The Clouds

103 Pages·2006·0.87 MB·English

by  Aristophanes

THE CLOUDS

WEBSTER'S GERMAN THESAURUS
EDITION
for ESL, EFL, ELP, TOEFL®, TOEIC®, and AP® Test Preparation

Aristophanes
Translated by William James Hickie

TOEFL, TOEIC, AP and Advanced Placementare trademarks of the Educational Testing Service which has
neither reviewed nor endorsed this book. All rights reserved.
The Clouds
Webster's German
Thesaurus Edition

for ESL, EFL, ELP, TOEFL®, TOEIC®, and AP® Test
Preparation

Aristophanes
Translated by William James Hickie
TOEFL®, TOEIC®, AP® and Advanced Placement® are trademarks of the Educational Testing Service which
has neither reviewed nor endorsed this book. All rights reserved.
ii
ICON CLASSICS

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www.icongrouponline.com

The Clouds: Webster's German Thesaurus Edition for ESL, EFL, ELP, TOEFL®, TOEIC®, and AP® Test
Preparation

This edition published by ICON Classics in 2005
Printed in the United States of America.

Copyright ©2005 by ICON Group International, Inc.
Edited by Philip M. Parker, Ph.D. (INSEAD); Copyright ©2005, all rights reserved.

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which has neither reviewed nor endorsed this book. All rights reserved.

ISBN 0-497-25728-9
iii
Contents

PREFACE FROM THE EDITOR........................................................................................1

DRAMATIS PERSONAE...................................................................................................2

THE CLOUDS.................................................................................................................3

GLOSSARY...................................................................................................................74

Aristophanes 1

PREFACE FROM THE EDITOR

Webster’s paperbacks take advantage of the fact that classics are frequently assigned readings in
English courses. By using a running English-to-German thesaurus at the bottom of each page, this
edition of The Clouds by Aristophanes was edited for three audiences. The first includes German-
speaking students enrolled in an English Language Program (ELP), an English as a Foreign
Language (EFL) program, an English as a Second Language Program (ESL), or in a TOEFL® or
TOEIC® preparation program. The second audience includes English-speaking students enrolled in
bilingual education programs or German speakers enrolled in English speaking schools. The third
audience consists of students who are actively building their vocabularies in German in order to
take foreign service, translation certification, Advanced Placement® (AP®)1 or similar
examinations. By using the Webster's German Thesaurus Edition when assigned for an English
course, the reader can enrich their vocabulary in anticipation of an examination in German or
English.

Webster’s edition of this classic is organized to expose the reader to a maximum number of
difficult and potentially ambiguous English words. Rare or idiosyncratic words and expressions are
given lower priority compared to “difficult, yet commonly used” words. Rather than supply a single
translation, many words are translated for a variety of meanings in German, allowing readers to
better grasp the ambiguity of English, and avoid them using the notes as a pure translation crutch.
Having the reader decipher a word’s meaning within context serves to improve vocabulary
retention and understanding. Each page covers words not already highlighted on previous pages. If
a difficult word is not translated on a page, chances are that it has been translated on a previous
page. A more complete glossary of translations is supplied at the end of the book; translations are
extracted from Webster’s Online Dictionary.

Definitions of remaining terms as well as translations can be found at www.websters-online-
dictionary.org. Please send suggestions to [email protected]

The Editor
Webster’s Online Dictionary
www.websters-online-dictionary.org
1 T O E F L ® , T O E I C ® , A P ® a n d A d v a n c e d P l a cement® are trademarks of the Educational Testing Service which
has neither reviewed nor endorsed this book. All rights reserved.
2 The Clouds
DRAMATIS %PERSONAE

Strepsiades
Phidippides
Servant of Strepsiades
Disciples of Socrates
Socrates
Chorus of Clouds
Just Cause
Unjust Cause
Pasias
Amynias
Witness
Chaerephon
Aristophanes 3

