ensconce

German translation: aufgehen, einnisten, einsetzen, engagieren

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)

English term or phrase:	ensconce
German translation:	aufgehen, einnisten, einsetzen, engagieren
Entered by:	Deb Phillips (X)

00:34 Mar 24, 2002

English to German translations [PRO]
Bus/Financial

English term or phrase: ensconce

To be sure, Wall Street and others will have a short memory if Fiorina delivers. Last quarter's strong showing has already helped convince some she's up to the challenge. "Senior (LSE: SNR.L - news) management was thoroughly ensconced in pushing this deal, but nonetheless they did mind the shop," says J.P. Morgan H&Q analyst Daniel Kunstler. Trouble is, that was just the warm-up.

Deb Phillips (X)

Einnisten!

Explanation:
"Einnisten", semantically best reflects the true meaning of the term:"ensconce"!

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Note added at 2002-04-14 12:30:30 (GMT) Post-grading
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Glad to help. Debbie!

Selected response from:

brute (X)

Grading comment

Thank you!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

4 +1

how about...

Ulrike Lieder (X)

sich niederlassen

Chris Rowson (X)

abgesichert / sheltered

Alexander Schleber (X)

Einnisten!

brute (X)

engagiert

HGuehne (X)

4 -2

unterstützen / fördern

Uschi (Ursula) Walke

Discussion entries: 6

Non-ProZ.com

Note

05:09 Mar 24, 2002

Hi Deb,

Stay away from kuscheln, kuschelig, and anything of that nature. You're
getting into an entirely wrong direction -- from an extremely bitter proxy
fight into cute and cuddly and snug as a bug.
BTW, kuscheln is not used reflexively, but "sich ankuscheln" is.

Think entrenched. Search on Google on "firmly ensconced", you'll find a lot
of examples of the phrase referring to someone having taken a firm stand (or
a position) and defending it. That's why I think entrenched might be a good
synonym, albeit a bit stronger.
This is an example of living language where mere dictionary definitions
might not suffice and where you have to divine the meaning from the entire
sentence.

I personally use the phrase sometimes to describe the fact that I've settled
in at home and am not willing to move, come hell or high water.

Best regards,
Ulrike E. Lieder
Diplom-Dolmetscherin AIIC
Conference Interpreter (M.A.) / Translator

Non-ProZ.com

Note

04:28 Mar 24, 2002

I guess ensconce has something to do with the sense of "snug". Is this like "kuscheln" or "kuschelig"? Must "kuscheln" be used only reflexively? My dictionary gives me "behaglich" which is another word I am not too familiar with.

Non-ProZ.com

Note

04:22 Mar 24, 2002

Sorry! Who or what is Amis? I mean that question sincerely. Although maybe it is incorrectly worded. Is Amis a dictionary? I have heard this usage of ensconce before. Somethling like firmly entrenched in an idea. But I have not heard the word ensconce used often at all. Would appreciate any references to German applications and translations of the word.

Non-ProZ.com

Note

02:39 Mar 24, 2002

What is the German translation for "ensconce"? My dictionary says "sich niederlassen". I am not too familiar with the English word.

Non-ProZ.com

Note

02:37 Mar 24, 2002

What is the German translation for "ensconce"? My dictioary says "sich niederlassen". I am not too familiar with the English word.

Non-ProZ.com

Note

02:35 Mar 24, 2002

How is the word "ensconce" used more typically?

Answers

1 hr confidence:

peer agreement (net): -2

unterstützen / fördern

Explanation:
I think that in this context 'to ensconce' means 'to back up'.

HTH

Anglistic friend

Uschi (Ursula) Walke
Local time: 11:13
Native speaker of:

German
PRO pts in pair: 175

1 hr confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

how about...

Explanation:
In this context:
Die Firmenleitung hat sich fast ausschließlich ... gewidmet / für ... eingesetzt

Strange use of the word "ensconce" here. They seem to want to say that management turned most, if not all, of its energies towards pushing the deal.
Note that "widmen" requires the dative.

You might try and paraphrase; some other possibilities:
... ist ganz in ... aufgegangen, ...
... hat (haben) sich fast ausschließlich mit ... beschäftigt

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Note added at 2002-03-24 04:34:48 (GMT)
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Having followed this whole drama over the past few weeks (I\'ve had professional contacts with both companies, so I did have some personal/professional interest in the matter), I suspect that the writer might have meant to use \"entrenched\" instead of \"ensconced\".
Yes, ensconce means to \"settle securely or comfortably\" [Webster], and I think the writer simply chose the wrong term.
This whole proxy fight just played out this past week, Carly Fiorina (HP\'s CEO) pushed extremely hard for the merger with Compaq, while Walter Hewlett (the son of one of the company\'s founders) was dead-set against it. For days, there were full-page ads in the papers, arguing either point.
Fiorina was sort of dug into her position of trying to push the merger through; had the merger failed, she would likely have lost her job.
In fact, I\'m not sure if the final vote count is in; the HP shareholders\' meeting was this past Tuesday, 3/19, and management (Fiorina) claimed victory. According to published reports, though, the vote was too close to call, and I\'m not entirely sure that the final vote count from the HP shareholders is in yet.
Compaq shareholders voted overwhelmingly for the merger.
For some add\'l info, you might want to go to sfgate.com, which is the San Francisco Chronicle\'s homepage. You\'ll find all sorts of articles on the merger in the business archives and in the news archives (the story was on the front page for several days this week).

