Helena Chavarria May 7, 2013:

@ Robert And I started this discussion at exactly the same time you posted your answer:)) The most important thing is that the issue has been sorted out!

Mercedes Rizzuti (asker) May 7, 2013:

You're right, Robert! I'm very sorry!
I just thought the main suggestion (the adventurer), which I don't find particularly proper, would appear to be the chosen answer.
I've already chose your answer, but the "untranslated" one.
Thanks!

Robert Forstag May 7, 2013:

I don't particularly care about getting 4 Kudoz points, but I note that I suggested the possibility of leaving the term untranslated five minutes after the query was posted....

Mercedes Rizzuti (asker) May 7, 2013:

BTW, I would grade Stephen D. Moore's answer , but he posted it on Cesar's spot. Is it possible for me to do it?

Mercedes Rizzuti (asker) May 7, 2013:

I will leave it untranslated. Just Indiano.
You've made valuable logic deductions, but unfortunately, when it comes to naming characters...director can follow their own rules and we can only try to be true on translating. This time the best choice, as Stephen suggested, is leaving the original name untranslated. May be just add a short explanation. But, I honestly guess, the name stayed from a previous version of the script where the character was actually Spanish (which I know since the director told me). Now it doesn't make a lot of sense. :(
Thank you all, it's great counting on this forum.

bistefano May 6, 2013:

Una hypotesis atrevida ... En el diccionario RAE ( http://lema.rae.es/drae/?val=indiano ) hay tambièn "indiano de hilo negro" =
1. m. coloq. Hombre avaro, miserable, mezquino

Que sea un nombrito cortado para bromear, entendiendo "El mezquino" o algo asi?

Jo Macdonald May 6, 2013:

Leave " El Indiano" imo

Christine Walsh May 6, 2013:

In case it helps I've lived in Argentina most of my life, and have heard the word in the context of 'derecho indiano', etc. but not describing any particular type of person. There are several words used to refer to those who are not Porteño, or have 'Indian' blood, many of them derogatory I'm afraid, but I haven't come across this. It seems to be a little more usual in Uruguay, but I haven't been able to work out the meaning with any degree of certainty. I would also be inclined to leave it untranslated

By the way, the politically correct term nowadays, here at least, is 'pueblos originarios', but of course there have been several others.

Charles Davis May 5, 2013:

Carl makes a sound point. The classic meaning of "indiano" in Spain, a Spaniard who made it good in the Indies, often with connotations of nouveau-riche vulgarity, doesn't make sense in an Argentine context. However, as well as meaning a person "que vuelve rica de América" (DRAE def. 5), "indiano" can also mean "nativo, pero no originario de América" (DRAE def. 1). In other words, a criollo.

I suspect, but not confidently enough to suggest it as an answer, that "indiano" here means "criollo". In the context of Argentina, this could refer to someone from the north as opposed to a porteño.

Carl Stoll May 5, 2013:

Indiano "Indiano" meaning "Spaniard who made it good in the Americas" is derived from the place name "las Indias", meaning "the Americas”. This term ceased to be used some time in the 19th century. In any case it was apparently used only in Spain., and never in the Americas. Consequently in the Argentine, “Indiano” cannot ever have meant "Spaniard etc...." If it is a proper name, leave it as “Indiano”, since its meaning is unknown.

Esmeralda Gómez May 5, 2013:

I would also leave it as "El Indiano" (i.e. Spaniard who has made...)

Simon Bruni May 5, 2013:

It's perfectly appropriate to translate nicknames when they have a clear meaning. Is this not simply a case of the character having indigenous blood? In which case, you could call him 'Indian'

Helena Chavarria May 5, 2013:

If its a character's name, I would leave it as it is.