Stammbau

English translation: family den/lair/shelter

18:29 May 13, 2019

German to English translations [PRO]
Social Sciences - Psychology / story for anxious children; General, Conversation

German term or phrase: Stammbau

A therapeutic story for children. The mother of the beaver family has suddenly lost her job, leaving the little Bene Biber distraught:

Die Mutter erzählt beim Abendessen oft vom Bau des neuesten Stammbaus - doch eines Tages ist sie beim Abendessen still und wirkt traurig.

It's certainly not a "family tree" (Stammbaum). The only thing I can imagine is that it refers to the "construction project" of a beaver dam. This is from Switzerland.

Susan Welsh KudoZ activity Questions: 524 (none open) (22 closed without grading) Answers: 462 United States
Local time: 21:34

English translation:family den/lair/shelter

Explanation:
In German, beavers (and foxes also) live in a Bau (z.B. Fuchsbau). It's a place that they build themselves out of twigs and pieces of wood, mostly on the water, but it is not necessarily a dam.

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Note added at 15 mins (2019-05-13 18:45:27 GMT)
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.. in that it does not necessarily stop water from flowing through. So I would avoid the word dam.

Selected response from:

Claudia Letizia
Germany
Local time: 03:34

Grading comment

I just put "beaver den," with thanks to Claudia as the first person to vouch for the fact that that is the general idea, not something more arcane. Thanks to everybody.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

4 +1

family den/lair/shelter

Claudia Letizia

gathering place/community center or (simply) home

Ramey Rieger (X)

family nest

David Hollywood

Discussion entries: 12

Teresa Reinhardt

United States

15:37 May 15, 2019

Bei der "Moral von der Geschichte" geht es ja wohl in erster Linie um die plötzliche Arbeitslosigkeit und evtl. Folgen...da passt "Familien..." von der Logik doch nicht so gut, oder? Sowas merken Kinder...während die Erwachsenen mit der wortwörtlichen Übersetzung eines Wortteils kämpfen. Just a thought.

Susan Welsh

United States

ASKER

There's no more context

10:09 May 14, 2019

It's a marketing blurb for a children's book (to be used with anxious children). Precise translation with respect to biology/animal behavior is not necessary.
The father then tells the little beaver that Mama has lost her job.

José Patrício

Portugal

09:05 May 14, 2019

Damm Teich trockenen Bäumen log Haus Biber in Ushuaia - https://www.google.com/search?ei=_oHaXJ9hkZ5Qw1w&q=Damm, Bib...

Ramey Rieger (X)

Germany

Good morning Susan!

08:17 May 14, 2019

Can you tell us if the mother is talking about another, special, beaver dam other than the one they live in? Is it a community project? Beaver's homes are called dams, that's clear, and avoiding dam in a beaver context is odd. The 'Stamm' bit infers this is a special dam, perhaps for the 'tribe'?

franglish

Switzerland

Agree with Susanne,

07:17 May 14, 2019

it's a wordplay on Stamm and Bau, i.e. Stammbau and their respective meaning. Difficult to translate, though. Beavers build so-called lodges. Maybe "Family tree trunk lodge".

David Hollywood

23:48 May 13, 2019

wir bräuchten mehr Zusammenhang... sonst ganz schön schwierig...

Björn Vrooman

Agree with Esther, basically

21:25 May 13, 2019

I have family in Switzerland, so I know there may be some words I'm not familiar with, but this is a bit weird.

Not sure what Esther thinks, but "Bau des ...baus" sounds odd anyways.

Yes, German is known for its repetitiveness (from an ENS perspective), but I'd consider this bad style.

Best

Susanne Gläsel

Germany

19:09 May 13, 2019

Ich könnte mir auch vorstellen, dass es einfach ein erfundenes Kompositum ist, dass demnach die Worte Stamm und Bau kombiniert. Der Bau des Bibers wird ja quasi aus Stämmen (Baumstämmen) gebaut und der Autor der Geschichte hat daraus dann einfach das Kompositum Stammbaum gemacht. (https://www.kindernetz.de/oli/tierlexikon/biber/-/id=74994/v...

José Patrício

Portugal

18:52 May 13, 2019

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqfRXz7NDg0

Susanne Gläsel

Germany

18:48 May 13, 2019

Hallo Susan,

es ist vielleicht ein bisschen weit hergeholt, aber zufälligerweise gibt es in der Schweiz ein Unternehmen namens Stamm Bau AG. Vielleicht wurde der Name für das Dammbauprojekt in der Geschichte deshalb an den Unternehmensnamen angelehnt. Am besten wäre es natürlich, wenn du deinen Auftraggeber fragen könntest, ob mehr hinter dem Namen steckt.

José Patrício

Portugal

18:43 May 13, 2019

Stamm means anterior, from beginning. The sense here is the new construction (Bau), the beave dam

Esther Pugh

United States

Dammbau?

18:43 May 13, 2019

Eventuell ein Schreibfehler? Biber sind für Dammbauten bekannt. Dazu werden zwar Baumstämme und Geäst etc. verwendet, aber Stammbau habe ich noch nie gehört ..... könnte mit Dammbau oder evtl. mit Staudamm verwechselt worden sein.

Answers

14 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

family den/lair/shelter

Claudia Letizia
Germany
Local time: 03:34
Works in field
Native speaker of:

English,

Italian
PRO pts in category: 4

Grading comment

I just put "beaver den," with thanks to Claudia as the first person to vouch for the fact that that is the general idea, not something more arcane. Thanks to everybody.

5 hrs confidence:

family nest

Explanation:
Die Mutter erzählt beim Abendessen oft vom Bau des neuesten Stammbaus

At dinner, mum often talks about building/constructing the latest family nest

just a stab at it without more context...

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Note added at 5 hrs (2019-05-13 23:56:56 GMT)
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I know beavers build dams (whether they leak or not) but we really need to see th.e surrounding text to be more specific...

David Hollywood
Local time: 22:34
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 14

16 hrs confidence:

gathering place/community center or (simply) home

Explanation:
Stamm leads me to believe it's more of a community center (also a possibility). We don't know if she's sad because she's an architect/construction worker or she lost her job, so can no longer finance the new home she's building.

Ramey Rieger (X)
Germany
Local time: 03:34
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 60

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English translation: family den/lair/shelter

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