Hey, is anyone here a native German speaker ... or even just really up on the idioms? There's a question that's been bothering me every now and then for decades.
It started while I was stationed in Germany in the '80s, went into the nearest town on some business, and during a leisure moment checked out some books on a rack. One was Patricia McKillip's The Riddle-Master of Hed, although I can't recall what title the translator gave it. Glancing through it, I noticed that two, at least, of the personal names had been changed as part of the translation. For one of them, it was obvious why: the character's name in the English version is Deth, and the expected pun is a minor plot point, so I wasn't at all surprised that in the German copy, he was Thod.
But then the female lead, Raederle, has her name changed to Rendel. I've always figured that "Raederle" might be or resemble something idiomatic in German that you wouldn't want as the name of one of the most beautiful women in the world, which she's several times mentioned to be. I can't find anything in Cassell's to support that, though. Does anyone else have an answer on this? It's not like it's important, but it nags at me once in a while.
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Big Brother is watching you. And damn, you are so bloody BORING.
It started while I was stationed in Germany in the '80s, went into the nearest town on some business, and during a leisure moment checked out some books on a rack. One was Patricia McKillip's The Riddle-Master of Hed, although I can't recall what title the translator gave it. Glancing through it, I noticed that two, at least, of the personal names had been changed as part of the translation. For one of them, it was obvious why: the character's name in the English version is Deth, and the expected pun is a minor plot point, so I wasn't at all surprised that in the German copy, he was Thod.
But then the female lead, Raederle, has her name changed to Rendel. I've always figured that "Raederle" might be or resemble something idiomatic in German that you wouldn't want as the name of one of the most beautiful women in the world, which she's several times mentioned to be. I can't find anything in Cassell's to support that, though. Does anyone else have an answer on this? It's not like it's important, but it nags at me once in a while.
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Big Brother is watching you. And damn, you are so bloody BORING.
