More questions for the German speakers

[ffutures]

I know I said I was finished with the German stuff, but it comes into the space thing too. Can anyone suggest phrases in 19th century German meaning "Imperial Prussian Space Corps" and "Imperial Lunar Expedition", also "Space Cannon" and "Manned Space Projectile" or similar?

Also, was the Kaiser the nominal head of the armed forces as well as head of state, as in the UK?

Finally, I am, I sincerely hope, right to think that "The Eagle" would be "Der Adler"?

Thanks, as ever...

Comments

[dungeoneer.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure the Kaiser was commander-in-chief. Wilhelm II was certainly fond of his military.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Blimey, that was fast - I was still editing and reposting the entry because I'd forgotten a couple of questions!

I think it's likely he was the commander, but it never hurts to be sure.

[dungeoneer.livejournal.com]

No worries. Adler is German for 'eagle', but I can't remember the gender of the noun, so it could be die Adler or das Adler, I don't know.

For some reason the term 'Kaiserlichmondexpedition' seems wonderfully over the top.

[dungeoneer.livejournal.com]

Nope. You were right. It's 'der Adler'. Just looked it up.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[the-monkey-king.livejournal.com]

Die Raumkanone = space cannon

Kaiserlichemondexpedition = Imperial lunar expedition (note the extra "e" to denote the possessive)

Preußische Reichsraumkorps = Imperial Prussian space corps

Found in frabjousdave's flist. Sounds like a fun project you've got going on, whatever it is.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Many thanks - it's for Forgotten Futures, a Victorian SF role playing game I publish on line and on CD-ROM - the bit I'm writing now is an 1895 space race, American high-tech versus German "build it big and heavy and 50% over-specified" versus British eccentricity versis Eastern mysticism. First on the moon gets the prize.

http://wwww.forgottenfutures.co.uk will tell you more than you want to know about it...

If you want to give me a name I'll add it to the acknowledgements. Many thanks indeed.

[the-monkey-king.livejournal.com]

Neat! If you want to add me to the acknowledgements, I'm Wolfgang Baur.

But really, my contribution is pretty small here. I've stumbled across Forgotten Futures once or twice, as I'm a retro SF fan. I had no idea there was a blog, glad I found you.

I like the X-Prize for the 19th century premise.

[dungeoneer.livejournal.com]

Forgot the possessive. Quite right.

Should it not be Weltraum rather than just Raum, though, to denote outer space? Not quite sure of the level of precision called for.

[the-monkey-king.livejournal.com]

If you want to pad it out, sure Weltraum is correct. But spaceship is "Raumschiff" rather than "Weltraumschiff", and both are correct for "space".

[dungeoneer.livejournal.com]

I stand corrected!

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

Not necessarily, "Space" as in outer space itself is "Weltraum" but in combinations it's reduced to "Raum". Just like the_monkey_king says below, it's Raumschiff, Raumfahrt (space travel) etc.

Slight correction from the native speaker ;o)

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

- Kaiserliche Mondexpedition
- Preußisches Reichsraumkorps (with article: Das preußische Reichsraumkorps) or the full translation from the above: "Kaiserlich preußisches Raumkorps"
- Der Adler is correct.
- "Bemanntes Raumgeschoß" would be a reasonable translation for "manned space projectile"; Raumkanone is correct.

Re: Slight correction from the native speaker ;o)

[sirernest.livejournal.com]

Kaiserlich Preussisches Weltraumkorps please. Do not forget to capitalise all things Preussisch *G*
And manically shortening every word hadn't caught on yet by that time, so it's Weltraum or even (poetically) Weltenraum, not just Raum most of the time.
And yes, Weltenraum was in use, even as late as the 1920s/1930s still.