611. Voss-" Das Mädchen das die rosige Wange nass geweint hat," the girl who made her rosy cheek wet with weeping. And Geszner-" Und sie warfen mit der gefallenen Frucht des Baumes ihn wach," and they (made him awake) awakened him, by throwing the fruit that had fallen from the tree at him. 612. Bass is an obsolete adj. and adv. the positive of the comparative besser, better. Poets still employ it sometimes for "very much:" Sie hat mir bass gefallen, she pleased me very much. 613. Habt Barmherzigkeit, have pity. Die Barmherzigkeit, fem. pity, compassion, mercy, from the adj. barmherzig, merciful, compassionate, which originally may have been warmherzig, warm-hearted, though Adelung derives it from the Latin misericors, which was originally translated armherzig (who has a heart for the poor), to which the Alemanni, a German tribe, prefixed their favourite particle be. 614. Verzeihen, to forgive, to pardon, is irr. : ich verzeihe, ich verzieh, ich habe vesziehen. It is formed of the insep. part. ver, and the verb zeihen, to accuse, to impeach; and strictly denotes only that the right to punish is waived. Verzeihen, therefore, is more complimentary than vergeben, to forgive. It supposes a right to punish in the person whose pardon we implore. Hence vergeben is used towards the Creator, who grants a free pardon, and does not merely waive his right to pardon. Luther translates Gospel of St. Matthew, vi. 12. Vergieb uns unsere Schulden, wie wir unsern Schuldigern vergeben, "forgive us debts as we forgive our debtors." 615. Ich hätte nimmer sie versucht, I never had attempted, I never should have attempted it. We often use the imperfect of the conjunctive instead of the conditional past or plusquamperfect of the conjunctive, to avoid the dragging auxiliaries, würde haben. Ich würde sie nimmer versucht haben. 616. Ekeln, to nauseate, as a reg. neut. verb, is construed with the dative of the person. Diese Speise ekelt mir, this food is nauseous to me, I nauseate this food. But as an impersonal, with the accusative, es ekelt mich, either with the genitive mich ekelt ihrer Thorheit, I am disgusted with their folly, or with the prepos. vor, and the dative, as here, wenn vor des Junkers Bette mich nicht geekelt hätte. 617. Herzenskind, child of my heart, sec. 570. 618. Die dunkelrauhen Backen, the dark rough cheeks, in allusion to their being hairy with age. We have two words for the cheek, die Backe and die Wange, both fem. The latter is the most elegant, because it denotes only the exterior part of the cheek, whilst Backe signifies the total mass of flesh which coustitutes the cheek inside and outside. Hence we say, ein Backenzahn, a molar tooth, a grinder, and not Wangenzaln; but we may say indifferently, Backengrubchen, or Wangengrübchen, a dimple on the cheek, because dimples are also seen on the outside.. 619. Schier, adv. which formerly signified quickly, suddenly, is now used only in the sense of almost, well nigh. But in some parts of Germany it is used as an adj. bright, shining, white, pure, unmixed; exactly the English "sheer." 620. Weider gut machen, to make it good again; to repair the mischief that has been done; to make amends for it. Seinen Fehler wieder gut machen, to repair one's fault. We select again one of Gellert's Fables, entitled Der Baur und sein Sohn (the Peasant and his Son). It runs thus: Ein guter dummer Bauerknabe, Den Junker Hans einst mit auf Reisen nahm, Und der Trotz seinem Herrn, mit einer Guten Gabe Recht dreist zu lügen, wieder kam, Ging, kurtz nach der vollbrachten Reise, Mit seinem Vater über Land. Fritz, der im Gehn recht Zeit zum Lügen fand, Log auf die unverschämste Weise. Zu seinem Unglück kam ein grosser Hund gerannt. Ihr mögt mirs glauben, oder nicht, So sag'ich euchs und jedem ins Gesicht, Dass ich einst einen Hund bey Haag gesehen habe, Wenn er nicht grösser war, als euer grösstes Pferd. Das, sprach der Vater, nimmt mich Wunder; Und werden keine Stunde gehn, So wirst du eine Brücke sehn. (Wir mussen selbst darüber gehn) (Denn überhaupt solls dort nicht gar zu richtig seyn,) An den stösst man wenn man denselben Tag gelogen, Der Bub'erschrack, so bald er diess vernommen. Wie gross sagt'ich dass er gewesen war? Wie euer grosses Pferd? Dazu will viel gehören. Der Hund jetzt fällt mirs ein, war erst ein halbes Jahr ; Dass er so gross als mancher Ochse war. Sie gingen noch ein gutes Stucke; Doch Fritzen schlug das Hertz. Wie konnt'es anders seyn ? Er sah nunmehr die richterische Brücke Und fühlte schon den Beinbruch halb. Ia, Vater, fing er an, der Hund von dem ich redte, War gross, und wenn ich ihn auch was vergrössert hätte, So war er doch viel grosser als ein Kalb. Die Brücke kömmt. Fritz! Fritz! wie wird dirs gehn ! Ach Vater! spricht er, seyd kein Kind, Und glaubt dass ich dergleichen Hund gesehn. Denn kurz und gut, eh wir darüber gehen. Der Hund war nur so gross wie alle Hunde sind. 66 A silly peasant's boy, whom Lord Jack once took with him on his travels, and who returned home with the talent of boldly telling untruths, as well as his master, went, shortly after