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Work continues on transcribing and translating some notes from 1904, 1905 and 1906 in my Great Grandfathers Civil Guard records.

I am now starting to see some common phrases to look out for. And in some instances the text is nor legible.

Here is the note for 1905:

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I have determibed that the Spanish text is:

1905: En la revista de Septiembre causó Caja en la 2o Batería y alta en la 4a seguí orden del Tércienle Coronel 1a Jefe accidental de la Comandancia. Situación: Todo el ano de guarnición en este Plaza y continua. Tallado tuvo la estatura de 1’165 m.

Mahón 31 Diciembre 1905

El Comandante Mayor

You may see errors in my transcribed text and I thank you in advance for bringing these to my attention. What I am struggling with is the translation to English.

DeepL

If I use DeepL I end up with:

1905: In the September review it was placed in the 2nd Battery and discharged in the 4th Battery on the orders of the 1st Colonel Colonel Tercienle, accidental head of the Command. Situation: All the year of garrison in this square and continues. Carved had the height of 1'165 m.

Google

And if I use Google I end up with:

1905: In the September magazine Caused Box in the 2nd Battery and discharge in the 4th I followed the accidental order of the Tércienle Colonel 1st Chief of the Command. Situation: All year round garnish in this Plaza and continues. Tallado was 1'165 m tall.

On the whole I do beleive that the DeepL translation is better but it does really make sense as is.

What is the correct translation into English?

Update 1

Changing one word so it is:

1905: En la revista de Septiembre causó Caja en la 2o Batería y alta en la 4a seguí orden del Térciente Coronel 1a Jefe accidental de la Comandancia. Situación: Todo el ano de guarnición en este Plaza y continua. Tallado tuvo la estatura de 1’165 m.

It then translates a bit better on DeepL:

1905: In the magazine of September it caused Box in the 2nd Battery and discharge in the 4th Battery following order of the Lieutenant Colonel 1st accidental Chief of the Command. Situation: All the year of garrison in this Plaza and continues. Carved had the stature of 1'165 m.

Update 2

Based on the answer provided by @freethinker36:

  • Spanish

1905: En la revista de Septiembre causó Caja en la 2o Batería y alta en la 4a seguí orden del Terciente Coronel 1er Jefe accidental de la Comandancia. Situación: Todo el año de guarnición en esta Plaza y continúa. Tallado tuvo la estatura de 1’685 mt.

  • English

1905: In the September review he was discharged from the 2nd Battery and transferred to the 4th Battery on the orders of the Lieutenant Colonel 1st Chief of the Command. Situation: Garrisoned in this square for the whole year and continues to do so. He had a height of 1'685 mt.

Note that when using DeepL I had to make a handful of choices to override some of the words (via drop-list of options). And I settled on the above.

Getting better?

  1. I seem to recall a comment (now deleted) about the meaning of Plaza.
  2. And what exactly is an Terciente Coronel 1er Jefe accidental de la Comandancia?

Update 3

Based upon the further clarifications in the answer provided by @RubioRic I now have:

  • Spanish

1905: En la revista de Septiembre causó baja en la 2a Batería y alta en la 4a según orden del Tércienle Coronel 1er Jefe accidental de la Comandancia. Situación: Todo el año de guarnición en esta Plaza y continúa. Tallado tuvo la estatura de 1’685 mt.

  • English

1905: In the September review he was discharged from the 2nd Battery and transferred to the 4th Battery by the order of the Lieutenant Colonel (Temporary 1st Chief of the Command). Situation: Garrisoned in this Fort for the whole year and continues to do so. His measured height was 1.685m.

Related questions

Andrew Truckle
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    Plaza probably means "square". Like a town square. "An open place or area formed at the meeting of two or more streets". Accidental may mean interim, temporary, per Spanish Dictionary and search entries. – freethinker36 Aug 09 '21 at 00:14
  • @freethinker36 I think Plaza could be Fortress or Stronghold. See item 7 here: https://www.spanishdict.com/translate/plaza – Andrew Truckle Aug 09 '21 at 04:34
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    It could also be "position", like "employment position" or its related term in the military. See item 6 here: https://dle.rae.es/plaza?m=form – freethinker36 Aug 09 '21 at 17:58
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    @freethinker36 As the other notes are translated the right phrase to use may become clearer. – Andrew Truckle Aug 09 '21 at 18:04

3 Answers3

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I think I may now nearly have it:

Spanish

1905: En la revista de Septiembre causó Caja en la 2o Batería y alta en la 4a seguí orden del Térciente Coronel 1a Jefe accidental de la Comandancia. Situación: Todo el año de guarnición en este Plaza y continua. Tallado tuvo la estatura de 1’685 m.

