German geeking while at Norwescon
Apr. 9th, 2004 04:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
annathepiperWell, I do have Internet access of a kind at Norwescon--so here I am seeing if I can make an LJ post while I'm here. I haven't been able to install PocketLJ yet because that will apparently require me to be on my laptop. But let's see if I can post via the web client anyway.
The con has been laid back for me so far. Plenty has been going on, but for the most part I am deliberately taking it very easy, just hanging out in the lobby, occasionally chatting with folks, and reading more of Der kleine Hobbit. And playing with taking German notes on my shiny new frob!
Here are some of those German notes now...
achtbar - I think that this must mean 'respectable', though that isn't the definition in my dictionary. I do have one point of confusion, though, and that is where the word 'für' comes in in the sentence fragment, which is 'die Leute hielten sie für außerordentlich achtbar', and the English is 'people considered them very repsectable'. I'm kind of reading the German as 'people held extraordinary respect for them', except that doesn't quite work either because 'achtbar' is not capitalized, and therefore not a noun.
alltägliche - Everyday.
ausgenommen - Except.
außerordentlich - Extraordinary.
bärtig(en) - Bearded.
bedürfen - To need.
Beschreibung - Description.
eigentlich - Actually, really.
erlebte - Past tense of 'erleben', to see/have/experience.
Gabe - Gift.
Geschichte - Story.
getan hatten - Pluperfect of 'tun', to do.
gewann - Past tense of 'gewinnen', to win.
heutzutage - Nowadays.
hielten - Past tense of 'halten', to hold, to keep, or in this context, to think of or consider. I.e., the people considering the Bagginses very respectable.
jedoch - However.
lautlos - Silent.
die Mühe - The effort.
die Nachbarschaft - Neighborhood.
nie - Never.
noch - Still.
nun - Well (as in the interjection).
nur - Only. I knew this already, actually, but it took me a moment to remember!
ohne - Without.
pflegen - Tend to.
rasch - Quickly.
reden - To talk. The sentence this is in is another weird construction: 'und sich selbst über völlig unvorhergesehene Fragen reden hörte'. I'm not entirely certain but I think this may mean 'heard himself asking completely unforeseen questions'.
reich - This is clearly 'rich', but in the context of the sentence I am actually unsure whether this word is functioning as a verb or an adjective: 'nicht nur weil die meisten der Beutlins reich'. In English, it's 'not only because most of them were rich'. I see a verb 'reichen' in my dictionary, and it means 'to reach' or 'to extend', but I am not sure if that is the right word here.
scheu - Shy.
seit - Since.
selten - Rare.
sind geworden - Have become.
sondern - But.
sozusagen - Not sure about this one. I am guessing by breaking it down that it's something like 'to say about', but I am not sure how it fits into 'Es ist wenig, sozusagen gar nichts von Zauberei an ihnen'.
stellen - To ask.
tragen - To carry/to bear. Used to describe that hobbits 'bear' no beards.
trotzdem - Nevertheless.
überhaupt - Anyway, altogether.
undenklichen - This one is throwing me a bit. The English context is 'The Bagginses had lived in the neighborhood of The Hill for time out of mind', and 'undenklichen' seems to cover the 'time out of mind' part.
ungefähr - Approximately, roughly.
Unvorhergesehenes - This seems to be one of those things that don't translate cleanly across languages. The English fragment is where it says that the Bagginses never had any adventures or did anything unexpected. The German on the other hand says: 'und nie etwas Unvorhergesehenes getan hatten'. This seems to be using 'unforeseen events' as one noun.
verlor - Third person past tense of 'verlieren', to lose.
verschwinden - To disappear.
verstrickt - This is another word I'm unsure about, whether it's a verb or an adjective. The German context is 'sondern weil sie noch nie in ein Abenteuer verstrickt gewsen waren'. I am getting that 'verstrickt' is 'involved', just unsure whether it is a verb or an adjective.
völlig - Complete.
in Voraus - In advance.
waren gewesen - Pluperfect form of 'sein', which took me a bit to figure out.
wenig - Little/few.
werdet sehen - Future tense of 'sehen', second person plural, informal.
weil - Because.
wirklich - Real.
wohlhabend(er) - Prosperous, well-to-do.
würde antworten - Present conditional for 'answer'; 'would answer'.
