Bleak House — Page 1
In Chancery
In der Kanzlei
London. Michaelmas term lately over, and the Lord Chancellor sitting in Lincoln's Inn Hall.
London. Der Michaelmas-Term vor Kurzem beendet, und der Lordkanzler sitzt in der Lincoln's Inn Hall.
Implacable November weather.
Unerbittliches Novemberwetter.
As much mud in the streets as if the waters had but newly retired from the face of the earth, and it would not be wonderful to meet a Megalosaurus, forty feet long or so, waddling like an elephantine lizard up Holborn Hill.
So viel Schlamm in den Straßen, als hätten sich die Wasser gerade erst vom Antlitz der Erde zurückgezogen, und es wäre nicht verwunderlich, einem Megalosaurus zu begegnen, etwa vierzig Fuß lang, der wie eine elefantenartige Eidechse den Holborn Hill hinaufwatschelt.
Smoke lowering down from chimney-pots, making a soft black drizzle, with flakes of soot in it as big as full-grown snowflakes—gone into mourning, one might imagine, for the death of the sun.
Rauch, der von den Schornsteinen herabsank und einen sanften schwarzen Nieselregen bildete, mit Rußflocken darin, so groß wie ausgewachsene Schneeflocken – in Trauer verfallen, könnte man sich vorstellen, über den Tod der Sonne.
Dogs, undistinguishable in mire.
Hunde, im Schlamm nicht zu erkennen.
Horses, scarcely better; splashed to their very blinkers.
Pferde, kaum besser; bis zu den Scheuklappen bespritzt.
Foot passengers, jostling one another's umbrellas in a general infection of ill temper, and losing their foot-hold at street-corners, where tens of thousands of other foot passengers have been slipping and sliding since the day broke (if this day ever broke), adding new deposits to the crust upon crust of mud, sticking at those points tenaciously to the pavement, and accumulating at compound interest.
Fußgänger, die in einer allgemeinen Ansteckung schlechter Laune gegenseitig ihre Schirme rempelten und an Straßenecken den Halt verloren, wo seit Tagesanbruch Zehntausende anderer Fußgänger gerutscht und geglitten waren (falls dieser Tag je angebrochen ist), neue Ablagerungen auf die Kruste über Kruste von Schlamm häufend, der an jenen Stellen hartnäckig am Pflaster klebte und sich mit Zinseszins ansammelte.
Fog everywhere.
Nebel überall.
Fog up the river, where it flows among green aits and meadows; fog down the river, where it rolls defiled among the tiers of shipping and the waterside pollutions of a great (and dirty) city.
Nebel flussaufwärts, wo er zwischen grünen Flussinseln und Wiesen dahinfließt; Nebel flussabwärts, wo er verunreinigt zwischen den Reihen der Schiffe und dem schmutzigen Uferbereich einer großen (und schmutzigen) Stadt dahintreibt.
Fog on the Essex marshes, fog on the Kentish heights.
Nebel über den Essex-Marschen, Nebel über den Höhen von Kent.
Fog creeping into the cabooses of collier-brigs; fog lying out on the yards and hovering in the rigging of great ships; fog drooping on the gunwales of barges and small boats.
Nebel, der in die Kombüsen der Kohlenbriggs kriecht; Nebel, der auf den Rahen liegt und im Tauwerk großer Schiffe schwebt; Nebel, der über den Dollborden von Lastkähnen und kleinen Booten hängt.