English

1905: In the review of September he was discharged from the 2nd Battery and discharged from the 4th Battery following the order of the Lieutenant Colonel 1st Accidental Chief of the Command. Situation: All the year of Garrison in this Plaza and continues. He had the stature height of 1'685 m.

Update 1

Based on the comemnts I now get:

  • Spanish

En la revista de Septiembre causó baja en la 2o Batería y alta en la 4a segúnorden del Térciente Coronel 1a Jefe accidental de la Comandancia. Situación: Todo el año de guarnición en este Plaza y continua. Tallado tuvo la estatura de 1’685 m.

  • English

In the September review, he was discharged from the 2nd Battery and discharged from the 4th Battery under the command of Lieutenant Colonel 1st Brigadier-in-Chief of the Command. Situation: Garrisoned all year in this square and continued. He had the stature height of 1'685 m.

Andrew Truckle
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Let me improve a bit your last update and answer these two points

  1. I seem to recall a comment (now deleted) about the meaning of Plaza.
  2. And what exactly is an Terciente Coronel 1er Jefe accidental de la Comandancia?

Your last update

1905: En la revista de Septiembre causó Caja en la 2o Batería y alta en la 4a seguí orden del Terciente Coronel 1er Jefe accidental de la Comandancia. Situación: Todo el año de guarnición en esta Plaza y continúa. Tallado tuvo la estatura de 1’685 mt.

My transcription highlighting the differences

1905: En la revista de Septiembre causó baja en la 2ª Batería y alta en la 4ª según orden del Teniente Coronel 1er Jefe accidental de la Comandancia. Situación: Todo el año de guarnición en esta Plaza y continúa. Tallado tuvo la estatura de 1’685 mt.

Plaza in this context means

  1. f. Lugar fortificado con muros, reparos, baluartes, etc., para que la gente se pueda defender del enemigo.

Its translation is not "square" as in "An open, typically four-sided, area surrounded by buildings in a village, town, or city." nor "An area within a military barracks or camp used for drill.". It means a fortified military position, it's more like a fortified garrison or something similar.

Terciente is a word that doesn't exist in Spanish so it can't be derived from tercio as stated by @freethinker36. The written word is Teniente, that can be translated as Lieutenant as you have obtained with the automatic tools. Being the full rank Teniente Coronel (Lieutenant colonel), a field grade officer rank, just above the rank of major and just below the rank of colonel

I think that accidental can be translated as "acting": Temporarily doing the duties of another person. The person mentioned was temporarily being the commanding officer in the absence of the designated one due to vacations or sickness or whatever.

Last but not least, your translation of "Tallado tuvo la estatura de 1'685 mt." is aproximate but not precise. You have omitted the participle "tallado" taken from the verb "tallar" that means in this context

  1. tr. Medir la estatura de alguien. (Measure someone's height).

I don't know if there is a verb equivalent in English. But your translation missed that passive voice. In the Spanish sentence the verb to be (ser, in Spanish) is omitted but there should be a form in English to express that

(Being) XXXXXX ("heightened"? "measured"??), he had a height of 1'685 mt.

RubioRic
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  • Thanks for the clarification about Lieutenant and Plaza. Perhaps the best term for Plaza in this context is either Fort, Fortress or Stronghold. I think maybe Stronghold. But I am not sure. As for the last comment about height it could be: His height was measured to be xxx mt. – Andrew Truckle Aug 09 '21 at 07:16
  • Even, “His measured height was xxx”. – Andrew Truckle Aug 09 '21 at 09:33
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    @AndrewTruckle I think that that last option is close to the original. – RubioRic Aug 09 '21 at 10:09
  • I have now updated my question with your latest tweaks and my understanding on the English. I think this section is now great and that I am ready to move on with the other entries for 1904 and 1906. I am not sure about accepting any one answer because they all provide something to the final text we have. – Andrew Truckle Aug 09 '21 at 13:30
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Replying to answer of OP

1905 En la revista de Septiembre causó baja en la 2a Batería y alta en la 4a según orden del Terciente Coronel 1er Jefe accidental de la Comandancia. Situación: Todo el año de guarnición en esta Plaza y continúa. Tallado tuvo la estatura de 1’685 mt.

[Note: "terciente coronel" is not necessarily the same as "teniente coronel". I think I read in a previous reply to a post that "tercio" was some sort of division of the armed forces in Spain, which would be indicative that "terciente coronel" is a "coronel de un tercio", meaning a colonel of one of the divisions of the armed forces, but división not necessarily in the same sense as in "general de división". In bold the different text from update in previous answer by OP. Take into account the accents.]

freethinker36
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    Thank you for your answer and associated comments. I have now added an "Update 2" to the original question that takes into account your suggestions. – Andrew Truckle Aug 08 '21 at 20:56