German > English translation required. It is onl..

[Bad Samaritan]

At last. I knew that beutelwolf would eventually come and answer my question.

[Bad Samaritan]

marcel_43 wrote:

>
> Bad Samaritan wrote:
>
> > corona wrote:
> >
> > > The audio is from 'Spanner Teeny 9' I'm not too sure what
> 'Spanner' means from a German perspective. Spanner in the UK is
> a tool for metal nuts / bolts.
> >
> > !happy! Spanner means "one who stretches".
>
> In this context 'Spanner' means 'voyeur'.
>

A more complex etymological task. What's your opinion, jj?

[jj]

In this context 'Spanner' means 'voyeur'.

Bad Samaritan wrote:
> A more complex etymological task. What's your opinion, jj?

I'm not competent to hold one; my knowledge of idiomatic German
is slightly smaller than the radius of a proton.
However, Steve Holmes did a couple of titles for XXL, entitled 'der
Spanner', which had a patently voyeuristic theme. How one might
get from the original to the derived meaning is one of the reasons
why etymology is so fascinating and endlessly mystifying [at least,
to me].
Here's another; English 'cat' originally meant 'puppy'- catulus,
'small dog'... no wonder specimens of Felis domesticus always
look so annoyed : -))
Roman cats must have been doubly so.....

[Bad Samaritan]

jj wrote:

> Here's another; English 'cat' originally meant 'puppy'-
> catulus,
> 'small dog'... no wonder specimens of Felis domesticus
> always
> look so annoyed : -))
> Roman cats must have been doubly so.....
>

It is Latin cattus, which exactly means cat and derives from the languages of North Africa.

[jj]

I can only tell you what I was always taught.
Is 'cattus' Late Latin?

[Bad Samaritan]

Nope. You're the victim of one of the most prominent aspects of folk etymology: Take two opposing concepts and link them in an etymological context.

Cattus possibly comes from Numidian via Punic.

[jj]

That's why I so hate the 'humane' studies sometimes- all that
hearsay and dishonesty; give me 'proper' science any day, where
most of the villains are upfront about their lack of rigour [or
poor at hiding it] : -)

For now, I'll go back to watching the football..... more my
intellectual level.

[Bad Samaritan]

jj wrote:

> That's why I so hate the 'humane' studies sometimes- all that
> hearsay and dishonesty;
>

No complaints. You're the one who bought it. !happy!

[jj]

... yes, sometimes I'm a trusting soul rather than the hard-bitten
cynic I usually appear to be.
And it was such a nice story I rather hoped it was true.

[corona]

'Spanner' means 'voyeur'
?Spanner? means ?one who stretches?

Which is it to be?
Maybe ?voyeur? is the way to go.

While pondering the above, the title for a film popped into my mind:
?Legs Wide Closed?

It has a certain ?Stanley Kubrick? ring to it.