(urth) BotNS in German
Hmpf MacSlow
hmpf1998 at gmx.net
Sun Dec 5 14:42:59 PST 2004
>
>
>According to my dictionaries, the German for barbican is
>Barbakane,die; Torvorwerk, das
Wow. Methinks I need a better dictionary!
But, as I said, checking all kinds of dictionaries at the university
library and the Deutsche Bibliothek will probably help a lot. For the time
being, I just put the 'strange' words in brackets behind my temporary
translations of them. When I've collected enough of them I'll make a trip
to the library to check them all.
Just curious: how well known is the word 'barbican' among native speakers
of English with an 'advanced' vocabulary? My German vocabulary is pretty
extensive, or so I'm told - I'm a native speaker, I've always read a lot,
I've had thirteen years of 'normal' school, five years of university, three
and a half years of professional training as a goldsmith (including art
history classes), I visit museums and am interested in all kinds of
'cultural stuff' - yet I've never in my life heard or read the word
'Barbakane' anywhere, I think.
(Part of the 'problem' may be that I've been reading more English than
German for years now...)
I'm just curious if that word, and others that Wolfe is using, could be
said to be slightly more 'common' in English than they are in German, or if
they're just as obscure.
Hmpf
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