes that the Tango describes.

So in this particular case Pánfilo isn't used as a verb but as a noun.
The verb in the tango is Ligero, light.

Partial Source: Todotango.com

Still a lot of mystery remains to scab.

Hola, Eidjit.

Como bien indicas, es un término coloquial, popular, así que hay una gran variedad de usos, que en última instancia terminan siendo incluidos en el diccionario, porque la lengua está viva.

Yo suelo estar más en contacto con las traducciones de manuales de uso, manuales de empleados o textos administrativos, es decir, no hay casi nada de lenguaje popular o coloquial, todos los términos tienen un uso aceptado por el diccionario.

Respecto del concepto de "procrastinación", en lenguaje llano, sería "vago", la pareja ideal de doña Rosa, jejejeje.

Couldn't it just be a name which later acquired other connotations?
I think there's a Pánfilo in Greek Mythology, but I'm no expert.

Jejejejeje.

¿Qué puedo acotar, Solg? ¡Muy buen comentario! Don Pánfilo fue rey de los dorios, claro, por el solo hecho de ser hijo del rey anterior.

La historia se repite... a veces.

:(

Quote:

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Originally Posted by solg

Couldn't it just be a name which later acquired other connotations?
I think there's a Pánfilo in Greek Mythology, but I'm no expert.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by reminder

Jejejejeje.

¿Qué puedo acotar, Solg? ¡Muy buen comentario! Don Pánfilo fue rey de los dorios, claro, por el solo hecho de ser hijo del rey anterior.

La historia se repite... a veces.

:(

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Both your comments inspired a little research, maybe the original name wasn\'t in spanish Pánfilo, but in greek Pamphilus

And I found a little note on a wikipedia page that talks about a comedic play:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pamphilus_de_amore

Then! Saint Pamphilus day of feast is February 16th which is very close to 14th Saint Valentine.

It all makes some weird sense.
Attachment 520Attachment 521

Hola de nuevo.

Pánfilo, rey de los dorios, pertenece a la mitología griega, anterior al nacimiento de Jesucristo.

So, since there is nothing quite like it in English, which option would you use?
It's not that easy, pánfilo is not used in a mean way, right? It sounds almost as an endearment... like dummy in certain contexts. Or is it just me?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by solg

So, since there is nothing quite like it in English, which option would you use?
It's not that easy, pánfilo is not used in a mean way, right? It sounds almost as an endearment... like dummy in certain contexts. Or is it just me?

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I'd say its meaning is along those lines as well. It's not a strong word when used by the right person.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by solg

RAE defines "pánfilo" as someone who is naive and a bit slow.
It comes from the Greek term pámphilos, which means "kind", which is interesting, and a bit sad, if you consider how it's used.

Apparently, it was also the name for a game involving matches and whispering the word "pánfilo", but I couldn't quite get it. Anybody knows this game?

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I found this information about the game: pánfilo is game in which a person quenches a small wax candle by pronouncing the word pánfilo which otherwise must burn him.
It seems a bit creepy :eek:

Parece que hay un Pánfilo más contemporáneo que los antiguos griegos al que todos tienen muy pero muy presente, especialmente los historiadores. Se llamó Pánfilo de Narváez, y ascendió a lugarteniente del Gobernador General de Cuba.

Cito a Bartolomé de las Casas, en "Historia General de las Indias":

ese día al llegar al pueblo de Caonao, encontraron unos dos mil indígenas en una explanada, todos en cuclillas según su costumbre, con casabe y mucho pescado para obsequiarles, porque tenían junto un gran río y también cerca la mar... súbitamente sacó un español su espada, y comienzan a desbarrigar y acuchillar y matar aquellas ovejas y corderos, hombres, niños y viejos, que estaban sentados, descuidados... No dejaron a ninguno con vida.

¿Adivinen de quién estamos hablando? Y sí, siempre hay gente que quiere pasar a la historia y ser recordado por siempre...

:mad: