Translation of "swell"
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Hi, the word swell cannot be translated as "moto ondoso" in italian. You can use "mare di fondo" instead, as "fondo" in italian means ground and swell in english comes from groundswell.
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@aruju Hi, do you have any official source with this translation so we can confirm it?
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In fact groundswell is a type of swell. It is often identified by a wave period of more than 10 seconds, but the swell can be much shorter.
In Windy swell maps cover a wide range of periods. So they don’t only show groundswell.
The groundswell name comes from the fact the energy of long-period waves extends down and comes into contact with the ocean floor earlier, at a depth down to 300 m, while wind swells only touch the bottom of the sea at about 15 m.So I think a general meaning of swell for translation is better than a particular case, especially since in Italy the real groundswell must be very rare.
May be, using “Swell” would be the best solution ?
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@Ondřej-Šutera In Spain (where I studied) there is a net distinction between wind waves ("mar de viento") and swell waves ("mar de fondo"). Attached is a snapshot taken from the Puertos del Estado (spanish government) webpage: https://www.puertos.es/es-es/Paginas/FAQ.aspx#faq13.
In italian the issue is a bit more open and ill-defined. Sometimes the words "mare lungo" or "mare morto" are used. The direct translations would be, respectively, "long sea" and "dead sea". Neither of them defines swell waves as they effectively are since they do not explain well the process of swell waves. Swell waves are those wave packets that are not forced by wind, but they are not necessarily long. Swell waves are usually identified from the wave spectrum as those wave components that have a celerity larger than the wind speed along the wave direction (including a factor as multiplier). I think that a reasonable solution would be to do as in the spanish language: wind waves are "mare di vento" and swell waves are "mare di fondo". In my opinion this is the word that better describes the phenomenon of swell waves in the italian language (moreover it is consistent with the spanish language which is similar to italian in many aspects). If you are not sure about the word "mare di fondo", just keep the english word "swell". The translation as it is now can be misleading. Cheers!! -
@idefix37 I guess the words "swell" and "ground swell" are synonyms. I agree that keeping the word "swell" as it is may be a good option especially if the translation in a particular language is a bit uncertain.
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If this official Spanish website uses this name, then why not an equivalent name in Italian?
Groundswell period is typically between 10 s to 20 s. It is what we call “a long swell” but it does not correspond to the swell layer which shows the waves, short or long, that propagate by themselves independently from the local wind. -
@idefix37 A common expression for swell in italian is "onde di mare morto". See the picture attached taken from the book MANUALE DI INGEGNERIA PORTUALE E COSTIERA by Ugo Tomasicchio, https://www.hoepli.it/libro/manuale-di-ingegneria-portuale-e-costiera/9788820346430.html.
"mare morto" in italian means "dead sea" and I can't conceive waves as something dead. I personally do not like it and would prefer "mare di fondo". Since there may be more than one swell coexisting at the same time, we can name them in italian "mare di fondo 1", "mare di fondo 2", etc...
Summing up:- translating "swell" with "moto ondoso" is misleading
- Swell in italian can be translated with "onde di mare morto"
- I personally prefer the translation "mare di fondo", consistent with the spanish language
- If in doubt, better to keep the expression "swell" in the italian version of windy.
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@aruju
“mare morto” is really strange indeed. -
@idefix37 It is the same in Slovenian: mrtvo morje
