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er hun svær

English translation: portly // heavy build

23:55 Sep 27, 2007
Danish to English translations [Non-PRO]
Art/Literary - Linguistics / Old Danish?
Danish term or phrase: er hun svær
hun er af spansk Blod, derfor er hun svær
Esdena
United States
Local time: 01:27
English translation:portly // heavy build
Explanation:
my suggestion
Selected response from:

Suzanne Blangsted (X)
Local time: 22:27
Grading comment
Thank you very much. The word was not making too much sense in the sense of 'difficult' but heavy or rather well-fed makes more sense.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4portly // heavy build
Suzanne Blangsted (X)
3 +1she is difficult
Jande


Discussion entries: 1





  

Answers


1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
portly // heavy build


Explanation:
my suggestion

Suzanne Blangsted (X)
Local time: 22:27
Native speaker of: Native in DanishDanish, Native in EnglishEnglish
Grading comment
Thank you very much. The word was not making too much sense in the sense of 'difficult' but heavy or rather well-fed makes more sense.
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3 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +1
she is difficult


Explanation:
She is of Spanish blood, therefore she is difficult.

I offer this suggestion, because Spanish people are usually referred to as fiesty and smaller, rather than larger than the Danish. In general of course and of course I do not judge any individual person based on these generalisations.

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Note added at 20 hrs (2007-09-28 20:26:04 GMT)
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Here is the translation provided by the Hans Christian Andersen Foundation:

You must bow your heads prettily to that old duck yonder; she is the highest born of them all, and has Spanish blood, therefore, she is well off. Don't you see she has a red flag tied to her leg, which is something very grand, and a great honor for a duck; it shows that every one is anxious not to lose her, as she can be recognized both by man and beast.

http://www.andersenabc.org/index.dsp?area=27

http://www.andersenabc.org/index.dsp?area=37

Jande
Australia
Local time: 15:27
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Mads Grøftehauge: Could possibly be either, but I would guess this meaning. Context will tell. (Note: Text is almost certainly pre-1950s, judging from the capitalised noun).
7 hrs
  -> I'm pretty sure it's H. C. Andersen so there is proberly an official translation somewhere
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