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Pliego

English translation: folded double folio

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
Spanish term or phrase:pliego
English translation:folded double folio
Entered by: Charles Davis

23:39 Nov 22, 2018
Spanish to English translations [PRO]
Law/Patents - Law (general) / Notary term
Spanish term or phrase: Pliego
The Notarial Pliego consists of four sheets. The following is taken from the Notarial Regulations. They seem to come in "Clases" also (I have seen Clase 7 and Clase 14). I suspect they may no longer be in use.

Article 154 Los instrumentos públicos, a excepción de las pólizas, se extenderán en el papel timbrado correspondiente, comenzando cada uno en hoja o pliego distinto, según se emplee una u otra clase de papel y, en todo caso, en la primera plana de aquéllos. Al final del instrumento, expresará el notario la numeración de todas las hojas o pliegos empleados que deberá ser estrictamente correlativa,

Artículo 155.

Las planas primera y tercera de cada pliego, en las escrituras y actas matrices, tendrán al lado izquierdo del que escribe un margen blanco de la cuarta parte de la anchura de la plana, y al lado derecho un pequeño margen para que no lleguen las letras al canto del papel.

Las planas segunda y cuarta tendrán también al lado izquierdo un margen de la cuarta parte del ancho del papel y al lado derecho el necesario para la encuadernación de los protocolos.
patinba
Argentina
Local time: 09:57
folded double folio
Explanation:
A pliego is a large sheet of paper folded once to make four pages (not four sheets, just two). This is actually the first definition in the DLE:

"1. m. Pieza de papel de forma cuadrangular, doblada por el medio, o con dos o más dobleces si está impreso."
http://dle.rae.es/?id=TPoJ3MB

The second half of this definition refers to the use of the term in printed books; I'll come back to that in a moment.

Your document makes it clear that this (the first half of the above definition) is what it means, because a pliego, according to it, has four planas. Plana means page.

Now, in English this is very confusing, because the correct word for it is actually folio. The first dictionary definition of folio in Collins (British English) is:

"folio
1. a sheet of paper folded in half to make two leaves for a book or manuscript"
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/folio

And similar definitions of "folio" are found in other dictionaries. But the problem is, of course, that folio has another more familiar meaning in the notarial context, namely a leaf (of paper):

"3. a leaf of paper or parchment numbered on the front side only" (Collins, ibid.)

And of course it can mean that in Spanish too; see DLE:

"folio
1. m. Hoja de un libro o de un cuaderno.
3. m. Hoja de papel que resulta de doblar una vez el pliego de marca ordinaria."

Note definition 3: fold a pliego once and you have two folios (two sheets, four pages).

In book printing, folio also means a page size, normally about 15 inches high. The point is that in the old days printers used various sizes of paper, but basically they used sheets that were about double the size of a folio-sized book, and folded them once, to form what is itself called a folio. If they printed one page of the book on each page of this "folio" (folded down the middle, so two sides, front and back of each side), then it produced a folio volume. If they folded their basic large sheet again (i.e. folded it twice), they had room for eight smaller pages, and a book bound like that is called quarto. Fold it again and each large sheet will take sixteen pages; print and bind that and you have an octavo volume. This is what the second half of the DLE definition is referring to when it says "o con dos o más dobleces si está impreso": "con dos dobleces" corresponds to quarto in printed books.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folio

But leaving aside printed books, a pliego for notarial purposes is a large sheet of paper folded once down the middle and used like that, producing a folio in Collins sense 1 (pliego in DLE sense 1), consisting of two sheets or folios in Collins sense 3 (folios) joined at the fold, corresponding to four pages (planas).

I hope you're with me. What this means is that although pliego can be correctly translated as "folio", relying on one of the dictionary definitions of "folio" in English, it's almost bound to be misunderstood if you do, because of the other prevailing and much more familiar definition of "folio" in this context (Collins definition 3).

So I suggest "folded double folio" to make it clear. As an example, see this description of a "Double folio from a Qur’an" in the Louvre. The illustration (which you need Flash to see) shows that this is exactly a "pliego": a large sheet folded once to form four pages and used in landscape format. The description makes this clear too: there are two folios (in the sense of sheets), each with a front and back (recto and verso), making four pages
"folio 1, recto: beginning of sura 56 up to verse 9.
folio 1, verso: sura 56, verses 9 to 20.
folio 2, recto: sura 57, verses 9 to 11.
folio 2, verso: sura 57, verses 11 to 13."
https://www.louvre.fr/en/oeuvre-notices/double-folio-qur



--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 3 hrs (2018-11-23 03:08:50 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Just to be clear (I hope!), in your text "hojas" means individual cut sheets of paper of folio size (approx. large A4) and "pliegos" means sheets of twice this size (known as "double folio" size in English) folded once to produce two sheets of folio size (two folios, as we would normally say).

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 3 hrs (2018-11-23 03:18:33 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

I think you could probably just use "double folio", omitting "folded", after the first time.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 3 hrs (2018-11-23 03:23:24 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Last part of main entry on the Louvre Qur'an double folio: I meant in portrait format, not landscape: sorry!

