Mar 24, 2022 16:09
2 yrs ago
46 viewers *
German term
United Kingdom
Native in: English 
Works in: French to English, German to English, Norwegian to English, and 3 more.
Wehrlicht
German to English
Other
Poetry & Literature
Fantasy novel
Hello all!
Hope everyone is doing well!
Wonder whether I could pick your brains on one word in the following sentence?
"Wie selbstverständlich ließ er ein regenbogenfarbenes Wehrlicht aufsteigen, um sich in dem dunklen Raum zurechtzufinden".
I have no clue what a "Wehrlicht" might be, and there seems to be about one or two hits on Google. It's from a fantasy novel, similar to Harry Potter, that I'm going to offer to translate. Maybe it's a word the author has concocted himself?
Thanks!!
Royce
Hope everyone is doing well!
Wonder whether I could pick your brains on one word in the following sentence?
"Wie selbstverständlich ließ er ein regenbogenfarbenes Wehrlicht aufsteigen, um sich in dem dunklen Raum zurechtzufinden".
I have no clue what a "Wehrlicht" might be, and there seems to be about one or two hits on Google. It's from a fantasy novel, similar to Harry Potter, that I'm going to offer to translate. Maybe it's a word the author has concocted himself?
Thanks!!
Royce
Proposed translations
(English)
| 3 +4 | werelight |
Alison MacG
|
| 2 +3 | lightning ball |
Julia Stipsits
|
| 3 +2 | orb of light |
Bourth
|
Proposed translations
+4
23 hrs
Alison MacG
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
Native in English
United Kingdom
Patents and related material specialist
Native in: English (Variants: Scottish, UK, British)
Works in: German to English, French to English, Swedish to English, and 4 more.
Related KudoZ points
:
4
Selected
werelight
The Inheritance Almanac: An A to Z Guide to the World of Eragon
WERELIGHT A small ball of light that is magically conjured. Werelights can be used to light one's way or be rooted in place to illuminate a specific area.
https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Inheritance_Alman...
Nightingale held out his right hand palm upwards and made a fist. ‘Watch my hand,’ he said and opened his fingers. Suddenly, floating a few centimetres above his palm was a ball of light. Bright, but not so bright that I couldn’t stare right at it.
…
He opened his hand and the light appeared. The source seemed to be the size of a golf ball with a smooth pearlescent surface. I leaned forward but I couldn’t tell whether the light emanated from inside the globe or from its skin.
…
‘Colloquially it’s known as a werelight,’ he said.
https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Rivers_of_London/DJq-...
Die Reihe rund um den Zauberlehrling Peter Grant hat mich die ersten drei Bände hindurch schon sehr begeistert. Ich mag Ben Aaronovitchs Stil, wie er das Polizeileben eines Constables gekonnt mit dessen Anfängen in der Zauberei vermischt. Wir jagen mit Peter Grant den Gesichtslosen Magier durch Londons Straßen, lernen, wie man Wehrlichter herbeizaubert und sprechen mit Geistern.
https://buchperlenblog.com/2017/08/17/eine-literarische-reis...
Werelight
Also known as: were light
Bluish or greenish faint magical light conjured by wizards, sometimes focused in the tip of their wizard's staff, sometimes as a free-floating ball. One of the first arts of true magic taught at the School of Wizardry on Roke it seems to be used relatively freely, without worrying about the Equilibrium. The practice isn't confined to wizards: witches are also occasionally mentioned as conjuring werelight. Unclear how it is related to magelight, which appears to be a stronger form of magical light
http://www.tavia.co.uk/earthsea/glossary.asp?alpha=W
Bryn summoned a rainbow-colored werelight, and they headed north through the narrow tunnels, bathed in the shifting patterns of color.
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q="rainbow-colored werelight...
[Alternatively, there are also a few hits for warding light(s)
The stone-walled spire was less impressive than the warding light the sorcerer Illabin had thrown up around it.
https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Rifkind_s_Challenge/2... ]
WERELIGHT A small ball of light that is magically conjured. Werelights can be used to light one's way or be rooted in place to illuminate a specific area.
https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Inheritance_Alman...
Nightingale held out his right hand palm upwards and made a fist. ‘Watch my hand,’ he said and opened his fingers. Suddenly, floating a few centimetres above his palm was a ball of light. Bright, but not so bright that I couldn’t stare right at it.
…
He opened his hand and the light appeared. The source seemed to be the size of a golf ball with a smooth pearlescent surface. I leaned forward but I couldn’t tell whether the light emanated from inside the globe or from its skin.
…
‘Colloquially it’s known as a werelight,’ he said.
https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Rivers_of_London/DJq-...
Die Reihe rund um den Zauberlehrling Peter Grant hat mich die ersten drei Bände hindurch schon sehr begeistert. Ich mag Ben Aaronovitchs Stil, wie er das Polizeileben eines Constables gekonnt mit dessen Anfängen in der Zauberei vermischt. Wir jagen mit Peter Grant den Gesichtslosen Magier durch Londons Straßen, lernen, wie man Wehrlichter herbeizaubert und sprechen mit Geistern.
https://buchperlenblog.com/2017/08/17/eine-literarische-reis...
Werelight
Also known as: were light
Bluish or greenish faint magical light conjured by wizards, sometimes focused in the tip of their wizard's staff, sometimes as a free-floating ball. One of the first arts of true magic taught at the School of Wizardry on Roke it seems to be used relatively freely, without worrying about the Equilibrium. The practice isn't confined to wizards: witches are also occasionally mentioned as conjuring werelight. Unclear how it is related to magelight, which appears to be a stronger form of magical light
http://www.tavia.co.uk/earthsea/glossary.asp?alpha=W
Bryn summoned a rainbow-colored werelight, and they headed north through the narrow tunnels, bathed in the shifting patterns of color.
