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15:10 Nov 17, 2010
German to English translations [PRO] Art/Literary - Poetry & Literature / expression
German term or phrase:Göttibub
xxx ist auch eine gesellige Fasnächtlerin. Als Hexe verkleidet, zieht sie am “Chienbäse" Umzug in Liestal mit fünf weiteren Hexen einen Feuerwagen. Auch xxxs Göttibuben halten sie immer wieder auf Trab.
It seems like some kind of term of endearment, but I haven't seen it before and have no idea what connotations it has.
You come so late to the party and have the benefit of context which has appeared since we all first posted. I don't suppose anyone doubted the possibility of having more than one godson./Thanks, Cetacea - I do have the benefit of being able to read. I have translated quite a few texts on popular theatre and spectacle and characters have many outlandish names typically. It was better to inquire properly after the context than just to blunder in.
It's never used in the figurative sense, and this definitely isn't "a list of characters", either. The lady in question has several godsons (which isn't that unusual, I can assure you), and they keep her on the go. Just another thing that keeps her busy, besides Fasnacht, gardening, and photography.
@Helen: I don't need "the benefit of context which has appeared since we all first posted". The original text that has been posted is enough if you read it properly. And speak Swiss German...
Given the importance of god parents and god children in Switzerland and the extent to which these relationships are promoted, I would suggest that this could well be real god sons.
what form does the text take? Is it an article, e-mail, or what? Really, you know these things, but we can only guess and in that guessing easily miss by a mile. It's like drawing teeth sometimes!!/Come on Thomas, you are an academic, you must know this...
The text is describing what a person does in her free time. The sentence before was talking about gardening and photography, and the sentence after about cycling.
Unfortunately there isn't any more context at all. My doubt was whether they actually have to be her godchildren, or whether they could be figuratively so, and be more like 'children under her wing' or something similar.
Sounds like a list of characters to me, hence my comment. But then again, we don't have the entire passage. Thomas did after all ask if it could be used in a figurative sense, so he too has hesitated.
I wouldn't translate it myself, since it sounds to me like the name of a stock character (or a group of them). Perhaps with tiny footnote (lit.: godson)?
The translation workplace 
peer agreement (net): +5