any preposition. Er hat die Tasche voll Geld, he has his pocket full of money. Sie brachte eine Schürtze voll Kirschen, she brought an apron full of cherries; or, lastly, we add the syllable er to "voll," and use again the substantive undeclined, and without a preposition. Sie ist voller Neugier, she is full of curiosity; er ist voller Unruhe, he is full of uneasiness. We had, sec. 482, " Du bist gesund und reich, und dennoch voller Klagen," full of complaints. 533. Es schien ihn fast zu plagen, it appeared almost to plague him, to distress him; he felt himself nearly as distressed. Fast, adv. almost. The two German adverbs, fast and beynahe, answer the English almost and nearly. The latter denotes a very near approximation to completion, though the action was not commenced. Ich hätte beynahe meine Nachtmütze statt meinen Hut aufgesetzt, I had nearly put my night-cap on instead of my hat. Ich habe fast die ganze Flasche geleeret, I have almost emptied the whole bottle. Here the approximation is so great, that the action of emptying the bottle had actually commenced, though it was not completed. 534. Als hätt'er wen erschlagen, as had he some one killed, as if he had: if the wenn (if) were not omitted, the construction would be, als wenn er wen erschlagen hätte. As the pronoun relative welcher may be employed to express some," the poet here, by the some analogy, uses wen, the accusative of the pron. interr. wer, who, for some one. Both expressions are rather antiquated, and only fit for poetry. 66 535. Er sprengte dass es Funken stob hinunter, he gallopped down so that the sparks flew about. Hinuntersprengen, reg. sep. comp. to gallop down in the direction from the speaker, or agent. Ich sprenge hinunter, ich sprengte hinunter, ich habe hinunter gesprengt. The poet uses hinunter, down, because the ancient castles were generally on hills or rising grounds. Sprengen is properly the active of the neuter verb springen, to leap, and means to blow up, to force, to break open; just as we had, sinken, senken, sec. 42; trinken, tränken, sec. 243. But mit dem Pferde sprengen, is to ride full gallop; and as the poet makes the knight demand his horse in the first line of the ballad, it is evident that the words mit dem Pferde, are here understood. Dass, conj. that, is also employed for auf dass, in order that, and so dass, so that, as here. 536. Es stob Funken, it scattered sparks, the sparks flew about from the shoes of the horse, gallopping over the pavement of the castle-yard. The es is here considered as the agent; we shall have occasion to notice it presently. Stieben, irr. act. and neut. to scatter, to disperse, to fly about. Ich stiebe, ich stob, ich bin gestoben. We also say, es stiebt, of a very small rain; in some parts of Germany es stübet; and of a very small snow, es stöbert. der Funke, or der Funken, ens, pl. die Funken, subs. masc. a spark of fire. 537. Und als er kaum den Blick erhob, and as he scarcely lifted up his eyes. The conj. als throws the verb behind; if the sentence began with kaum, the construction would be kaum erhob er den Blick. 538. Eine Zofe, fem. a lady's-maid, a waiting-woman. It is generally, though not here, used in a bad sense, like the English" Abigail." It is also the French Soubrette, the lady's-maid in comedies. 539. Sieh da! Siehe da! Sieh! Siehe! lo! behold! Poets also use schau! schauet! for the same interjection. We had in Wieland's Oberon, sec. 479: "Und siehe da! mein Bruder liegt, vom Pferde 540. Zusammen schrak der Rittersmann, is the same poetical license which we had in Goethe, laut auflachten die Mädchen, sec. 524, zusammenschrecken being a sep. comp. which in the impf. should have been er schrak zusammen. See zusummen, sec. 355. Shrecken, neut. and act. to terrify, to be frightened, follows, when neut. the irregularities of erschrecken, sec. 297. 541. Es packt'ihn, wie mit Krallen, an, it seized him as with claws. The pronoun Es is here, as above, es stob Funken, a mysterious invisible agent. Like the indefinite poetical infinitive of the Latins, which seems to point at something awfully mysterious, this es throws a veil upon the cause, and thus heightens the effect. Schiller is particularly fond of this vague pronoun, as an unknown agent. Anpacken, reg. sep. act. comp. to lay hold of, to seize, to catch, to attack. 542. Hat mich her beschieden would be the construction in prose; the zum letztenmal could not be interpolated. Bescheiden, irr. insep. act. comp. to appoint to assign, to summon, to send, from scheiden, to part; ich bescheide, ich beschied, ich habe beschieden, to appoint to the place where we are. The maid being arrived at the knight's castle, says, of course, herbeschieden, sent hither. 543. Zuschwören, to promise with an oath. 544. Flucht'er laut, he swore, he cursed aloud, is an elliptical expression for, he said aloud cursing. 545. Wo Karl dir noch gelüstet, if Charles is still longed after by thee, if you still think of Charles. Wo, where, is used here instead of the condit. conj. wenn, if. Two lines lower, wo is the real adv. of place, “where.” Gelüsten, reg. neut. to long, to have a desire, to list. Wenn es Ihnen gelüstet, if you like it, if it be agreeable to you. 546. So sollst du tief ins Burgverlies, you shall deep into the castle dungeon, is again an ellipsis, where " or go" "be thrown" must be understood. Das Burgverlies, neut. the lowest dungeon of a castle. Ein Verlies, neut. an abyss, a place where people disappear when thrown into. 547. Rasten, reg. neut. with haben, to rest from fatigue in order to resume your labour. Bis dass, until that; the French, jusqu'à ce que. But we also say simply bis before a verb. Ich nieder ihn gemacht, ausgerissen,-nachgeschmissen, omitting the auxiliary verb haben. Nieder ihn gemacht is a poetical license: in prose it is bis ich ihn niedergemacht. Niedermachen, to knock down, to defeat, is a sep. comp. Ich mache nieder, ich machte nieder, ich habe niedergemacht. 548. Zagen, reg. neut. verb, with haben, to despond, to hesitate, from fear or pusillanimity. Zucken, reg. neut. verb with haben, to have a convulsive motion. 549. Vergehen, irr. neut. comp. verb, to perish, exactly like the Latin perire. The German insep. particle ver bears, indeed, a great affinity to the Latin per. Gehen (ire), vergehen (perire), "ire ita ut nunquam redeas." 550. Wobei er mein gedenke, whereby he is to remember me. Verbs of reminiscence and forgetfulness govern the genitive, which in the prou. pers. of the first person is meiner, contracted here into mein. Thus, instead of ver giss meiner nicht, we may say, vergiss mein nicht; whence the name of the flower, forget-me-not. 551. Laub und Staub, foliage and dust, is again one of those chiming expressions which we have so frequently noticed, and which Bürger, in particular, is very fond of. Bisz is an antiquated expression for sey, imperative "be." 552. We continue Bürger's Ballad of the Elopement : "Risch auf und fort!"-Wie Sporen trieb Tief holt'er wieder Luft und rieb Dann schwenkt' er hin und her sein Ross Dass ihm der Schweiss vom Buge floss, Und den Entschluss gewonnen. Draufliess er heim sein Silbehrorn Als nun die Nacht Gebirg' und Thal Da horch Ein süsser Liebeston Kam leis' empor geflogen. "Ho, Trudchen, ho! Da bin ich schon! Risch auf! Dich angezogen! Ich, ich, dein Ritter, rufe dir; Geschwind,' geschwind' herab zu mir! Schon wartet dein die Leiter. Mein Klepper bringt dich weiter." "Ach nein, du Herzens Karl, ach nein! |