Entre el insulto y la intensificación: el reto de traducir el calificativo malsonante puto/a al italiano

This paper examines, from a comparative perspective between Spanish and Italian, the pejorative term puto/a, whose usage and pragmatic functions vary significantly between the two languages. In Spanish, this term encompasses a broad range of meanings, serving both as an insult and an emphatic expression, whereas in Italian there is no direct equivalent, posing particular challenges in the translation process. For this study, a corpus of 25 translated works has been compiled, including a selection of contemporary novels and audiovisual material (films and TV series) that feature relevant occurrences of puto/a. The methodology integrates both a qualitative and a quantitative approach: firstly, the contexts of use of puto/a in the original texts are identified and categorised; secondly, the translation options in the Italian versions are analysed to identify patterns, strategies, and potential omissions. The paper provides a cataloguing of translation equivalents, considering factors such as register, pragmatic implications, discursive function, and cultural acceptability in the target language. Additionally, representative cases are discussed to illustrate the translation challenges and choices involved in rendering offensive expressions across languages with different sociolinguistic norms. The conclusions reveal significant trends in the translation of puto/a from Spanish into Italian, highlighting a pronounced asymmetry in the tolerance and functionality of offensive language within both linguistic and cultural contexts.