AtD translation: a-thrum with excitement

[Jochen Stremmel]

I'd say it's like buzzing with excitement, only a bit more articulated,
rhythmic.

Am Do., 28. März 2019 um 11:22 Uhr schrieb Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com
>:

> 2 more cents worth....Others can weigh in as always.
>
> By writing "a-thrum with excitement", Pynchon has
> shifted the meaning away, a bit, from monotonous, from droning on.
> Yes there is a quick fine-tuned regular sound...but as 'a--thrum' it
> is more "alive" than drone-like I'd argue.
>
> On Thu, Mar 28, 2019 at 3:41 AM Mike Jing <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > Thanks for the reply, Douglas.
> >
> > I do understand how the word is formed and it's part of the wordplay,
> and I
> > also understand it's roughly equivalent to "thrumming". I was unsure
> about
> > its exact meaning here, and that's what I was asking.
> >
> > The most likely sense I have found for "thrum" is:
> > 3b. *intransitive*. To speak or read monotonously, to ‘drone’, mumble.
> > After looking through the various definitions again, I think that's
> > probably it.
> >
> > And unfortunately, wordplay like this is all but impossible to capture
> > across languages as different as English and Chinese. Something is
> > inevitably lost in the translation, but I do try to do the best I can.
> >
> >
> >
> > On Tue, Mar 26, 2019 at 10:27 AM Douglas Johnson <dmj at panix.com> wrote:
> >
> > > On Mar 26, 2019, at 07:58, Mike Jing wrote:
> > >
> > > >P255.1-6 Chick greeted his shipmates, who were a-thrum with excitement
> > > >
> > > >What does "a-thrum" mean?
> > >
> > > "A-thrum" is Pynchon playing with language. English occasionally uses
> > > the prefix "a-" to mean "in such a condition" Some examples are
> > > "aflutter," "aflame," and "acrawl."
> > >
> > > "Athrum" isn't a proper English word (in the sense of being found in
> the
> > > dictionary). Rather, "a-thrum" is the result of Pynchon combining the
> > > "a-" prefix with "thrum" in an inventive, playful manner. (In US
> > > English, it's not uncommon to hyphenate such a temporary compound
> rather
> > > than close it up.)
> > >
> > > In this case, "a-thrum" means (essentially) "thrumming." I'm curious
> how
> > > a translator would capture the wordplay here.
> > >
> > > --
> > > Douglas Johnson
> > > dmj at panix.com
> > > OpenPGP fingerprint: 3E0E 6D19 80BE A504 1C02  8E19 DB21 0C1A 8CB7 8135
> > > --
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> > >
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> >
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