philgoddard Mar 3, 2023:

Saltpetre is just plain wrong in my opinion, and we shouldn't even be discussing it. But its etymology shows where the confusion comes from:

From Middle English saltpetre, alteration of Old French salpetre, from Medieval Latin sāl petrae (“salt of the rock”), named so being found as an incrustation. Alteration of the first element is from folk-etymological association with salt (which is, nevertheless, cognate to Latin sāl.

neilmac Mar 3, 2023:

Another reason for not using saltpetre The term saltpetre is also rather recondite, and I'm willing to bet that many native English speakers will not know what it is (especially young people nowadays, who seem to have far less wide-ranging vocabulary and world knowledge than back in my day, pre-Google).

neilmac Mar 3, 2023:

Saltpetre The first definition that came up in the online search I've just run is "potassium nitrate, especially as a component of gunpowder." And that is what the word evokes to me, a component of gunpowder. I imagine this is the most common meaning/context/association for the word in English. I'll be seeing a native English-speaking colleague this weekend and I'll ask her what the first thing she thinks of when saltpetre is mentioned, to see the result. So, I don't think it is appropriate in the poetic source text. Below I think I mentioned something like "salty crystals", and the image might be rendered better by something like a dusting/frosting of salt crystals, although that is much longer and the rhythm of the source text will probably be lost in translation. Then again, at the end of the day, if you think saltpetre is okay, then go ahead and use that. It won't be the end of the world, although I would normally look for a better way to express the notion, particularly in a poetic context.

Helena Chavarria Mar 2, 2023:

Without further context I can't post an annswer but here are a couple of ideas:

Gone were the reefs, saltpetre and sun;
The reefs, saltpetre and sun had vanished/disappeared;

Roberto Recio Mar 2, 2023:

Más información Me suena a que es un poema. En ese caso, me gustaría saber si quieres conservar alguna característica como ritmo, métrica, rima, etc. Si es así, ¿qué restricciones tendría el verso o versos en cuestión?
Este enfoque también pudiera servir si es prosa poética.

philgoddard Mar 2, 2023:

Could be. More context would help.

O G V Mar 2, 2023:

@phil @neilmac @andrew quizás se refiere a que el cielo se nubló durante muchos días. Había o hacía sol es como decir hacía bueno, o tb había luz, claridad. por qué no salpetre?


insisto, por qué no vale salpetre o salpeter?
https://www.proz.com/kudoz/english-to-spanish/tech-engineeri...
acaso sólo vale para química?

philgoddard Mar 2, 2023:

http://www.wordreference.com/es/en/translation.asp?spen=sali...
"Salt-crusted rocks", maybe?
"Sol" seems a strange thing to mention, since that presumably wasn't blown away by the hurricane.