Glossary entry (derived from question below)
German term or phrase:
Großraumgefängnis
English translation:
large communal prison cell
German term
Großraumgefängnis
Maybe I'm being silly, but I'm not sure how to understand 'Großraumgefängnis' - is it a) a large 'cell' where multiple inmates are held, or b) a prison used for prisoners from the whole region (i.e. 'Großraum')? And which ever it is, is there a concise English term for this?
In case it helps, here's the sentence it's taken from:
Das Gefängnis in der Zitadelle war vom 16. Jh. bis Anfang des 20. Jhs. in Gebrauch. Die Eingangshalle diente als Großraumgefängnis, in einem zweiten Gebäude befinden sich sechs individuelle Zellen.
Thanks in advance for your help! :-)
| 4 +2 | large communal prison cell |
Birgit Gläser
|
| 2 +2 | large prison chamber |
Jonathan MacKerron
|
| 4 | group cell |
Chris Foster
|
| 3 | open plan prison |
BrigitteHilgner
|
| 3 | Great Keep/don-jon |
freekfluweel
|
Jan 31, 2013 16:26: NGK changed "Level" from "Non-PRO" to "PRO"
PRO (3): BrigitteHilgner, Susanne Schiewe, NGK
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Proposed translations
large communal prison cell
"communal" as in "communal shower" not as in "community".
| Thanks Birgit - the website you provide seem to be exactly the type of text I'm aiming for! |
| agree |
philgoddard
20 mins
|
| agree |
Alison MacG
: or simply "common cell" http://www.heritagemalta.org/sites/oldprison/oldprisonhistor... http://www.heritagemalta.org/sites/oldprison/oldprisoncoll.h...
1 hr
|
Retired as of Jan 2019!
Native in: English
Works in: German to English, French to English
large prison chamber
'open prison chamber'
| Thank you Jonathon! This would also have worked in my context ... but (see my other comment) 'communal cell' seems to be what the Maltese tourist agencies themselves use, so I'm going to take that one! |
| agree |
Michael Martin, MA
: I think this is the only one appropriate in the historical context
8 hrs
|
| agree |
Phoebe Indetzki
1 day 2 hrs
|
Austria
b2b/economics/marketing/market research/
Native in: German 
Works in: German to English, French to German, English to German
open plan prison
| Thanks Brigitte! This sounds to me, though, like the whole prison is 'open plan' and inmates can move freely within the whole prison ... I think what I need is just one room... |
Netherlands
M.Sc. in Architecture, B.A.
Native in: Dutch 
Works in: Dutch to German, German to Dutch, English to Dutch, and 5 more.
Great Keep/don-jon
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_was_prison_like_in_the_mediev...
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Note added at 40 min (2013-01-31 16:47:17 GMT)
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don-jon (FR) --> dungeon (EN). But most of the times it wasn't really a dungeon but a large hall.
(Read the article)
| Thanks freekfluweel! Is "don-jon" a very common term that the general public would understand? I guess 'dungeon' is more common, but that (for me) doesn't seem to emphasise the multiple-inmates aspect. |
| neutral |
philgoddard
: Keep and donjon are wrong - they have nothing to do with prisoners. But dungeon is correct.
31 mins
|
United Kingdom
kompetente Fachübersetzung ins Englische
Native in: English (Variant: UK)
Works in: German to English, English
group cell
| Thanks Tecton! |
Discussion