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q="rainbow-colored werelight...
[Alternatively, there are also a few hits for warding light(s)
The stone-walled spire was less impressive than the warding light the sorcerer Illabin had thrown up around it.
https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Rifkind_s_Challenge/2... ]
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Brent Sørensen
30 mins
|
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Thanks, Brent
|
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| agree |
Julia Stipsits
2 days 46 mins
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Thanks, Julia
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| agree |
Björn Vrooman
: Amazon preview of 2nd book uses werelight (ch. "Under the Mountain"). I guess b/c it's a homonym and there's no real mention of what it looks like in any para I've seen, so archaic wer(e) = man(light) is a safe option.//Snow this week! Hope you're fine =)
6 days
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Thanks, Björn. Hope you are well - haven't seen you around for a while.
|
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| agree |
Bourth
6 days
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Thank you
|
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Selected automatically based on peer agreement."
+3
58 mins
Julia Stipsits
Austria
Austria
Native in German
Specializes in field
Austria
Entertainment Industry Insider
Native in: German (Variants: Germany, Austrian)
Works in: English to German
lightning ball
Hey Royce,
That does sound like something the author came up with himself indeed. From the context my guess would be the character has magical powers (and uses them). The only other thing that comes to my mind is a flare gun, however, I doubt one would shoot that indoors...
Anyhow, since "Wehr" in German could either be "Damm" (which doesn't seem to fit the context here) or "Defense" (which may be a tad too strong for a rainbow coloured light) I'd like to suggest "lightning ball".
Regards!
That does sound like something the author came up with himself indeed. From the context my guess would be the character has magical powers (and uses them). The only other thing that comes to my mind is a flare gun, however, I doubt one would shoot that indoors...
Anyhow, since "Wehr" in German could either be "Damm" (which doesn't seem to fit the context here) or "Defense" (which may be a tad too strong for a rainbow coloured light) I'd like to suggest "lightning ball".
Regards!
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
philgoddard
: Great idea!
28 mins
|
| agree |
Donatello Wilhelm
5 hrs
|
| agree |
Cillie Swart
: seems plausible, thanks for sharing
22 hrs
|
+2
7 hrs
orb of light
Were the fantasy world that of Eragon, then it appears it would mean 'fire' :
Brisingr Feuer (WEHRLICHT) https://eragon.fandom.com/de/wiki/Alte_Sprache
brisingr fire https://inheritance.fandom.com/wiki/Ancient_Language
"The Ancient Language used by the elves in the Inheritance Cycle is partly based on Old Norse.[12] The word brisingr is an ancient Old Norse word meaning "fire" "
So quite possibly simply 'firelight', 'light of fire', but fantasy novels (I'm not a fan) use expressions such as 'orb of light'.
"Some of these forces are charmingly every day, like the ability to make an ORB OF LIGHT appear"
"He commanded, and a bright ORB OF LIGHT appeared,"
"the brightly shining green ORB OF LIGHT that stood out "
"Using magic she created an ORB OF LIGHT and sent it to where she thought the source was"
If we consider an orb to be a circle rather than a sphere (it has that meaning, though it is rare; presumably it gives us 'orbit', i.e. a circular path), and especially if we consider it to be a half-sphere or dome, it could be construed as playing a defensive role - hence 'Wehr' -, constituting a luminous force field (throwing in a bit of Star Wars and Star Trek there, for good measure!).
Brisingr Feuer (WEHRLICHT) https://eragon.fandom.com/de/wiki/Alte_Sprache
brisingr fire https://inheritance.fandom.com/wiki/Ancient_Language
"The Ancient Language used by the elves in the Inheritance Cycle is partly based on Old Norse.[12] The word brisingr is an ancient Old Norse word meaning "fire" "
So quite possibly simply 'firelight', 'light of fire', but fantasy novels (I'm not a fan) use expressions such as 'orb of light'.
"Some of these forces are charmingly every day, like the ability to make an ORB OF LIGHT appear"
"He commanded, and a bright ORB OF LIGHT appeared,"
"the brightly shining green ORB OF LIGHT that stood out "
"Using magic she created an ORB OF LIGHT and sent it to where she thought the source was"
If we consider an orb to be a circle rather than a sphere (it has that meaning, though it is rare; presumably it gives us 'orbit', i.e. a circular path), and especially if we consider it to be a half-sphere or dome, it could be construed as playing a defensive role - hence 'Wehr' -, constituting a luminous force field (throwing in a bit of Star Wars and Star Trek there, for good measure!).
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Brent Sørensen
: I had considered posting something similar. It fits in well with the rainbow-coloured bit
10 hrs
|
| agree |
Rama Bhave
11 hrs
|
Discussion
I found your sentence quoted verbatim on a blog page, so I know who the author is and what book this is from.
Even if you don't want to divulge his name, I think the answerers should know that the book you were asked to translate is part of a whole franchise and is the third in the series overall.
The first has already been translated into English. Can't glance through that one, only the German version (via GoogleBooks), which is where I found "Wehrlicht" used at least four times.
In short, may I suggest you ask the author for a DE-EN PDF copy of the first book. It would allow you to CTRL+F important words and create a term base.
As for "Wehr-," I think the explanation is simpler than assumed. The sections I read don't suggest the spell enhances your defense (or offense, for that matter). Instead, I believe, it will just "ward off the darkness."
Also, the author will surely know the Dark Eye P&P game and book series (the German pendant to D&D). It contains a spell called Flim Flam Funkel, cast for similar reasons.
Best wishes