Jul 25, 2008 03:36
15 yrs ago
1 viewer *
German term

hutzelig

German to English Art/Literary Poetry & Literature song text
Lyrics of a song by a German comediant. I must translate the text from English to Spanish (I do not speak German) but this line has this word in German which apparently who translated the song from German to English did not translate. Can you help me? (By the way the lyrics make no sense at all)
The line says: With their sombreros they have fun with their "hutzeligen" señoras. (I hope this is not something inappropriate, I just can not tell)
Thanks!!!
Change log

Jul 25, 2008 03:52: Johanna Timm, PhD changed "Term asked" from "hutzeligen" to "hutzelig" , "Field" from "Other" to "Art/Literary" , "Field (specific)" from "Other" to "Poetry & Literature"

Proposed translations

+2
1 hr
Selected

shrivelled

Shrivelled up might fit into this context as referring to shrivelled up old ladies. Gnarled or gnarly refers to the appearance of a weatherbeaten skin.
Example sentence:

She was dressed in old fashioned, clean clothes, had a handbag, and looked like your typical shrivelled up old woman

Peer comment(s):

agree Petra Williams
1 hr
agree Helen Shiner : Shrivelled senoras is good
2 hrs
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thank you very much! It is perfect for the general tone of the song."
+1
19 mins

withered (skin)

hutzelig [ugs.]
wizened {adj}
shriveled {adj} [Am.]
withered {adj} [skin]
shrivelled {adj} [Br.]
Peer comment(s):

agree babli : agree
8 hrs
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+1
1 day 11 hrs

old little

I completely agree that "hutzelig" also means withered/shrivelled and the previous suggestions are good. I was just going to add that "hutzelig" or "verhutzelt" can also mean "old and small", "shrunken". I'd say these terms are use loosely and interchangeably.
There's a tale by Moerike "Das Stuttgarter Hutzelmaennchen" - which is a kind of "Heinzelmaennchen", a tiny little old man (who in this case has kind of "magic" qualities).

So depending on how "friendly" the writer of the song is, I'd say "with their old little senoras" works, too. Depends on the general tone of the song - "shrivelled" sounds pretty mean, doesn't it? But perhaps that's the way it's intended :-)
Note from asker:
I like much better old and small but the singer is making fun of Mexican musicians all along the song and the jokes and frases are almost all mean, so I'll go with shrivelled. But Thank you very much!
Peer comment(s):

agree Harald Moelzer (medical-translator) : richtig!
2 hrs
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