Talk:Reichenau Island

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Bruckgraben

The lead paragraph contains the following two sentences:

The island is connected to the mainland by a causeway that was completed in 1838. Nevertheless, the island is separated from it by a 10-metre-wide Bruckgraben, which is spanned by a low road bridge that allows passage of ordinary boats but not of sailboats through its 95-metre course.

The word Bruckgraben has no meaning in the English language, and what its meaning might be is not at all evident either from its similarity to any English word or from the context. The result is that the meaning of the second of the two sentences quoted above is completely unintelligible. It raises but does not answer at least the following questions:

What is a Bruckgraben?
From what does the Bruckgraben separate the island? The wording of that sentence, especially introduced by "Nevertheless," implies that the Bruckgraben separates the island from the causeway, which was the last item mentioned in the preceding sentence and the natural antecedent of "it." But "it" may instead mean the mainland, which also is mentioned in the preceding sentence.

There may be other questions as well, but that is enough. Someone who knows both German and English needs to replace Bruckgraben with the equivalent English word or expression. Someone also needs to clarify what "it" is that is separated from the island by the Bruckgraben. I will add a Clarify tag to the article with a link to this comment.--Jim10701 (talk) 21:12, 21 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Bruckgraben is the name of the waterway that separates the island of Reichenau from Schopflen on the Reichenauer Damm causeway, so it should not be translated. Graben means ditch. Schopflen with its famous ruin of a 12th century castle (see de:Ruine_Schopflen) looks like it could have been a separate little island before the construction of the causeway, but literature refers to it as a former shoal that became site of the castle. But, obviously, the castle was not built in the water, which leads me to the conclusion that a small artificial island was created centuries ago at that site. When the Reichenauer Damm was completed, it seems that the waterway separating Reichenau Island from Schopflen was not filled but spanned by a small bridge. Unfortunately, online literature on this topic is scarce. One I find out more, I shall report here.--Ratzer (talk) 06:19, 25 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

This document mentions Schopflen and the causeway (there called dam, which seems to be an incorrect translation), but unfortunately it does not mention the Bruckgraben.--Ratzer (talk) 06:43, 25 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Would be useful to clarify the translation of the name Reichenau: Its derivation from Latin to English? The Alemannic name of the island was Sindleozesauua, but it was also simply known as Ow, Auua, 'island' (Latinized as Augia, later also Augia felix or Augia dives, hence Richenow, Reichenau). 109.204.31.158 (talk) 08:01, 1 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]