In the live feed on the left side bar of this blog is one of my favorite blogs, llaüts, which translates from Catalan as Lutes. A lute is a beautiful stringed instrument and I may be a little free with the translation to imply that the boats and the music are entwined.
For those of us who read in English, it might be intimidating to understand a blog in Catalan. There is a translator link on the site, at the top of the left side bar, written in HTML. Google translator insists on translating Catalan as Spanish, so the result in English is stilted and difficult, but well worth the effort to understand the poetry of these traditional fishing boats from the perspective of this family from Mallorca. If you haven't been there before, I recommend you visit Lutes and the Mercedes family on their beautiful lute, Catalina:
"Llaüt, leud, leudo (Italia), Loutzo (Túnez)... are names to speak about the same family of ships. All are the same but every country has their particular way of building the llaüt. There were llaüts in the Mediterranean, back to the Middle Ages, in many different cultures. You can find small llaüts and big llaüts, llaüts for fishing and llaüts for sabotage... but always with the same shape."
4 comments:
Hi, DoryMan, from Mallorca. Thank you for your atention to our blog. We are working (and enjoying) to preserve our traditional boats. And we like very much your blog! Your way to feel the boats is the same than us.
Sorry for my english!
The language is a barrier, but the boats speak for us. It has been that way for millennia. Sailors who speak the language of the sea have always respected each other, even in times of war. The traditions of the sea and love for these beautiful boats can serve to bind us together in these troubled times.
Your Lutes are a work of art!
michael
Any connection between the Catalan Llaut and the Croatian Leut?
Llaüt, leud, leudo (Italia), Loutzo (Túnez)... are words to speak about the same family of ships. All is the same but every country has his particular way to build the llaüt. There were llaüts in Mediterranean in the Middle Age and in different cultures. You can find small llaüt and big llaüts, llaüts for fishing and llaüts for cabotage… but always with the same shape.
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