Omri Ofek Luzon wrote:
Hi Everybody,
Hope I am asking this in the right forum, if not - please direct me.
I've been trying to understand the following sentence in a German text, maybe you can assist me. How would you translate it? What do you understand from it?
"Das sind die Tiere, welche die Kunst fertiggebracht haben, dauernd auf dem Trocknen zu leben, also aus dem körper und lebensfremden Stoff Luft einen körpereigenen zu bilden."
Thanks!
What it means is that they (the amphibians) were the first animals to perfect the art of living permanently on land (instead of in the water), by converting air into something that could be used by the body to support its life, instead of being something foreign to the body and to life in general (= lethal to marine organisms).
I don't have the patience to translate it well at the moment, but here is a very rough translation:
"These are the animals that perfected the art of living permanently on land, that is, turning the substance of air - which had been alien to the body and to life - into something that is a part of the body."