Great Expectations — Page 1
My father's family name being Pirrip, and my Christian name Philip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicit than Pip.
Da der Familienname meines Vaters Pirrip lautete und mein Taufname Philip, vermochte meine kindliche Zunge aus beiden Namen nichts Längeres oder Deutlicheres zu machen als Pip.
So, I called myself Pip, and came to be called Pip.
So nannte ich mich selbst Pip und wurde schließlich Pip genannt.
I give Pirrip as my father's family name, on the authority of his tombstone and my sister,—Mrs. Joe Gargery, who married the blacksmith.
Ich gebe Pirrip als den Familiennamen meines Vaters an, gestützt auf die Aussage seines Grabsteins und meiner Schwester – Frau Joe Gargery, die den Schmied geheiratet hatte.
As I never saw my father or my mother, and never saw any likeness of either of them (for their days were long before the days of photographs), my first fancies regarding what they were like were unreasonably derived from their tombstones.
Da ich meinen Vater oder meine Mutter niemals gesehen hatte und auch kein Bildnis von ihnen kannte (denn ihre Zeit lag weit vor der Zeit der Fotografien), entstammen meine ersten Vorstellungen davon, wie sie ausgesehen haben mochten, auf unvernünftige Weise ihren Grabsteinen.
The shape of the letters on my father's, gave me an odd idea that he was a square, stout, dark man, with curly black hair.
Die Form der Buchstaben auf dem Grabstein meines Vaters gab mir die seltsame Vorstellung, er sei ein vierschrötiger, untersetzter, dunkler Mann mit lockigem schwarzen Haar gewesen.
From the character and turn of the inscription, "_Also Georgiana Wife of the Above_," I drew a childish conclusion that my mother was freckled and sickly.
Aus der Art und dem Schwung der Inschrift „Desgleichen Georgiana, Ehefrau des Obigen" zog ich den kindlichen Schluss, dass meine Mutter sommersprossig und kränklich gewesen sei.
To five little stone lozenges, each about a foot and a half long, which were arranged in a neat row beside their grave, and were sacred to the memory of five little brothers of mine,—who gave up trying to get a living, exceedingly early in that universal struggle,—I am indebted for a belief I religiously entertained that they had all been born on their backs with their hands in their trousers-pockets, and had never taken them out in this state of existence.
Fünf kleinen steinernen Rauten, jede etwa einen halben Meter lang, die in einer ordentlichen Reihe neben dem Grab angeordnet waren und dem Andenken an fünf meiner kleinen Brüder geweiht waren – die es sehr früh aufgegeben hatten, in diesem allgemeinen Lebenskampf ihren Unterhalt zu verdienen –, verdanke ich den Glauben, den ich ernsthaft hegte, dass sie alle auf dem Rücken mit den Händen in den Hosentaschen zur Welt gekommen waren und diese in diesem irdischen Dasein niemals herausgenommen hatten.
Vocabulary
- Familienname
- Family name, surname
- lautete
- Was, read as; past tense of lauten (to be named)
- Taufname
- Baptismal name, given name at christening
- vermochte
- Was able to, managed to (past tense of vermögen)
- kindliche
- Childlike, childish (adjective)
- Zunge
- Tongue; organ of speech in the mouth
- beiden
- Both (referring to two things or people)
- Längeres
- Something longer (comparative form used as noun)
- Deutlicheres
- Something clearer, more distinct (comparative noun form)
- nannte
- Called, named (past tense of nennen)
- schließlich
- Finally, eventually, in the end
- genannt
- Called, named (past participle of nennen)
- Familiennamen
- Family name, surname (accusative/genitive form)
- gestützt
- Based on, supported by (past participle of stützen)
- Aussage
- Statement, testimony, assertion
- Grabsteins
- Of the gravestone, tombstone (genitive form)
- Schmied
- Blacksmith, smith (a metalworking craftsman)
- geheiratet
- Married (past participle of heiraten)
- niemals
- Never, not ever (emphatic adverb of negation)
- Bildnis
- Portrait, likeness, image of a person
- kannte
- Knew, was acquainted with (past tense of kennen)
- lag
- Lay, was located (past tense of liegen)
- Fotografien
- Photographs (plural of Fotografie)
- entstammen
- To originate from, to stem from (verb)
- Vorstellungen
- Ideas, notions, mental images (plural noun)
- ausgesehen
- Looked, appeared (past participle of aussehen)
- mochten
- Might have, may have (past subjunctive of mögen)
- unvernünftige
- Unreasonable, irrational (adjective, declined form)
- Weise
- Way, manner, fashion (noun)
- Grabsteinen
- Gravestones, tombstones (dative plural form)
- Buchstaben
- Letters (of the alphabet, plural noun)
- Grabstein
- Gravestone, tombstone (noun)
- seltsame
- Strange, odd, peculiar (adjective, declined)
- Vorstellung
- Idea, notion, mental image (noun)
- vierschrötiger
- Broad-shouldered, stocky, heavily built (adjective)
- untersetzter
- Stocky, thickset, short and sturdy (adjective)
- lockigem
- Curly (adjective in dative form)
- Schwung
- Flourish, sweep, momentum, flow (noun)
- Inschrift
- Inscription, engraving on a surface (noun)
- Desgleichen
- Likewise, also, in the same way (adverb)
- Ehefrau
- Wife, married woman (noun)
- Obigen
- Of the above-mentioned person (noun form of obig)
- zog
- Drew, pulled (past tense of ziehen)
- kindlichen
- Childlike, childish (adjective, declined form)
- Schluss
- Conclusion, end, inference (noun)
- sommersprossig
- Freckled, having many freckles (adjective)
- kränklich
- Sickly, frail, unhealthy (adjective)
- steinernen
- Stone, made of stone (adjective, declined)
- Rauten
- Lozenges, diamond shapes, rhombuses (plural noun)
- etwa
- About, approximately, roughly (adverb)
- halben
- Half (adjective, declined form)
- ordentlichen
- Neat, tidy, orderly (adjective, declined form)
- Reihe
- Row, line, series (noun)
- Grab
- Grave, burial site (noun)
- angeordnet
- Arranged, ordered, placed (past participle of anordnen)
- Andenken
- Memory, remembrance, souvenir (noun)
- geweiht
- Dedicated, consecrated, devoted (past participle of weihen)
- aufgegeben
- Given up, abandoned (past participle of aufgeben)
- allgemeinen
- General, universal (adjective, declined form)
- Lebenskampf
- Struggle of life, battle for survival (noun)
- Unterhalt
- Livelihood, maintenance, sustenance (noun)
- verdienen
- To earn, to deserve (verb)
- verdanke
- Owe, am indebted for (first-person singular of verdanken)
- Glauben
- Belief, faith, conviction (noun)
- ernsthaft
- Seriously, earnestly, genuinely (adverb/adjective)
- hegte
- Harbored, cherished, nurtured (past tense of hegen)
- Rücken
- Back (of the body, noun)
- Hosentaschen
- Trouser pockets (plural noun)
- irdischen
- Earthly, worldly, terrestrial (adjective, declined)
- Dasein
- Existence, being, life (noun)
- herausgenommen
- Taken out, removed (past participle of herausnehmen)
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