Glossary entry (derived from question below)
German term or phrase:
Geistesakrobat
English translation:
mental acrobat
Added to glossary by
Michalsuz
Jun 29, 2010 00:09
14 yrs ago
German term
Not a translator
Geistesakrobat
May offend
German to English
Art/Literary
Poetry & Literature
Description of the inhabitants of Theresienstadt ghetto, written in the 40s - therefore politically incorrect by today's standards, which of course needs to be respected in the translation...
Die Ghetto Bewohner stetzen sich aus allen Bevoelkerungsrassen...Von einer weissen Negrin, Zigeunerinnen...Von mongolisch-slawischem Maennertyp bis zum koerperlich degenerierten Geistesakrobat...
I believe (this may be wrong?) that the Geistesakrobat is a person (typically for this text, a man) capable of what we would call now 'intellectual' feats - then probably 'mental' feats - multiplying large numbers without pen or paper for instance.
The term savant is too modern, and also implies the idiot savant for most readers. There must have been an equivalent Victorian term which would fit here nicely...?
Die Ghetto Bewohner stetzen sich aus allen Bevoelkerungsrassen...Von einer weissen Negrin, Zigeunerinnen...Von mongolisch-slawischem Maennertyp bis zum koerperlich degenerierten Geistesakrobat...
I believe (this may be wrong?) that the Geistesakrobat is a person (typically for this text, a man) capable of what we would call now 'intellectual' feats - then probably 'mental' feats - multiplying large numbers without pen or paper for instance.
The term savant is too modern, and also implies the idiot savant for most readers. There must have been an equivalent Victorian term which would fit here nicely...?
Proposed translations
(English)
| 3 +3 | mental acrobat |
Kim Metzger
|
| 3 +3 | sophist |
Edwin Miles
|
References
| Info |
Kim Metzger
|
Proposed translations
+3
12 mins
Kim Metzger
Mexico
Mexico
Native in English
Specializes in field
Mexico
Committed to Quality and Service
Native in: English (Variant: US) 
Works in: German to English
Related KudoZ points
:
213
Selected
mental acrobat
Might be what you're looking for.
The Greek word sophis meant a wise man in the good sense, but it came to mean a man with a clever mind and cunning tongue, a mental acrobat, a man who with glittering and persuasive rhetoric could make the worse appear the better reason.
http://latter-rain.com/background/philos.htm
Boethius (480-524), awaiting assassination in a tyrant's dungeon amid the ruins of the classical world, is nevertheless a mental 'acrobat' (one who goes to heights, and depths) who can relate his inmost longings to 'the highest height of heaven' and find there (illic) stars of justice and love eternally triumphant over hate.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_7026/is_1_101/ai_n2834...
The Greek word sophis meant a wise man in the good sense, but it came to mean a man with a clever mind and cunning tongue, a mental acrobat, a man who with glittering and persuasive rhetoric could make the worse appear the better reason.
http://latter-rain.com/background/philos.htm
Boethius (480-524), awaiting assassination in a tyrant's dungeon amid the ruins of the classical world, is nevertheless a mental 'acrobat' (one who goes to heights, and depths) who can relate his inmost longings to 'the highest height of heaven' and find there (illic) stars of justice and love eternally triumphant over hate.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_7026/is_1_101/ai_n2834...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Thank you all for your help."
+3
6 hrs
sophist
To pick up on one of Kim's citations. Outside intellectual circles, the word has lost most of its Greek origin and now suggests, as already quoted, "a man with a clever mind and cunning tongue, a mental acrobat." And I'd hazard a bet that it's had this connotation since at least the 40s.
2nd definition in Wiktionary:
(by extension) One who is captious, fallacious, or deceptive in argument.
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sophist
2nd definition in Wiktionary:
(by extension) One who is captious, fallacious, or deceptive in argument.
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sophist
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Thayenga
1 hr
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Thanks, Thayenga.
|
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| agree |
Helen Shiner
: A good solution
2 hrs
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I think so too...
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| agree |
Rolf Keiser
1 day 2 hrs
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Reference comments
8 mins
Kim Metzger
Mexico
Mexico
Native in English
Specializes in field
Mexico
Committed to Quality and Service
Native in: English (Variant: US)
Works in: German to English
Related KudoZ points
:
213
Reference:
Info
In case you haven't seen this dictionary entry, you might find it helpful.
mental/intellectual acrobat
http://tinyurl.com/2785u5j
mental/intellectual acrobat
http://tinyurl.com/2785u5j
Discussion
The term sophist does not seem to reflect the public performance facet of Geistesakrobat; so far, 'mental acrobat' seems the best - thank you very much for your interest and help, everybody.
That's just my two bits and under the assumption that "respect" means maintaining this "incorrectness" and not "correcting" it in the translation.
"Sie waren solche Geistesakrobaten, dass selbst Jesus Christus mitsamt seinen Aposteln nicht genug Verstand aufgebracht hätte, um mit diesen modernen Theologen zu streiten."
übersetzt als:
"They were such mental acrobats that even Jesus Christ himself, along with all his apostles, could not have mustered enough intellect to argue with these modern theologians."