THE CLOUDS

SCENE—The interior of a sleeping-apartment: STREPSIADES,
PHIDIPPIDES, and two servants are in their beds; a small house is seen at a
distance. Time: midnight.%

STREPSIADES.
[sitting up in his bed]. Ah me! Ah me! O King Jupiter, of what a terrible
length the nights are! Will it never be day? And yet long since I heard the
cock. My domestics are snoring; but they would not have done so
heretofore! May you perish then, O war! For many reasons; because I may
not even punish my domestics. Neither does this excellent youth awake
through the night; but takes his ease, wrapped up in five blankets. Well, if it
is the fashion, let us snore wrapped up.
[Lies down, and then almost immediately starts up again.]
But I am not able, miserable man, to sleep, being tormented by my expenses,
and my stud of horses, and my debts, through this son of mine. He with his
long hair, is riding horses and driving curricles, and dreaming of horses;
while I am driven to distraction, as I see the moon bringing on the
twentieths; for the interest is running on. Boy! Light a lamp, and bring forth
my tablets, that I may take them and read to how many I am indebted, and
calculate the interest.

German
awake: wach, erwachen, munter, dreaming: Träumend. bestrafe, strafen, straft, strafst, strafe,
aufwachen. heretofore: bis jetzt, vordem. ahnden, züchtigen, ahndest.
blankets: Decken, Bettdecken. indebted: verschuldet, schuldig, snore: schnarchen.
calculate: berechnen, berechnest, verpflichtet sein an, verpflichtet, snoring: schnarchend, Schnarchen,
berechne, berechnet, kalkulieren, verbindlich. Geschnarch.
kalkuliere, kalkulierst, kalkuliert, lamp: Lampe, die Lampe, Laterne. stud: Stiftschraube, Hengst, Gestüt,
rechnen, rechne, rechnet. perish: umkommen, kommt um, Pfosten, Springer, Deckhengst,
cock: Hahn, Gockel. kommst um, kommen um, komme Gestüthengst.
debts: Schulden, Schuld. um, untergehen, gehe unter, geht tablets: Tabletten.
distraction: Ablenkung, Erholung, unter, gehen unter, zu Grunde gehen, twentieths: zwanzigst.
Zerstreutheit. gehst unter. wrapped: hüllte ein, eingewickelt,
domestics: Hausangestellten. punish: bestrafen, bestrafst, bestraft, übernommen.
4 The Clouds
[Enter BOY with a light and tablets.]
Come, let me see; what do I owe? Twelve minae to Pasias. Why twelve minae
to Pasias? Why did I borrow them? When I bought the blood-horse. Ah me,
unhappy! Would that it had had its eye knocked out with a stone first!
PHIDIPPIDES.
[talking in his sleep] You are acting unfairly, Philo! Drive on your own
course.%
STREPSIADES.
This is the bane that has destroyed me; for even in his sleep he dreams about
horsemanship.
PHIDIPPIDES.
How many courses will the war-chariots run?
STREPSIADES.
Many courses do you drive me, your father. But what debt came upon me
after Pasias? Three minae to Amynias for a little chariot and pair of wheels.
PHIDIPPIDES.
Lead the horse home, after having given him a good rolling.
STREPSIADES.
O foolish youth, you have rolled me out of my possessions; since I have
been cast in suits, and others say that they will have surety given them for
the interest.
PHIDIPPIDES.
[awakening] Pray, father, why are you peevish, and toss about the whole
night?
STREPSIADES.
A bailiff out of the bedclothes is biting me.
PHIDIPPIDES.
Suffer me, good sir, to sleep a little.

