English translation: (a faint intimation) steals upon me
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20:37 Mar 27, 2011
German to English translations [PRO] Art/Literary - Music / Art Song
German term or phrase:schauern
This is from Beethoven's "Abendlied unterm gestirnten Himmel, WoO. 150". The context is a soul yearning to be free of its earthly body. The one translation I have has it as "creeps up on" but I don't get that. One possibility is "shudder", but that doesn't seem right either. (I'm sorry if this is a double post. My first one seemed to disappear when I clicked "next step".)
Eine leise Ahnung schauert
Mich aus jenen Welten an;
Lange nicht mehr dauert
Meine Erdenpilgerbahn
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 1 hr (2011-03-27 21:41:22 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
A faint intimation runs through me ...
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 1 hr (2011-03-27 21:43:06 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
jars my bones
jars my soul
jars the core of me
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 1 hr (2011-03-27 21:51:28 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
I can see all there is to see
but I'm blind to my fate,
to what may come.
I think I'm awake
but stealing upon me
like the frost in the night
I neither see nor notice the moment when it comes
I think using a word common in English Romantic poetry (like "intimation", used by Helen) would work well. "Awe" is another favourite, as is "haunted" (which might also imply the additional layer of meaning, shuddering).
I wonder if something like 'steals upon me' rather like Death's approach would be the right sort of poetic register. This intimation seems to pass through him like a ghost or to provide the sensation when one says that someone has walked over one's grave. Intimations of mortality.
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Answers
15 mins confidence: peer agreement (net): -1
schauert
stares at me
Explanation: The term is actually "anschauen" which is a common verb in spoken language from the higher expression "ansehen". The text is about this feeling staring at him from that other world.
Example sentence(s):
"Schau' mich nicht so an, denn ich will dich nie wieder sehen" (from a German pop song)
Explanation: I actually think that "(to) creep up on," as you had, actually works quite well.
It seems that the verb might actually be "anschauern" (I changed the source term in my suggestion to reflect that), which I understand to mean something like "(to) give shivers," though I may be wrong--I couldn't really find much in the way of definitions.
In a figurative sense, you do get the shivers when something creeps up on you (usually from behind), i.e., that creeping sensation that sends shivers up your spine... a sneaking suspicion, if you will.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 21 mins (2011-03-27 20:59:11 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
Actually, I may actually have used the word "actually" a few times too many in my actual explanation.
;P
Derek Gill Franßen Germany Local time: 04:17 Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 20
Explanation: schauern/anschauern- register: poetry; (18-19th century )
the premonition that something highly unusual/spiritual is about to happen
"Schaudern und Schauder wird von den heftigsten unangenehmen Empfindungen gebraucht, schauern und Schauer von schwächeren, zuweilen auch von starken, angenehmen Erregungen des Gemüts. — "Sokrates — zwar du kennest ihn nicht; doch ich schaure vor Freuden, | wenn ich ihn nenne." Klopstock, Messias VII, 399. — Man schauert also selbst vor Freuden, vor Ehrfurcht usw., aber auch vor Schmerz, Wehmut u. dgl.; man schaudert aber vor Abscheu und Entsetzen über ein schreckliches Ereignis u. ähnl. "Mich faßt ein längst entwöhnter Schauer, | der Menschheit ganzer Jammer faßt mich an." Goethe, Faust I, Kerker." http://www.textlog.de/38619.html
Johanna Timm, PhD Canada Local time: 19:17 Native speaker of: German PRO pts in category: 24
10 hrs confidence: peer agreement (net): +2
schauert
thrills
Explanation: another option
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 10 hrs (2011-03-28 07:09:16 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
not much longer must I wait
until my earthly road is done
Example sentence(s):
A quiet intuition
thrills me from beyond
Ramey Rieger Local time: 04:17 Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 4
1 hr confidence: peer agreement (net): +7
schauert
(a faint intimation) steals upon me
Explanation: from those other worlds
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 1 hr (2011-03-27 21:41:22 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
A faint intimation runs through me ...
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 1 hr (2011-03-27 21:43:06 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
jars my bones
jars my soul
jars the core of me
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 1 hr (2011-03-27 21:51:28 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
I can see all there is to see
but I'm blind to my fate,
to what may come.
I think I'm awake
but stealing upon me
like the frost in the night
I neither see nor notice the moment when it comes
The translation workplace 
