Maederlhaus

English translation: House of the Three Girls

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
German term or phrase:Maederlhaus
English translation:House of the Three Girls
Entered by: jccantrell

19:20 Mar 29, 2013
German to English translations [PRO]
Slang / Austrian German
German term or phrase: Maederlhaus
Hi folks.

Working on the memoir of a family friend who was born in Vienna before World War I and has since passed away. She is describing her early memories during WWI. She lived with her uncle while her father was in the army. She had two cousins (girls) who were about the same age. Here is the sentence.

Wir waren immer gleich gekleidet und wurden das "3 Maederlhaus" genannt.

Now, I have heard the term "Frauenzimmer" (used by my mother-in-law to refer to some of my brother-in-law's girlfriends), but never a whole house!

So, what is this referring to? The memoir is sort of written as if she were just talking to someone, so what would be an appropriate translation?

All contributions gratefully accepted.
jccantrell
United States
Local time: 02:01
House of the Three Girls
Explanation:
Perhaps an allusion to the operetta of the same name. Either way, I think the meaning is pretty straightforward.
Selected response from:

NGK
United States
Local time: 04:01
Grading comment
Thanks. I would never have found this. Also, while the three daughters response was appealing, I could not find that referenced in English anywhere while this one was. It will get a note in the final translation referring to the operetta in any case.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +4house of three daughters
Vicky Bayer
4 +3House of the Three Girls
NGK


Discussion entries: 2





  

Answers


6 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +3
Dreimäderlhaus
House of the Three Girls


Explanation:
Perhaps an allusion to the operetta of the same name. Either way, I think the meaning is pretty straightforward.


    Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Das_Dreim%C3%A4derlhaus
NGK
United States
Local time: 04:01
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in GermanGerman
PRO pts in category: 16
Grading comment
Thanks. I would never have found this. Also, while the three daughters response was appealing, I could not find that referenced in English anywhere while this one was. It will get a note in the final translation referring to the operetta in any case.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Wendy Streitparth
1 hr

agree  philgoddard
5 hrs

agree  Lonnie Legg
1 day 3 hrs
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11 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +4
3 Maederlhaus
house of three daughters


Explanation:
I am actually in Vienna, and am pretty sure that the term refers really to a household with three daughters, and that there was a film of this name "3Mäderlhaus" in 1958, of a Schubert Opera originally.

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Das_Dreimäderlhaus_(1958)
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Das_Dreimäderlhaus

Its a term used quite a bit here these days for hotels / Pensionen etc.

I guess what she is really trying to convey is that although the other two were cousins, they were perceived by the community as if they were sisters.

Vicky Bayer
Austria
Local time: 10:01
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Ines R.: in Bezug auf die Operette stimme ich fuer diese Option
1 hr

agree  Edith Kelly
10 hrs

agree  BrigitteHilgner
11 hrs

agree  Nicole Schnell
12 hrs
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