In the further alternative/Subeventualiter

I will be discussing one or two words that were not straightforward to translate.

subeventualiter (Swiss). I knew I’d encountered this, but couldn’t remember it.
Swiss: eventualiter, subeventualiter
German: hilfsweise, weiter hilfsweise

The translation should be in the alternative or in the further alternative. So subeventualiter is in the further alternative.

There was some discussion of this on Proz.

Another suggestion was further or alternatively. I don’t think that is right: it means what it says, either further or alternatively, whichever is appropriate.

General problems with Swiss legal German: if you know German law, you may be able to identify the equivalent Swiss terms (the same applies to Austrian terms). I’ve mentioned an online DE > EN dictionary of Swiss legal terms before, but it isn’t restricted to the terms specific to Switzerland and doesn’t have eventualiter in it. Metzger’s Schweizerisches juristisches Wörterbuch can be helpful, but isn’t always (just German – for eventualiter it gives nötigenfalls, möglicherweise). Doucet-Fleck DE > FR dictionary sometimes has Swiss and Austrian terms, helpful if you read French. Another German > French resource is the Petit Lexique Juridique by Piermarco Zen-Ruffinen.

Mushroom hunt/Pilzlehrwanderung beim Faberhof

This was for people who can’t or don’t want to walk very far. However, as the ground was very uneven and moss hid roots and branches, it was quite wearing.

The department for mushrooms and herbs of the Naturhistorische Gesellschaft Nürnberg developed from Germany’s first mushroom association, founded in 1910.

Im Herbst 1910 wurde von August Henning in Nürnberg der “Verein für Pilzkunde “, der älteste Pilzverein Deutschlands, gegründet.
Als “Abteilung für Pilz- und Kräuterkunde ” gehört er seit 1923 zur Naturhistorischen Gesellschaft Nürnberg.

Not only Herr and Frau Hirschmann, but also several other mushroom experts were there. I have not yet worked out how to collect mushrooms without poisoning oneself unless there is a mushroom expert at hand. I have now consumed two Apfeltäublinge and two Maronenröhrlinge (Xerocomus badius, Bay bolete).

Here is one person’s collection halfway through:

Here is a collection of mushrooms including poisonous ones, for display in Nuremberg on Monday (I was sorry not to find a Krause Glucke or Fette Henne, Sparassis crispa, cauliflower fungus, myself – one of the few I recognized):

Russula paludosa, Apfeltäubling:

Kuehneromyces mutabilis, Stockschwämmchen (easily confused with something poisonous):

Amanita phalloides, Grüner Knollenblätterpilz, deathcap:

Setting out:

The most dangerous poisonous mushroom (do we not use the word toadstool any longer?) may be the Spitzgebuckelter Schleierling or Spitzgebuckelter Raukopf, Cortinarius rubellus, deadly webcap. It destroys the kidneys but its effect may not be evident for a week or two, by which time you would forget you had eaten it. There is a newspaper report in the Daily Mail about the writer Nicholas Evans, author of The Horse Whisperer, who collected a lot of these on a friend’s estate in Scotland, thinking they were ceps (Steinpilze). But they look completely different. This was in 2008, and when the report appeared in 2010 he and a friend were still on dialysis and waiting for kidney transplants.

Fortunately I have a list of mushroom experts who I can phone up and get to inspect anything I collect.

Some Links/Einige Links


Another stopgap: some other webpages and blog entries.

1. I’ve mentioned the Stella Liebeck case before (the hot coffee at McDonalds case – see also German Wikipedia). Now there is a film made by a lawyer that attempts to educate the public about this and other litigation issues: Hot Coffee – see also German Wikipedia entry and English Wikipedia entry.

(Via German American Law Journal blog)

2. Lisa John seems to have persuaded Manypedia to put English and German Wikipedia entries side by side rather than machine-translating them,
See Ü wie Übersetzen (in German), where you can also see a screenshot. You have to click on ‘disable translation’.

3. In connection with Troy Davis’ execution, Andrew Hammel comments on the attitude to the death penalty in the USA and Europe. He has been quoted by the New York Times on an earlier entry.

4. Troy Davis protested his innocence. Boing Boing reported that he refused a final meal:

11:13pm ET: The execution began at 10:53pm. Troy Davis was reported dead at 11:08PM ET. Media witnesses say that he refused a final meal; he refused a final prayer; he did not take an anti-convulsive, anti-anxiety, hypnotic drug called Ativan that was offered to him to ease the procedure. As is customary with prisoner executions in the United States, his death certificate will be marked “homicide.”

Meanwhile, Texas is doing away with final meals. According to the WSJ Blog:

The move comes in response to a complaint from John Whitmire, a Democratic state senator from Houston, who objected to the last meal request of Lawrence Russell Brewer, a white supremacist executed Wednesday by Texas for dragging a black man to death in 1998.

Brewer did not eat any of the food he requested as his last meal: two chicken fried steaks, a triple-meat bacon cheeseburger, a large bowl of fried okra, a pound of barbecue, three fajitas, a meat lover’s pizza, a pint of ice cream and a slab of peanut butter fudge with crushed peanuts.

5. Obiter J. writes on the upcoming appeals in connection with the August riots (‘disorder’ is now apparently the term used) in England: Friday Roundup.

He also quotes and links a number of other interesting blogs.

Mangelwurzels/Futterrüben

I was rather disappointed by these as I was looking for a heap of potatoes, which they resembled from afar. But it’s an opportunity to point out that mangold in English is not the same as Mangold in German. Although apparently it is.

The green stuff at the centre to back right is their leaves.

German Wikipedia:

Die Futterrübe (Beta vulgaris subsp. vulgaris var. crassa bzw. var. alba), auch Runkelrübe, Raahner, Rangasn, Runkel, Rummel, Rüben-Mangold, Vieh-Mangold, Burgunder-Rübe, Dickrübe, Gunkel genannt, ist eine landwirtschaftliche Kulturpflanze und gehört zur Familie der Fuchsschwanzgewächse (Amaranthaceae).

English Wikipedia:

Mangelwurzel or mangold wurzel (from German Mangel/Mangold, “chard”, and Wurzel, “root”), also called mangold,[1] mangel beet,[1] field beet[2] and fodder beet, is a cultivated root vegetable derived from Beta vulgaris. Its large white, yellow or orange-yellow swollen roots were developed in the 18th century as a fodder crop for feeding livestock.

This still doesn’t answer the question why we call Swiss chard Swiss.

And if you prefer pumpkins, see Switzerland in a Nutshell 1 at Anglo-German Translations

LATER NOTE: in Just Hungry, Maki explains why Swiss chard:

Incidentally, here in Switzerland it is not called Swiss anything. In the German speaking parts it’s usually called either Krautstiele, Stielmangold or plain Mangold, and in the French speaking parts it’s just called blette. Apparently it was called Swiss chard in some English-language seed catalogs to differentiate it from French charde or chardon originally.

St. Peter Straubing

Now that even the Bavarian school holidays are over, I must get back to posting more regularly. Meanwhile, some photos – more may follow.

St. Peter’s church in Straubing.

Actually, that’s just a garden on the way there. Here is the cemetery – note the washing line in the second picture.