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treue Seele

English translation: faithful soul, absolute dear/ faithful friend/dear faithful friend

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
German term or phrase:treue Seele
English translation:faithful soul, absolute dear/ faithful friend/dear faithful friend
Entered by: Ingeborg Gowans (X)

18:08 Feb 7, 2009
German to English translations [PRO]
General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters
German term or phrase: treue Seele
This is from a letter in the 1940's and is from an elderly man in an intern camp in the UK to a close female friend (whom he helped to escape from Nazi Germany), around 40 years his junior.

The letter is addressed thus:

Liebe Bri (short for Brigitte), liebe treue Seele

Could sb explain the precise sentiment behind this (apart from the obvious closeness) and propose an Eng equivalent, also bearing in mind when it was written?

Danke i.v.

Simon
PoveyTrans (X)
Local time: 23:16
faithful soul, absolute dear/ faithful friend
Explanation:
it expresses the sentiment that this person will always stand by by you, can be relied on under any circumstances, will stick with you no matter what, is a faithful friend
http://dict.leo.org/forum/viewUnsolvedquery.php?idThread=165...
Selected response from:

Ingeborg Gowans (X)
Canada
Local time: 19:16
Grading comment
Thanks Ingeborg! I will leave it to you to add a glossary if you so wish.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
3 +14faithful soul, absolute dear/ faithful friend
Ingeborg Gowans (X)
4 +1dearest loyal friend
Lirka
3loyal soul
Lesley Robertson MA, Dip Trans IoLET


  

Answers


4 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +14
faithful soul, absolute dear/ faithful friend


Explanation:
it expresses the sentiment that this person will always stand by by you, can be relied on under any circumstances, will stick with you no matter what, is a faithful friend
http://dict.leo.org/forum/viewUnsolvedquery.php?idThread=165...

Ingeborg Gowans (X)
Canada
Local time: 19:16
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: German
PRO pts in category: 31
Grading comment
Thanks Ingeborg! I will leave it to you to add a glossary if you so wish.
Notes to answerer
Asker: Great, thanks. Faithful friends seems to hit the mark.


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Inge Meinzer
4 mins
  -> danke, Inge
agree  Courtney Sliwinski: faithful friend
7 mins
  -> yes, that works, thanks, Courtney
agree  casper (X): How about "My dear and faithful friend Bri" in the asker's context ?
26 mins
  -> yes, thanks, good suggestion
agree  Helen Shiner: I think I would say 'dear, true friend', since 'true' means 'faithful', after all.
1 hr
  -> yes, thanks, Helen
agree  Jutta Wappel: faithful friend
1 hr
  -> thanks, Jutta, best solution probably
agree  Brightswan: sounds good to me!
1 hr
  -> thank you very much, Brightswan
agree  Jo Bennett: I like "My dear and faithful friend Bri"
1 hr
  -> thanks, Jo
agree  Andrea Winzer: with casper "My dear and faithful friend"
1 hr
  -> danke, andrea, hast Recht
agree  Julia Lipeles
2 hrs
  -> dank Dir, war ja auch nicht gerade "brain surgery" oder??
neutral  Textklick: With Helen. Post it!
6 hrs
  -> fine
agree  fhzwiers: Agree with Helen and with Textclick- "dear true friend"
8 hrs
  -> o.k.
agree  franglish: with Courtney, Jo and the others
13 hrs
  -> thanks, franglish
agree  Edith Kelly
13 hrs
  -> thank you, Edith
neutral  Lirka: with Helen
17 hrs
  -> fine, thanks
agree  Kim Bakkers: I like faithful friend too :)
22 hrs
  -> thanks, Kim
agree  Anja C.: with casper "My dear and faithful friend"
1 day 15 hrs
  -> thanks, Anja
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21 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
loyal soul


Explanation:
also commonly used in English
"My dear Bri, my dear loyal soul..."

Lesley Robertson MA, Dip Trans IoLET
Austria
Local time: 00:16
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 12
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thanks Lesley

Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
dearest loyal friend


Explanation:
You need to include "liebe"and "treue". "Seele" just means person, but it expresses more fondness&reminiscence as well as stressing the goodness of the person than just saying "person/friend". But if you say "soul" in English, it sounds somewhat unusual, whereas in German it is reltively commonly used.

To express more fondness, I would use "dearest" instead of "dear".



--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2009-02-07 19:51:33 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

could also say "friend of mine" instead of just friend, perhaps it expresses even more closeness...

Lirka
Austria
Local time: 00:16
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 8

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Anja C.: dearest loyal friend
1 day 14 hrs
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