Zauberei - This is clearly coming from 'Zauber', which is 'magic' in my dictionary, but I don't get the -ei ending.
The con has been laid back for me so far. Plenty has been going on, but for the most part I am deliberately taking it very easy, just hanging out in the lobby, occasionally chatting with folks, and reading more of Der kleine Hobbit. And playing with taking German notes on my shiny new frob!
Here are some of those German notes now...
achtbar - I think that this must mean 'respectable', though that isn't the definition in my dictionary. I do have one point of confusion, though, and that is where the word 'für' comes in in the sentence fragment, which is 'die Leute hielten sie für außerordentlich achtbar', and the English is 'people considered them very repsectable'. I'm kind of reading the German as 'people held extraordinary respect for them', except that doesn't quite work either because 'achtbar' is not capitalized, and therefore not a noun.
alltägliche - Everyday.
ausgenommen - Except.
außerordentlich - Extraordinary.
bärtig(en) - Bearded.
bedürfen - To need.
Beschreibung - Description.
eigentlich - Actually, really.
erlebte - Past tense of 'erleben', to see/have/experience.
Gabe - Gift.
Geschichte - Story.
getan hatten - Pluperfect of 'tun', to do.
gewann - Past tense of 'gewinnen', to win.
heutzutage - Nowadays.
hielten - Past tense of 'halten', to hold, to keep, or in this context, to think of or consider. I.e., the people considering the Bagginses very respectable.
jedoch - However.
lautlos - Silent.
die Mühe - The effort.
die Nachbarschaft - Neighborhood.
nie - Never.
noch - Still.
nun - Well (as in the interjection).
nur - Only. I knew this already, actually, but it took me a moment to remember!
ohne - Without.
pflegen - Tend to.
rasch - Quickly.
reden - To talk. The sentence this is in is another weird construction: 'und sich selbst über völlig unvorhergesehene Fragen reden hörte'. I'm not entirely certain but I think this may mean 'heard himself asking completely unforeseen questions'.
reich - This is clearly 'rich', but in the context of the sentence I am actually unsure whether this word is functioning as a verb or an adjective: 'nicht nur weil die meisten der Beutlins reich'. In English, it's 'not only because most of them were rich'. I see a verb 'reichen' in my dictionary, and it means 'to reach' or 'to extend', but I am not sure if that is the right word here.
scheu - Shy.
seit - Since.
selten - Rare.
sind geworden - Have become.
sondern - But.
sozusagen - Not sure about this one. I am guessing by breaking it down that it's something like 'to say about', but I am not sure how it fits into 'Es ist wenig, sozusagen gar nichts von Zauberei an ihnen'.
stellen - To ask.
tragen - To carry/to bear. Used to describe that hobbits 'bear' no beards.
trotzdem - Nevertheless.
überhaupt - Anyway, altogether.
undenklichen - This one is throwing me a bit. The English context is 'The Bagginses had lived in the neighborhood of The Hill for time out of mind', and 'undenklichen' seems to cover the 'time out of mind' part.
ungefähr - Approximately, roughly.
Unvorhergesehenes - This seems to be one of those things that don't translate cleanly across languages. The English fragment is where it says that the Bagginses never had any adventures or did anything unexpected. The German on the other hand says: 'und nie etwas Unvorhergesehenes getan hatten'. This seems to be using 'unforeseen events' as one noun.
verlor - Third person past tense of 'verlieren', to lose.
verschwinden - To disappear.
verstrickt - This is another word I'm unsure about, whether it's a verb or an adjective. The German context is 'sondern weil sie noch nie in ein Abenteuer verstrickt gewsen waren'. I am getting that 'verstrickt' is 'involved', just unsure whether it is a verb or an adjective.
völlig - Complete.
in Voraus - In advance.
waren gewesen - Pluperfect form of 'sein', which took me a bit to figure out.
wenig - Little/few.
werdet sehen - Future tense of 'sehen', second person plural, informal.
weil - Because.
wirklich - Real.
wohlhabend(er) - Prosperous, well-to-do.
würde antworten - Present conditional for 'answer'; 'would answer'.
