Gernan language question, 'Hirsute"

[Hans]

What would be the Plattdüütsch translation of that English word?

 

[Craig B]

What would be the Plattdüütsch translation of that English word?

Is there a Plattdüütsch translation of the English word "hairy"?

 

[theprestige]

Dunno about Plattdüütsch, but Google translate gives English "hirsute" as German "behaart".

Google gives French "hirsute" as English "shaggy", and gives English "shaggy" as German "zottig".

 

[Hans]

Dunno about Plattdüütsch, but Google translate gives English "hirsute" as German "behaart".

Google gives French "hirsute" as English "shaggy", and gives English "shaggy" as German "zottig".

Thanks

Yes I looked there but they may not be correct especially as I'm looking for a word spoken by a Saxon they would have used to describe a hairy person.

 

[Pulvinar]

Or possibly the Dutch "behaard".

I could see that as an Old English word, behaired, wearing hair, in the manner of bespectacled, wearing spectacles.

 

[Architect]

Any reason you're asking about Low German, or is it just that you expect it to have closer similarities to English because of the West Saxon thingy? Just interested.....

 

[bruto]

A person can be hirsute without being shaggy in the sense of sloppy or unkempt, but I was under the impression that in some German dialect there's a "harig," though perhaps that's just the Swiss or something.

 

[jbm]

A person can be hirsute without being shaggy in the sense of sloppy or unkempt, but I was under the impression that in some German dialect there's a "harig," though perhaps that's just the Swiss or something.

Nope, "haarig" is a standard German word, it means exactly the same as the English "hairy" (even as far as "a hairy situation" - "eine haarige Situation").

As far as Plattdeutsch goes - I do not speak it myself, but there is a dictionary website: http://www.plattdeutsches-woerterbuch.de/pages/plattdeutsches_woerterbuch.html

 

[jhunter1163]

Perhaps he's doing this in German?

 

[Craig B]

Thanks

Yes I looked there but they may not be correct especially as I'm looking for a word spoken by a Saxon they would have used to describe a hairy person.

Find the translation of Genesis 27:11

And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man

The Bible has been translated into the Saxon dialect, but I can't find the text on the internet.

 

[Hans]

Find the translation of Genesis 27:11 The Bible has been translated into the Saxon dialect, but I can't find the text on the internet.

Yes thanks for the lead but not getting anywhere I presume any Saxon dialect bible page will be solely in German.

Is Sächsisch the proper term for the Saxon language?

 

[Hans]

Any reason you're asking about Low German, or is it just that you expect it to have closer similarities to English because of the West Saxon thingy? Just interested.....

I'm researching 19th century views of India and one source in English has a Saxon officer saying hirsute and I would like to find out how that word was translated into that.

At this point nearly one hundred and eighty years after the incident it is hard to understand what did occur. The only mention of a possible additional sighting was a comment by a Saxon officer and naturalist, Leutnant Topp who in 1846 landed here on his way to Ceylon. In his notes he remarked that, ‘the natives had wrecked (zerstört) a tribe of low hirsute men with their newly obtained muskets that had long held the town under siege’, these remarks were published in the Prussian Journal of Natural Science in 1849, vol. 2 page 243

 

[aleCcowaN]

kinda borstig

hirsute is not Latin for hairy but for coarse or bristly hair, like human hairs that evoke a fur, and not precisely a mink

 

[Childlike Empress]

Yes thanks for the lead but not getting anywhere I presume any Saxon dialect bible page will be solely in German.

Is Sächsisch the proper term for the Saxon language?

"Sächsisch" is the term for the dialect spoken in Sachsen (federal State). "Plattdeutsch" is not the same. The dictionary jbm linked to says it's for (the states of) "Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, Bremen [and parts of] Mecklenburg-Vorpommern [and] Niedersachsen ["Lower Saxony"]". If you enter "haarig" there, it comes up with "pudelig", a word I have never heard (but I'm from another region of Germany).

These dialects sometimes differ from village to village and I suspect the effect you would reach by using such a word researched with these methods wouldn't be authenticity, but a laugh from the few who know better and confusion from those who don't.

 

[Pianoro]

I'm researching 19th century views of India and one source in English has a Saxon officer saying hirsute and I would like to find out how that word was translated into that.

Hans, the Germanic tribes called the Saxons lived in what is now North and Northwest Germany and parts of the Netherlands. These are the Saxons of "Anglo-Saxon" fame. Low German is a language descended from the Saxon language, still spoken (to a degree) in some of these areas. It's fairly different from modern German, and shows more similarities to Dutch and English than other German languages. Modern Saxons are the people who live in the state of Saxony, further south and east. Apart from their name, they are entirely unrelated and so is their language. In the 19th century, "Saxon officer" almost certainly would have referred to a member of the military of the Kingdom of Saxony, the predecessor to the current state of Saxony (and located in the same area). An educated officer from Saxony, especially in the written word, would have likely expressed himself very much like a modern German.

If you really need to know, your best bet might be to look in the source cited. Quite a few of the publications of the Prussian Academy of Sciences are available on Google Books. It might be helpful to find the original German title of the publication, if that is in your sources.

 

[Craig B]

Modern Saxons are the people who live in the state of Saxony, further south and east. Apart from their name, they are entirely unrelated and so is their language. In the 19th century, "Saxon officer" almost certainly would have referred to a member of the military of the Kingdom of Saxony, the predecessor to the current state of Saxony (and located in the same area). An educated officer from Saxony, especially in the written word, would have likely expressed himself very much like a modern German.

Yes. Did Hans have a reason for specifying "Plattdüütsch"? "Saxon officer" must in the context refer to one of this group

Even after 1871 the peacetime armies of the four kingdoms remained relatively distinct. "German Army" was used in various legal documents such as the Military Penal Code, but otherwise the Prussian, Bavarian, Saxon and Württemberg armies maintained distinct identities. Each kingdom had its own War Ministry. Bavaria and Saxony published their own rank and seniority lists for their officers.

 

[Foolmewunz]

I'm researching 19th century views of India and one source in English has a Saxon officer saying hirsute and I would like to find out how that word was translated into that.

I'd go back to the source. Hirsute can mean hairy or shaggy or bushy or wooly. It was even in vogue for a while on the Sunday political talk shoes in the USA (mid-to-late 1980s, IIRC) but as an adjective describing an unbelievable narrative... the closest thing I can find to that would be a "wooly tale" (as in "wild and wooly"), or made up story.

It may well be that the source used one of the German words (all four that I mentioned seem to have different, specific, translations) and the Englischter doing the translating put in "hirsute".

Was he describing India or Indians? If India, itself, I have no idea. If Indians, considering that many Indians have no facial hair to speak of, I'm guessing he meant shaggy... e.g. long as opposed to short hair.

 

[Pianoro]

Yes. Did Hans have a reason for specifying "Plattdüütsch"? "Saxon officer" must in the context refer to one of this group

I would certainly think so. In 1849, the Kingdom of Saxony was a sovereign state. It was a member of the German Confederation, which was a fairly loose collaboration of about 40 countries. Referring to the officer as Saxon would be (almost) as expected as describing someone as a French soldier these days, as opposed to European.

 

[Craig B]

I would certainly think so. In 1849, the Kingdom of Saxony was a sovereign state. It was a member of the German Confederation, which was a fairly loose collaboration of about 40 countries. Referring to the officer as Saxon would be (almost) as expected as describing someone as a French soldier these days, as opposed to European.

That's a very good analogy.