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Old 08-03-2018, 13:43   #5
Airbornelawyer
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Quote:
Originally Posted by miclo18d View Post
Ganar is to win or earn - ‘win the lottery’ ‘win soccer game’

Vencer is to win a fight, overcome a difficult problem, or conquer.



I would translate it as: live overcoming or die trying (fighting)

It is idiomatic.
Ganar is related to gagner in French and ultimately "gain" in English (itself from Middle French). The French 1er RPIMa, descended from the French SAS of WW2, uses the motto "Qui ose, gagne" as a translation of "Who dares, wins". We had a discussion many years ago on Socnet about how the English "win" had also lost much of its broader meaning and become limited to winning a prize or a game when discussing why "Medal of Honor winner" no longer sounded like an appropriate phrase.

The Spanish phrase here seems similar to the Latin motto "aut vincere aut mori", "either to conquer/vanquish, or to die". But the "morir matando" seem to add the notion of not just dying, but going down fighting.
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