Zauberei - This is clearly coming from 'Zauber', which is 'magic' in my dictionary, but I don't get the -ei ending.
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no subject
Date: 2004-04-09 04:41 pm (UTC)I agree reigh as adjective seems mroe likely but is does seem there's a verb missing...
"sozusagen" - "so to say," or better, "that is to say"
'und nie etwas Unvorhergesehenes getan hatten' - and had never done anything unforeseen (unexpected would work too). -- "etwas adjective-turned-to-noun" in German is pretty much equivalent to "anything adjective" in English.
-ei there's also Traum/Traeumer/Traeumerei (dream/dreamer/reverie). It's not a very common suffix, but it sort of suggests "magicness" or "magicky things" rather than magic alone.
no subject
Date: 2004-04-11 05:03 pm (UTC)Noted on 'sozusagen'... so that's another one, it looks like, that pretty much can be broken down into its constituent parts.
Thanks for the other explanations as well!
no subject
Date: 2004-04-15 01:18 am (UTC)simplest translation by itself: halten = to hold
but can also mean to support (where halten's connotation would be stuetzen), to possess (where the connotation would be besitzen)
anhalten = to stop
enthalten = to contain, to hold, to keep, to entail
festhalten = to hold, to hold onto, to hold fast
just to list a few.
in combination with fuer - as the other poster said, it's a composite verb: fuer halten = to make/think something of, to interpret something as
alltaegliche is plural of the adjective alltaeglich = everyday, usual
nun - besides well, also now as in "Nun lass mich mal erklaeren..." "now let me explain..."
pflegen - to tend to, to care for
reden - your translation's almost right: "heard himself talking about completely unforseen questions"
reich is an adjective, yes. I suspect in your quote there is a "waren" missing: "nicht nur weil die meisten der Beutlins reich waren"
waren - from verb sein = to be
sozusagen - literally "so to speak", or as it were
Fragen stellen = to ask, literally "to put a question"
stellen on it's own = to put, to set, to place, to stand
tragen - to carry, to bear, also: to wear, as in "ich trage keine Roecke" "I don't wear skirts"
or in this case with the beards ;)
unerdenklich - unimaginable, from denken = to think. Has perhaps a touch of the oldfashioned, and is very well suited to take up the place of "out of mind" in that phrase.
Zeit = time, Zeiten = times or time in this case (time's an interesting concept, won't go into depth here right now ;)
Unvorhergesehenes = the unforeseen/unexpected as a noun
unvorhergesehen = past tense verb, unforseen, unexpected
verstricken - to entangle, to ensnare - involved would be a "milder" translation, but works as well, in some context better
from stricken - to knit
Zauber - is more enchantment, charm, allure, glamour, spell
Zauberei - magic, sorcery, witchcraft
no subject
Date: 2004-04-15 10:21 pm (UTC)Die Beutlins hatten seit undenklichen Zeiten in der Nachbarschaft des >>Berges<< gelebt und die Leute hielten sie für außerordentlich achtbar--nicht nur weil die meisten der Beutlins reich, sondern weil sie noch nie in ein Abenteuer verstrickt gewesen waren und nie etwas Unvorhergesehenes getan hatten.
I'm too sleepy to really break down this sentence right now, but if I'm reading it right, there's no 'waren' in the bit I'd referenced for "reich". Unless that later 'waren' that follows 'verstrickt gewesen' references all the way back to that bit, and the grammar structure is more complicated than I'd originally read?