TranslationFilter: Cursive handwriting on photo, Difficulty: German
August 26, 2020 9:25 PM Subscribe
Mrs. Eep found a photo with some handwritten German on the back. We believe it's describing the people on the front of the photo where some people were visiting other people. My German is too rusty to guess what may be written here. If you feel properly qualified, can you take a look and help us translate it to English?
Oh, another note: the verb in the first sentence is definitely malen (in an older spelling with the 'h') which means to paint or draw. If it's a photo you have then perhaps it was once used also for the taking of photographs, though it's the first time I've come across such a usage.
posted by bertran at 12:17 AM on August 27, 2020
posted by bertran at 12:17 AM on August 27, 2020
And also, I made a typo in the translation, should be 'Constante' not 'Constate'.
posted by bertran at 12:23 AM on August 27, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by bertran at 12:23 AM on August 27, 2020 [1 favorite]
A final correction: I think got it wrong with 'gemahlt' in the first sentence. On further inspection it looks like the German is actually 'gemacht' which just means 'made'. So the correct translation is 'This picture was made on the 31st...' and disregard my comment about painting.
Sorry for the error! I think the rest is right.
posted by bertran at 12:44 AM on August 27, 2020 [1 favorite]
Sorry for the error! I think the rest is right.
posted by bertran at 12:44 AM on August 27, 2020 [1 favorite]
Madly impressed over here, my best guess was Schuhregal for Schubkegel!
posted by runincircles at 1:39 AM on August 27, 2020
posted by runincircles at 1:39 AM on August 27, 2020
Nice work! I was a bit surprised at "Constante". Would have expected either "Constantia" or "Constanze".
posted by Omnomnom at 3:53 AM on August 27, 2020
posted by Omnomnom at 3:53 AM on August 27, 2020
Spelling both times "May," with an old-fashioned dash (usually reserved for the letter "u") above the first one but not the second.
Constante probably simply idiosyncratically spelled for "Constanze." (Constantia would be quite unexpected as a German name).
The dativ "ihm sein" as a stand-in for the officially correct genitive (combined only with sein) is a dialect thing; in rural northern Germany it is predominantly due to the different (more Dutch-oriented) grammar of Plattdeutsch (some farmers' kids in my class got discriminated by our teacher because they didn't speak "correctly").
In other parts of Germany I don't know the reason, apart from that the correct use of the genitive perhaps is seen as a class thing by some people. Poking around a little it seems that the name Schubkegel is of Hessian origin, so: southwest Germany.
Samples of the Hessian way of talking can for example to be found in Carl Zuckmayer's play "Der fröhliche Weinberg" (1925).
posted by Namlit at 5:47 AM on August 27, 2020 [4 favorites]
Constante probably simply idiosyncratically spelled for "Constanze." (Constantia would be quite unexpected as a German name).
The dativ "ihm sein" as a stand-in for the officially correct genitive (combined only with sein) is a dialect thing; in rural northern Germany it is predominantly due to the different (more Dutch-oriented) grammar of Plattdeutsch (some farmers' kids in my class got discriminated by our teacher because they didn't speak "correctly").
In other parts of Germany I don't know the reason, apart from that the correct use of the genitive perhaps is seen as a class thing by some people. Poking around a little it seems that the name Schubkegel is of Hessian origin, so: southwest Germany.
Samples of the Hessian way of talking can for example to be found in Carl Zuckmayer's play "Der fröhliche Weinberg" (1925).
posted by Namlit at 5:47 AM on August 27, 2020 [4 favorites]
I'd a bit of a dig around, and I think this particular Schubkegel family immigrated from what's now Romania (Conrad's parents from Samlak/Samlek?), but would have been in California in 1947. I'd only a quick look, but I can see what else I can find if you are interested.
posted by scorbet at 7:51 AM on August 27, 2020
posted by scorbet at 7:51 AM on August 27, 2020
Of course, right afterwards I find it - Semlak in German, and Semlac officially.
posted by scorbet at 7:58 AM on August 27, 2020
posted by scorbet at 7:58 AM on August 27, 2020
„ihm sein“ is also a thing in southern German dialect, my father would absolutely say that, he grew up in rural Bavaria and is in his mid 70s
posted by koahiatamadl at 8:48 AM on August 27, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by koahiatamadl at 8:48 AM on August 27, 2020 [1 favorite]
Thank you for the help!
The photo was taken in south-central Pennsylvania heavily settled by PA Dutch speakers if that adds anything. It was also on a photo pile from a family who attended and/or had visitors interested in the Zion German Evangelical Lutheran Church in Harrisburg, PA. Now everyone is out looking for both Constante and the family of this lovely "dear wife" who died.
posted by Mrs_Eep at 10:26 AM on August 27, 2020
The photo was taken in south-central Pennsylvania heavily settled by PA Dutch speakers if that adds anything. It was also on a photo pile from a family who attended and/or had visitors interested in the Zion German Evangelical Lutheran Church in Harrisburg, PA. Now everyone is out looking for both Constante and the family of this lovely "dear wife" who died.
posted by Mrs_Eep at 10:26 AM on August 27, 2020
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Dieses Bild wurde am 31 Mai 1947 gemahlt und am 13 Juni ist mein liebes weib gestorben. Das Kind gehört dem jungen Conrad Schubkegel. Dem Kind sein Namen ist Constante Elizabeth Schubkegel es war am 31 May [sic] 1 Jahre alt.
Which means:
This picture was painted on the 31st of May, 1947 and on he 13th of June my dear wife died. The child belongs to the young Conrad Schubkegel. The child's name is Constate Elizabeth Schubkegel. On the 31st of May it was 1 year old.
The grammar in the last sentence is a little unusual in the German but that looks like what's written. A case I guess of the dative being used in place of an expected genitive. (Dem Kind sein Namen for Des Kindes Namen.)
(The script is a version of the old and now unused Gothic German handwriting known as Kurrentschrift. I spent quite a lot of time studying it for private purposes. This is literally the first time this knowledge has come to good use for anyone else. So it thank you for the opportunity of exercising it!)
posted by bertran at 12:13 AM on August 27, 2020 [66 favorites]