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Note added at 2002-03-24 04:54:49 (GMT)
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Do a search on \"firmly ensconced\", and you\'ll find quite a few examples of firmly ensconced = entrenched, meaning that someone has taken a position and is sticking to it.
However, I should take back my note, saying that the writer (or speaker, as the case may be) simply chose the wrong word. Chris may well be right that this is a particularly North American usage of the phrase. Note, too, that it\'s almost invariably \"firmly ensconced\", not just ensconced.
I would certainly caution you, though, to stay as far away as you can from \"kuscheln\", \"kuschelig\", or \"behaglich\" (synonyms for behaglich might be gemütlich, angenehm, komfortabel) - as you can see, these words are taking you into an entirely different -and incorrect- direction.

Ulrike Lieder (X)
Local time: 18:13
Native speaker of: German
PRO pts in pair: 1505

3 hrs confidence:

sich niederlassen

Explanation:
I think your dictionary is right, and the writer has misunderstood ensconce.

For me it has always meant something like the "To settle (oneself) securely or comfortably: She ensconced herself in an armchair" which I find as meaning 1 at dictionary.com, with the awareness that this is a slightly distorted popular usage from a stricter meaning "To place or conceal in a secure place", which is there as meaning 2.

My feeling reading your quotation is that it is just wrong, and this check just confirms that feeling. In German I cannot be so certain, but my understanding of "sich niederlassen" fits.

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Note added at 2002-03-24 04:06:40 (GMT)
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After reading the continuation of the quote under the \"proxy fight\" question, I come around to the idea that it is not wrong, just unusual. It belongs then to meaning 2 above. Nicht als Übersetzung beabsichtigt, sonder als Erklärung: \"Die Geschäftsleitung hat sich darauf konzentriert, dies zu schaffen ; vernachlässigte aber nicht den Betrieb zu verwalten.\" But it is horribly written: if it is not wrong, as I first thought, it is strange and abstruse. (Or maybe this usage is better known to Amis, but I don´t think so.)

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Note added at 2002-03-24 04:06:41 (GMT)
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After reading the continuation of the quote under the \"proxy fight\" question, I come around to the idea that it is not wrong, just unusual. It belongs then to meaning 2 above. Nicht als Übersetzung beabsichtigt, sonder als Erklärung: \"Die Geschäftsleitung hat sich darauf konzentriert, dies zu schaffen ; vernachlässigte aber nicht den Betrieb zu verwalten.\" But it is horribly written: if it is not wrong, as I first thought, it is strange and abstruse. (Or maybe this usage is better known to Amis, but I don´t think so.)

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Note added at 2002-03-24 05:03:04 (GMT)
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Amis = Americans (there was too little space!). I don´t see any of snug, kuschelig or behaglich as applicable. I don´t think it was at all comfortable. But entrenched is highly applicable, it was/is a bitter fight, fought with determination. \"Firmly ensconced in their positions\" = \"entrenched\" = dug in (BE and AE). Grabenkrieg. I no longer think it is wrong, just strange and awkward.

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Note added at 2002-03-24 05:17:59 (GMT)
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The usage of \"ensconce\" here relates to meaning 2 of my reference, which is the basic meaning. Meaning 1, with the sofa, which is more usual in so far as the word is usual at all (not much) is a figurative derivation. Sorry, I can´t find any more German connections, but for this, forget the sofa, think trench, entrenched, Grabenkrieg!

Reference: http://www.dictionary.com/search?q=ensconce

Chris Rowson (X)
Local time: 03:13
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in pair: 198

9 hrs confidence:

abgesichert / sheltered

Explanation:
Sometimes it helps to look up the definition of a word, not just the possible translation.
(Webster's) ensconce = 1)to fix securely or comfortably in some place, to settle snugly; 2) to shelter, hide

Two possible variations on the theme: "...bei der Durchführung dieses Deals (Abkommens) wahr management vollkommen abgesichert ..." or "fühlte sich Management vollkommen wohl in seiner Position".
HTH

Alexander Schleber (X)
Belgium
Local time: 03:13
Native speaker of:

German,

English
PRO pts in pair: 1466

1 day 10 hrs confidence:

Einnisten!

brute (X)
PRO pts in pair: 165

Grading comment

Thank you!

12 days confidence:

engagiert

Explanation:
Schreiben Sie doch einfach:

Management war äußerst engagiert, .....

Dies ist genau, was im Text gemeint ist.

Gruß
Hanspeter Gühne

HGuehne (X)
Local time: 03:13
Native speaker of:

German
PRO pts in pair: 48

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ensconce

German translation: aufgehen, einnisten, einsetzen, engagieren

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