It’s time for Sonderling Sunday! That time of the week when I play with language by looking at the German translations of children’s books.
I let Sonderling Sunday lapse for a long time, but now I’m reviving it in eager anticipation of my 60th birthday trip in a month and a half, when after 18 years away, I’m going to go back and visit the place where I lived for ten years.
So, yes, Sonderling Sunday! Today I pulled out a kids’ fantasy book that I loved when I read it, Jinx, by Sage Blackwood, called Jinx und der magische Urwald in German. I’m appalled to discover that while I have used Jinx before for Sonderling Sunday, the last time was in 2015. Far, far too long!
So we will begin where we left off, the third chapter “Strange Feet,” on page 25 in English, Drittes Kapitel “Fremdes Füße,” Seite 31 auf Deutsch.
The first sentence is:
“Winter settled in to stay.”
= Der Winter richtete sich zum Bleiben ein.
“Simon was away a lot.”
= Simon war viel unterwegs.
“he often came back in a foul mood”
= Oft kehrte er übellaunig zurück
“terrifying” = Furchterregendes
“gradually” = allmählich
“cooking mood” = Kochlaune
“cranky” = mürrisch
“fed them” = bewirtete sie
“south wing” = Südflügel
“clearing” = Lichtung
“Try as he might” = Sosehr Jinx es auch versuchte
“inside and out” = drinnen wie draußen
“slid off” = hinuntergerutscht
“on purpose” = mit Absicht
“gnarly feet” = schwielige Füße (Google translate: “calloused feet”)
“had nothing in common with tree roots” = nichts mit Baumwurzeln gemein hatten
“time ran together in a blur”
= Zeit verschwamm zu einem großen Ganzen
(“Time blurred to one big whole”)
“icky” = klebriges (“sticky”)
“Alarmed, he gave a loud snore”
= Erschrocken schnarchte er laut auf
“bristles” = Borstiges
I like this word:
cat-repellant spell = Katzenabwehrzauber
“my business” = meine Angelegenheit
“testily” = gereizt
“shooting star” = Sternschnuppe
“She had a formidable nose.”
= Ihre Nase war beeindruckend.
(“Her nose was impressive.”)
“something more polite” = etwas Höflicheres
“And wives were kind of hard to miss.”
= Ehefrauen waren kaum zu übersehen.
“was already becoming fuzzy in his memory”
= in seiner Erinnerung immer verschwommener wurde
“Everyone was afraid all the time on general principle”
= Alle hatten grundsätzlich immer Angst
(“Everyone was basically always afraid.”)
“to hide his confusion” = seine Verwirrung zu verbergen
“poker” = Schürhaken
“smooshed” = zerquetschte
“midnight meeting” = Mitternachtstreffen
“sizzle” = knisterte
“Were they all dead before you met my husband?”
= Waren sie alle schon tot, bevor du meinen Mann kennengelernt hast?
And that’s it for Chapter Three! I hope by the next time I come back to Jinx I won’t be saying Zeit verschwamm zu einem großen Ganzen!