German
bailiff: Gerichtsvollzieher, Schultheiß, Karren. possessions: Eigentums, Hab und
Gerichtsdiener, Deichgraf. foolish: dumm, albern, töricht, Gut, Eigentümer, Eigentum, Besitze,
bane: Verderben, Ruin. unklug, närrisch, idiotisch, verrückt, Besitz, Besessenheit, Wahn.
bedclothes: Bettlaken, Leinen, einfältig, blödsinnig, blöde. rolled: gerollt.
Bettleinen. horsemanship: Reitkunst. rolling: Rollen, rollend, Wanken.
biting: beißend, beißen, beißende, owe: schulden, schulde, schuldest, suits: passt.
zubeissend. schuldet, schuldig sein. surety: Bürgschaft, Sicherheit.
borrow: borgen, entlehnen, leihen, peevish: verdrießlich, reizbar, verückt, toss: werfen, Wurf.
ausleihen, zur Ausleihe bekommen, verdrossen, übellaunig, schlecht unfairly: unfair.
verleihen, etwas von jemadem gelaunt, nörgelig, mürrisch, launisch, unhappy: unglücklich, unzufrieden,
geliehen haben, darleihen. launenhaft, schlechtgelaunt ohne traurig.
chariot: Streitwagen, Fuder, Fuhre, Grund. wheels: Räder.
Aristophanes 5
STREPSIADES.
Then, do you sleep on; but know that all these debts will turn on your head.%
[PHIDIPPIDES falls asleep again.]
Alas! Would that the match-maker had perished miserably, who induced me to
marry your mother. For a country life used to be most agreeable to me, dirty,
untrimmed, reclining at random, abounding in bees, and sheep, and oil-
cake. Then I, a rustic, married a niece of Megacles, the son of Megacles, from
the city, haughty, luxurious, and Coesyrafied. When I married her, I lay with
her redolent of new wine, of the cheese-crate, and abundance of wool; but
she, on the contrary, of ointment, saffron, wanton-kisses, extravagance,
gluttony, and of Colias and Genetyllis. I will not indeed say that she was idle;
but she wove. And I used to show her this cloak by way of a pretext and say
"Wife, you weave at a great rate."
[SERVANT re-enters.]
SERVANT.
We have no oil in the lamp.
STREPSIADES.
Ah me! Why did you light the thirsty lamp? Come hither that you may weep!
SERVANT.
For what, pray, shall I weep?
STREPSIADES.
Because you put in one of the thick wicks.
[SERVANT runs out]
After this, when this son was born to us, to me, forsooth, and to my excellent
wife, we squabbled then about the name: for she was for adding hippos to
the name, Xanthippus, or Charippus, or Callipides; but I was for giving him
the name of his grandfather, Phidonides. For a time therefore we disputed;
and then at length we agreed, and called him Phidippides. She used to take
this son and fondle him, saying, "When you, being grown up, shall drive
your chariot to the city, like Megacles, with a xystis." But I used to say, "Nay,

German
abounding: strotzend, wimmelnd, gönnerhaft, überheblich, Scheingrund, Umschweif.
reichlich vorhanden. selbstgefällig, hoffärtig, herablassend, reclining: lehnend, legend,
extravagance: Übertriebenheit, anmaßend, geringschätzig, zurücklehnend.
Extravaganz. geringschätzend, aufgebläht. redolent: stark duftend nach.
fondle: streicheln, liebkosen, hither: hierher, nach hier, hierhin, rustic: ländlich, bäuerisch,
hätscheln, streichle, streichelst, hüben. ungeschliffen, grobschlächtig, grob,
streichele, liebkost, liebkosst, ointment: Salbe, Balsam. flegelhaft, ungeschickt, schwerfällig,
liebkose, streichelt. perished: kamt um, kamst um, kamen lümmelhaft, dörflich, derb.
forsooth: wahrlich. um, kam um, umgekommen, gingt saffron: Safran, Safrangelb,
gluttony: Völlerei, Gefräßigkeit, unter, gingst unter, ging unter, Safranartig.
Fresserei, Gier, Fresssucht. untergegangen, gingen unter. squabbled: gezankt.
haughty: hochmütig, stolz, pretext: Vorwand, Ausflucht, wove: weben, webte.