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German: an Lebensüberdruss zu Grunde gehen

English translation: life's weary woes will prove our undoing







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GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
German term or phrase:an Lebensüberdruss zu Grunde gehen
English translation:life's weary woes will prove our undoing
Entered by:Paul Cohen
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7:21pm Jan 19, 2007Login or register (free) for more options.
German to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters
German term or phrase: an Lebensüberdruss zu Grunde gehen
In another letter of Sigmund Freud to his daughter:

"Dass Du so heiter und wohl bist, ist herrlich und könnte einem die Hoffnung auffrischen, dass das Menschengesclecht doch nicht so bald **an Lebensüberdruss zu Grunde gehen wird**."

A paragraph which has no further context.
Yvonne Becker
Venezuela
Clarification request(s) and response
xxxFrancis Lee: 9:50am Jan 21, 2007: Shouldn't each of these Freud questions have a note to Kudoz colleagues that they are basically for informational purposes (i.e. for one specific biographer who speaks no German and NOT for publication)? Just in case they put "too much effort" in. ;-)
Paul Cohen: 12:30pm Jan 21, 2007: Whether these texts are for publication or not is one matter, but it did occur to me that virtually every note, diary entry, letter and even shopping list that Freud ever wrote HAS ALREADY been translated into English and thoroughly analyzed.

life's weary woes will prove our undoing
Explanation:
Alas, it looks as if life's weary woes will not prove the undoing of all mankind.

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Note added at 1 hr (2007-01-19 20:36:13 GMT)
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Or more accurately:
(...) that life's weary woes will not prove the undoing of all mankind after all.

Lebensüberdruss = "world-weariness" (Langenscheidt)
Zugrunderichtung, Verderben, Unglück = undoing (ditto)

The old man is basically trying to give his daughter some words of encouragement. It's good to see that you are doing better, life goes on, it's not the end of the civilized world as we know it, etc.
Selected response from:

Paul Cohen
Greenland
Note from asker to answerer
Thanks a lot.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
3 +4will wither away from (the) weariness of/with life
Bernhard Sulzer
3 +2life's weary woes will prove our undoing
Paul Cohen
3 +1perish from the banality of life
Henry Schroeder
4that humanity won't perish after all because life has become too much for itDiana Loos
3become extinct by mere tiredness of life
Martin Wenzel


  

Answers

8 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +1
an Lebensüberdruss zu Grunde gehen wird perish from the banality of life

Explanation:
You have quite a number of options here. I've derived my suggestion from the "banality of evil", which is a phrase often used in another context - WWII.

Überdruss can mean anything from tedium to banality and monotony

http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/tedium

Henry Schroeder
United States
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 16

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree Bernhard Sulzer: fits the original well IMO
1 hr
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11 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
an Lebensüberdruss zu Grunde gehen wird become extinct by mere tiredness of life

Explanation:
It is marvellous that you are so happy and in good health, which could almost fill me with new hope that mankind may, after all, not become extinct by mere tiredness of life in a hurry.

Martin Wenzel
Morocco
Native speaker of: Native in GermanGerman, Native in EnglishEnglish
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15 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +2
an Lebensüberdruss zu Grunde gehen wird life's weary woes will prove our undoing

Explanation:
Alas, it looks as if life's weary woes will not prove the undoing of all mankind.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2007-01-19 20:36:13 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Or more accurately:
(...) that life's weary woes will not prove the undoing of all mankind after all.

Lebensüberdruss = "world-weariness" (Langenscheidt)
Zugrunderichtung, Verderben, Unglück = undoing (ditto)

The old man is basically trying to give his daughter some words of encouragement. It's good to see that you are doing better, life goes on, it's not the end of the civilized world as we know it, etc.

Paul Cohen
Greenland
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 36
Note from asker to answerer
Thanks a lot.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree Gert Hirschfeld: Very poetic, Paul. Although everyone seems to favour another solution, this does it for me. A real value-added translation. I'd put my money on that.
1 day3 hrs
  -> Thanks, Gert. Like many things in life, language is a matter of personal taste.
agree Diana Loos: With Gert; not only poetic - that's the "value-added" bit - but also sounds like genuine English.
1 day20 hrs
  -> Thanks, Diana! That's about the most positive feedback that anyone could give. Poetic license that still sounds like English!
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59 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +4
an Lebensüberdruss zu Grunde gehen wird will wither away from (the) weariness of/with life

Explanation:
as in

...that mankind (the human spirit) will wither away from the weariness of/with life...

...from sheer/the unhappiness with life...


http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/ancient_greece/39166/3
that mankind wouldn't wither away from all the tragedy and unhappiness

http://www.lifeissues.org/euthanasia/euthbrochure.htm
weariness with life

http://london.sonoma.edu/Writings/LoveLife/life.html
sheer weariness

http://www.purposeoflife.net/
weariness with life

http://feeds.feedburner.com/relevantbibleteaching
life's weariness.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 4 hrs (2007-01-20 00:11:10 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

also:

humankind
human race

...that the human race will not fade away so soon from/because of the (its) weariness of life

that weariness of life will not cause/spell the end of the human race so soon.



Bernhard Sulzer
United States
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in GermanGerman
PRO pts in category: 44

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree Matthew Kinch: Yes, I would agree that in this case "Lebensüberdruss" strongly conveys a sense of "weariness", disenchantment and even despair.
28 mins
  -> thank you, Matthew
agree Andrea Black: Definitely weariness, I'd like "perish" better than wither away, though.
1 hr
  -> danke, Andrea , and yes, "perish " for mankind
agree Ingeborg Gowans
5 hrs
  -> danke, Ingeborg
agree Nicole Schnell
16 hrs
  -> danke, Nicole
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14 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
an Lebensüberdruss zu Grunde gehen wird that humanity won't perish after all because life has become too much for it

Explanation:
It's not as poetic as the other suggestions, but IMO the word "Überdruss" undoubtedly conveys the idea of something being too much - in this case, life.

Diana Loos
Germany
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral Paul Cohen: Yes, life has become too much. But in addition to Übersättigung, the word also means Ennui, Widerwille, Abscheu & Ekel in German. It's a tough nut to crack! That explains why some of us are waxing poetic in our translations. ;-)
1 day2 hrs
  -> Your answer does in fact express the idea best - q.v.
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