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 7 hrs (2018-11-23 07:23:32 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

The above would have been a bit clearer if I had not muddled "sheet" and "leaf". A pliego doesn't have two sheets; it has two leaves. If you cut a sheet in half you have two sheets, but if you fold it in half you still have one sheet but you now have two leaves.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 day 1 hr (2018-11-24 01:15:06 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Cada loco con su tema, as they say :-)
Selected response from:

Charles Davis
Spain
Local time: 14:57
Grading comment
Thanks again!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +2folded double folio
Charles Davis


  

Answers


3 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +2
folded double folio


Explanation:
A pliego is a large sheet of paper folded once to make four pages (not four sheets, just two). This is actually the first definition in the DLE:

"1. m. Pieza de papel de forma cuadrangular, doblada por el medio, o con dos o más dobleces si está impreso."
http://dle.rae.es/?id=TPoJ3MB

The second half of this definition refers to the use of the term in printed books; I'll come back to that in a moment.

Your document makes it clear that this (the first half of the above definition) is what it means, because a pliego, according to it, has four planas. Plana means page.

Now, in English this is very confusing, because the correct word for it is actually folio. The first dictionary definition of folio in Collins (British English) is:

"folio
1. a sheet of paper folded in half to make two leaves for a book or manuscript"
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/folio

And similar definitions of "folio" are found in other dictionaries. But the problem is, of course, that folio has another more familiar meaning in the notarial context, namely a leaf (of paper):

"3. a leaf of paper or parchment numbered on the front side only" (Collins, ibid.)

And of course it can mean that in Spanish too; see DLE:

"folio
1. m. Hoja de un libro o de un cuaderno.
3. m. Hoja de papel que resulta de doblar una vez el pliego de marca ordinaria."

Note definition 3: fold a pliego once and you have two folios (two sheets, four pages).

In book printing, folio also means a page size, normally about 15 inches high. The point is that in the old days printers used various sizes of paper, but basically they used sheets that were about double the size of a folio-sized book, and folded them once, to form what is itself called a folio. If they printed one page of the book on each page of this "folio" (folded down the middle, so two sides, front and back of each side), then it produced a folio volume. If they folded their basic large sheet again (i.e. folded it twice), they had room for eight smaller pages, and a book bound like that is called quarto. Fold it again and each large sheet will take sixteen pages; print and bind that and you have an octavo volume. This is what the second half of the DLE definition is referring to when it says "o con dos o más dobleces si está impreso": "con dos dobleces" corresponds to quarto in printed books.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folio

But leaving aside printed books, a pliego for notarial purposes is a large sheet of paper folded once down the middle and used like that, producing a folio in Collins sense 1 (pliego in DLE sense 1), consisting of two sheets or folios in Collins sense 3 (folios) joined at the fold, corresponding to four pages (planas).

I hope you're with me. What this means is that although pliego can be correctly translated as "folio", relying on one of the dictionary definitions of "folio" in English, it's almost bound to be misunderstood if you do, because of the other prevailing and much more familiar definition of "folio" in this context (Collins definition 3).

So I suggest "folded double folio" to make it clear. As an example, see this description of a "Double folio from a Qur’an" in the Louvre. The illustration (which you need Flash to see) shows that this is exactly a "pliego": a large sheet folded once to form four pages and used in landscape format. The description makes this clear too: there are two folios (in the sense of sheets), each with a front and back (recto and verso), making four pages
"folio 1, recto: beginning of sura 56 up to verse 9.
folio 1, verso: sura 56, verses 9 to 20.
folio 2, recto: sura 57, verses 9 to 11.
folio 2, verso: sura 57, verses 11 to 13."
https://www.louvre.fr/en/oeuvre-notices/double-folio-qur



--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 3 hrs (2018-11-23 03:08:50 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Just to be clear (I hope!), in your text "hojas" means individual cut sheets of paper of folio size (approx. large A4) and "pliegos" means sheets of twice this size (known as "double folio" size in English) folded once to produce two sheets of folio size (two folios, as we would normally say).

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 3 hrs (2018-11-23 03:18:33 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

I think you could probably just use "double folio", omitting "folded", after the first time.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 3 hrs (2018-11-23 03:23:24 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Last part of main entry on the Louvre Qur'an double folio: I meant in portrait format, not landscape: sorry!

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 7 hrs (2018-11-23 07:23:32 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

The above would have been a bit clearer if I had not muddled "sheet" and "leaf". A pliego doesn't have two sheets; it has two leaves. If you cut a sheet in half you have two sheets, but if you fold it in half you still have one sheet but you now have two leaves.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 day 1 hr (2018-11-24 01:15:06 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Cada loco con su tema, as they say :-)

Charles Davis
Spain
Local time: 14:57
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 1379
Grading comment
Thanks again!
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thank you Charles. A valuable contribution to the Proz store of knowledge. This question had your name all over it from the outset, I should have just mailed it to you :)


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Robert Carter: This is very specialised terminology, even in Spanish. I've never come across "pliego" in this sense before. This is definitely a workable solution, and well supported as always.
2 hrs
  -> Many thanks, Robert. I encountered it when working on manuscripts. Centuries ago poems (e.g. ballads) used to circulate on "pliegos sueltos": four-page folded sheets.
agree  Manuel Cedeño Berrueta: Excellent research work! Even the common [in Venezuela] term “folio” (known as “foja” in Argentina, I believe) may cause misunderstandings to some readers
8 hrs
  -> Thank you very much, Manuel :-) Quite true; these terms cause a lot of confusion, and in English it's even worse, because "folio" can mean "pliego" as well!
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