In the third post, I wrote: I think that "snort-small_clubs" actually makes sense.
Some years ago I "copy and pasted" into a file on my PC, the following translation from somewhere on this discussion board. I have searched for the source but have been unable to find it. Most likely, it came from a now defunct private forum.
Die Kinder spielen auf den Säulgen -- The children play on the small pillars
Mit lauter schweren Schniebe-Käulgen -- with louder/nothing_but snort-small_clubs
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Säulgen --
From
Nuovo dizzionario italiano-tedesco e tedesco-italiano, an Italian-German Dictionary [1777], printed in Leipzig:
Säulgen = colonnetta, colonnetto
A colonnette is a small, thin, column [pillar].
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Schniebe --
From
A Grammar Of The German Language [1842], pages 424 and 425:
(INFINITIVE) -- (PRES. INDICATIVE) -- (IMP. INDIC.)
Schnieben -- ich schniebe, etc. -- ich schnob
Schnauben -- ich schnaube, or schnaube -- ich schnob
[ English = to snort ]
(IMP. SUBJ.) -- (IMPERATIVE) -- (PARTICIPLE)
ich schnöbe -- schniebe, or schnaube -- geschnoben
(REMARKS):
schnieben is poetical for schnauben
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Käulgen --
In posts by Tinhead and Stewart back in October of 2004,
http://www.besslerwheel.com/forum/viewt ... =6447#6447
[ Plus, Stewart's response that follows it ]
Säulgen = Säule & gen = a small pillar
Käulgen = Keule & gen (you are right, in this case äu = eu) = a small club ..
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So here we have two of the words in this particular passage that have caused some bewilderment for some translators / interpreters, clearly defined [and using
the exact spelling that Bessler used when he wrote them] from books published within 100 years of his demise.
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As far as
this interpretation of MT55 goes, the following translation might be closer ?
with loud, heavy, small, snorting clubs
[commas are simply for clarity]