It’s time for Sonderling Sunday! That time of the week when I play with language by looking at the German translation of children’s books, sort of a Very Silly Phrasebook for Travelers.
This week I’m in the mood for that book I love so much — Book of a Thousand Days, Das Buch der Tausend Tage, by Shannon Hale.
Last time we visited this book, we left off ready to start Day 158, on page 57 in the English edition, Seite 68 auf Deutsch:
“until I put the brush to paper” = als ich den Pinsel aufs Papier setzte
“my lap” = meinem Schoß
“saucy things” = schlüpfrige Bemerkungen
“by the orange light of the fire” = im orangefarbenen Feuerschein
(“orange-colored fire-shine”)
“fawn” = Rehkitz
“spooked” = verängstigt
“she couldn’t speak or move” = Sie war wie versteinert.
“screamed” = geschrien
“metal spikes” = Eisennägeln
“chuckling” = gluckste
“a log full of hornets” = ein Hornissennest
“sweetly” = zuckersüß (“sugar-sweet”)
“hiding game” = Versteckspiel
“she squeaked like rusted hinges” = sie quietschte wie verrostete Scharniere
“crying” = Heulerei
“corners and folds” = Ecken und Ritzen
“sacks of barley” = Gerstesäcken
This is fun in German:
“two braids” = Zwei Zöpfen
“his knees shook” = ihm schlotterten die Knie
“dull” = stumpf
“prey” = Beutetiers
“rasp” = Krächzen
“smothered” = erstickt
“prowess” = Heldenhaft
“as tired as a weeping willow in full leaf”
= so müde wie eine Trauerweide in vollem Grün
I especially like the first part of the last sentence in this section:
“His purring shakes my lap but steadies my hand.”
= Sein Schnurren schüttelt meinen Schoß, aber es schenkt meiner Hand die nötige Ruhe.
That’s all for tonight! If I go on much longer, I’ll be so müde wie eine Trauerweide in vollem Grün.