this post was submitted on 15 Sep 2026
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History

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67
Tournament shield featuring an owl with the inscription "Although I am the hated bird, I rather enjoy that." (hexbear.net)
submitted 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) by Keld@hexbear.net to c/history@hexbear.net
18 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

translation

"Or maybe it's meant to be "Although i am hated by birds, I rather enjoy that". The provided translations don't make much sense to me. Neither one really works with what is actually written. But my German is very bad and the provided translations would be provided by actual German speakers.

This one was likely made for "Hussar tournaments", which were a tradition of the HRE primarily under Ferdinand II where contestants jousted dressed as either Hussars or Turk.

Between bouts one wpuld change out their visor for either a "Turkish" visor, or a "Christian" visor. The visors looked like... uhhh

all 19 comments
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[–] SorosFootSoldier@hexbear.net 19 points 6 days ago (4 children)

Show me a man whom hates the owl and I will show you a liar.

[–] TUMBLE_BUS@hexbear.net 12 points 6 days ago (1 children)

A lot of American Indian cultures associate owls with death and think it's bad luck to look at an owl.

[–] SorosFootSoldier@hexbear.net 8 points 6 days ago (1 children)

nuuuh they are perfect birds!

[–] TUMBLE_BUS@hexbear.net 6 points 6 days ago (2 children)
[–] FlakesBongler@hexbear.net 4 points 6 days ago (1 children)

That was a really good show

Glad it didn't get canceled early

[–] TUMBLE_BUS@hexbear.net 3 points 6 days ago

I think it ended right where it should have.

I think it would be fun if they did a spin off movie revisiting the characters a few years later though.

[–] HexReplyBot@hexbear.net 1 points 6 days ago

I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:

[–] RobotToaster@mander.xyz 8 points 6 days ago (1 children)

The Greek Pagans associated them with wisdom, so medieval Christians considered them one of the devil's minions. Similar happened with the raven.

[–] CliffordBigRedDog@hexbear.net 6 points 6 days ago

The ancient Chinese identified them with a mythological bird monster that ate its own parents

The name for a Drug Lord in Chinese literally translates as "Drug Owl"

[–] buckykat@hexbear.net 8 points 6 days ago (1 children)
[–] HexReplyBot@hexbear.net 1 points 6 days ago

I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:

[–] FlakesBongler@hexbear.net 15 points 6 days ago

We have several users who could take this up as a catchphrase

[–] phr@discuss.tchncs.de 13 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

can you link to an article or smth. i'd love to see a translitteration of the origonal text. esp. the last part is hard to read from the foto.

[–] Keld@hexbear.net 12 points 6 days ago (1 children)

It says WIE•WOL•ICH•BIN•DER•VOGEL•HAS•NOCH•DEN•ERFRET•MICH•DAS according to the article https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/26884

[–] phr@discuss.tchncs.de 11 points 6 days ago (1 children)

ty! wasn't familiar enough with the script to not be confused. ~1500 is not my forte. :(

it says pretty much what you got there. but i could give some explanations? "wie wol" is still around today as "wiewohl", but pretty archaic. "der vogel has" is a pretty old construction. i'd translate it as "the hate(object) of the birds". "den" is aequivalent to "dann" in modern german (or in northern german often "denn"), not the article "den". "erfrēt" is "erfreut" in the modern standard. "wie wol … noch den …" is just "even though … still …"

i don't like "the hated bird" bc it doesn't say by whom. i would read that as "hated by the birds", hen again i might be projectin earlier stages of german into that.

[–] Keld@hexbear.net 10 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I got the erfreut thing, although admittedly just because it was the closest word I knew. Den works because den is still den in other languages.

For the rest I am listening, I am learning, I am remembering why I didn't take German in high school.

[–] phr@discuss.tchncs.de 6 points 6 days ago

texts that are 500 years old aren't the friendliest to a modern reader usually, high school educated or not. actually good job trying to make sense of it.:)

just one addition "noch den", odd as it is, lives on in the modern "dennoch". which i didn't see until just now.

[–] carpoftruth@hexbear.net 3 points 5 days ago

I read that as 500 year old German for "I am the one who knocks", including the self satisfaction in that statement