Vocabulary
- Kanzlei
- A law office or chancellery
- Michaelmas-Term
- Autumn legal or academic term beginning around Michaelmas
- Kurzem
- Recently, a short time ago
- beendet
- Ended, finished, or concluded
- Lordkanzler
- Lord Chancellor, a senior British legal official
- Lincoln's Inn Hall
- Historic hall of one of London's Inns of Court
- Unerbittliches
- Relentless, merciless, inexorable (adjective as noun)
- Novemberwetter
- November weather, typically cold, grey, and damp
- Schlamm
- Mud, sludge, or mire
- Antlitz
- Face, countenance (literary/elevated register)
- zurückgezogen
- Withdrawn, retreated, pulled back
- verwunderlich
- Surprising, astonishing, or remarkable
- begegnen
- To encounter, meet, or come across someone
- etwa
- About, approximately, or for instance
- elefantenartige
- Elephant-like, resembling an elephant in character
- Eidechse
- Lizard, a small scaly reptile
- hinaufwatschelt
- Waddles up (a hill), moves upward clumsily
- Rauch
- Smoke produced by fire or combustion
- Schornsteinen
- Chimneys (plural of Schornstein)
- herabsank
- Descended, sank down from above (past tense)
- sanften
- Gentle, soft, or mild (inflected form)
- Nieselregen
- Drizzle, light continuous fine rain
- bildete
- Formed, created, or shaped (past tense)
- Rußflocken
- Flakes of soot from fire or smoke
- ausgewachsene
- Full-grown, mature, fully developed (inflected form)
- Schneeflocken
- Snowflakes (plural of Schneeflocke)
- Trauer
- Mourning, grief, or sorrow
- verfallen
- To decay, fall into ruin, or succumb to
- vorstellen
- To imagine, introduce, or present something
- Tod
- Death, the end of life
- erkennen
- To recognize, identify, or discern something
- kaum
- Hardly, barely, scarcely
- Scheuklappen
- Blinkers, blinders worn by horses on their eyes
- bespritzt
- Splattered, spattered with liquid or mud
- Fußgänger
- Pedestrians, people walking on the street
- allgemeinen
- General, common, universal (inflected form)
- Ansteckung
- Infection, contagion, or spreading of disease
- schlechter
- Worse, bad (comparative of schlecht)
- Laune
- Mood, humor, or temper
- gegenseitig
- Mutual, reciprocal, each other
- Schirme
- Umbrellas (plural of Schirm)
- rempelten
- Jostled, bumped, shoved (past tense of rempeln)
- Straßenecken
- Street corners (plural of Straßenecke)
- Halt
- Hold, grip, or stop
- Tagesanbruch
- Daybreak, dawn, the beginning of the day
- Zehntausende
- Tens of thousands (plural noun form)
- gerutscht
- Slipped, slid (past participle of rutschen)
- geglitten
- Glided, slid smoothly (past participle of gleiten)
- falls
- If, in case (conditional conjunction)
- je
- Ever, at any time (adverb)
- angebrochen
- Begun, started, broken open (past participle of anbrechen)
- Ablagerungen
- Deposits, sediment layers accumulated over time
- Kruste
- Crust, a hard outer layer or surface
- häufend
- Piling up, heaping, accumulating (present participle)
- Stellen
- Places, spots, positions (plural of Stelle)
- hartnäckig
- Stubborn, persistent, tenacious
- Pflaster
- Pavement, cobblestones, or a plaster bandage
- klebte
- Stuck, clung, adhered (past tense of kleben)
- Zinseszins
- Compound interest, interest accumulating on interest
- ansammelte
- Accumulated, gathered, built up (past tense)
- Nebel
- Fog, mist, or haze
- überall
- Everywhere, all over, in all places
- flussaufwärts
- Upstream, in the direction against the river current
- Flussinseln
- River islands, small islands in a river
- Wiesen
- Meadows, grassy fields (plural of Wiese)
- dahinfließt
- Flows along, drifts away (third person singular present)
- flussabwärts
- Downstream, in the direction the river flows
- verunreinigt
- Polluted, contaminated, made impure
- Reihen
- Rows, lines, series (plural of Reihe)
- schmutzigen
- Dirty, filthy (inflected adjective form)
- Uferbereich
- Riverbank area, the zone along the water's edge
- dahintreibt
- Drifts along, floats downstream (third person singular)
- Höhen
- Heights, hills, elevated areas (plural of Höhe)
- Kombüsen
- Galleys, ship kitchens (plural of Kombüse)
- Kohlenbriggs
- Coal brigs, two-masted ships carrying coal
- kriecht
- Creeps, crawls (third person singular present)
- Rahen
- Yards, horizontal spars on a ship's mast
- Tauwerk
- Rigging, ropes and cordage on a ship
- schwebt
- Hovers, floats, drifts in air (third person singular)
- Dollborden
- Gunwales, upper edges of a boat's sides
- Lastkähnen
- Barges, flat-bottomed freight boats (dative plural)
- hängt
- Hangs, is suspended (third person singular present)
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