this journey, with his father in the country. Frederick, who on the way found plenty of time for relating untruths, told them in the most impudent manner. For his misfortune a large dog came running up to them. "Yes, father," cried the impudent boy, you may believe me or not, but I tell you, and will tell any one to his face, that I once saw, near the Hague, close to the road to France, a dog, which I'll forfeit my honour if he was not bigger than your tallest horse." "That surprises me," said the father; "but every place has its wonders; we, for instance, shall not have gone one hour farther on our road, when you will see a bridge, and we have to cross it, by which many a man has been taken in, for in general it is said to be haunted. On this bridge there is a stone against which one stumbles, if one has told a lie on the same day, and one falls and instantly breaks one's leg." The boy was frightened when he heard this. "Ah!" said he, "don't walk so fast. But to return to the dog, of what size did I say he was? like your tall horse. That is saying a great deal. The dog, it now occurs to me, was only half-a-year old; but I would take my oath that he was as big as many an ox." They yet went a good way: but Frederick's heart was beating. How could it be otherwise? No one is fond of breaking a leg. He now beheld the bridge of judgment, and felt already half the pain of a broken leg. "Yes, father," he began, "the dog of which I spoke was large, and though I may have magnified a little, yet he actually was bigger than a calf." They got to the bridge. "Frederick! Frederick! how will it go with you?" The father walked before, but Frederick quickly detained him. "Ah! father," said he, " don't be so childish as to believe that I saw such a dog; for to make it short, before we cross the bridge, the dog was only as big as other dogs in general." 622. Ein guter dummer Bauerknabe, a (good) silly peasant's boy. The adj. Gut, here means stupid without being mischievous. Thus we call a plain honest man, but rather deficient in understanding, eine gute ehrliche Haut, (a good honest skin.) Ein guter Narr, a silly fool, who is not mischievously inclined. 623. Junker Hans, Lord Jack. Junker is properly a contraction of junger Herr, young lord. This title was anciently given only, as is still the case in England, to the sons of Dukes and Marquisses, but has long since been given to all the sons of every nobleman. A young nobleman on entering the military service is called Junker, until he obtains an officer's commission. And sometimes the word applies even to a grown-up nobleman, but always in a sneering way, as sec. 525: in Bürger's Ballad "Dem Junker Plump.' We also say of a nobleman who constantly lives on his estate in the country, er ist ein Landjunker. In Hamburg they call the youngest apprentice of a baker Junker, and in some sea-ports of the Baltic merchants were anciently named Junker; hence the Junkerhof, a commercial building at Dantzick, Junkeriren, or junkern, reg. neut. verb, to live merry like a young nobleman. May not the English "junketting" be derived from this verb? 623*. Hans, Jack, is the diminutive of Johann, John. 624. Trotz seinem Herrn, as well as his master, vying with his master. Der Trotz, es, e, masc. scorn, spite, arrogance, sauciness, hectoring, obstinacy; aus Trotz, out of spite; einem Trotz bieten, to defy one. Construed with the dative it means in spite of, notwithstanding: but here it is vying with, as well as; thus we say, er läuft Trotz einem Läufer, he runs as well, as fast, as a running footman. Modern writers consider it as an adverb, when it means notwithstanding. They spell it without a capital letter, and construe it with the genitive: trotz seines Reichthums ist er doch nicht glücklich, in spite of his wealth he is not happy. See trotzen, section 608. 626. Mit einer guten Gabe, with a good gift, with the happy talent, the word "happy" being used ironically. Gut here means perfect, complete, but may be explained as a sneer. Nach der vollbrachten Reise, after the performed journey; vollbracht, part. past of the irr. insep. comp. act. verb. vollbringen, to perform, to execute, to accomplish, to achieve. It follows the irregularities of bringen. Ich vollbringe, ich vollbrachte, ich habe vollbracht. We say, nach vollbrachter Arbeit ist gut ruhen, after the labour has been performed, rest is sweet. And Luther translates the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Romans, vii. 18, Wollen hab'ich wohl, aber vollbringen das Gute find'ich nicht, " to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good, I find not." The German verbs, formed with voll, are inseparable, when they denote completion or achieving, as here, and in vollziehen, to execute. Die vollziehende Gewalt, the executive power; vollführen, to fulfil; vollenden, to finish; vollstrecken, to execute a sentence. But they are separable whenever the adjective voll retains its meaning of "full." Thus we say, vollgiessen, to pour full. Ich giesse voll, ich goss voll, ich habe vollgegossen; and though active verbs compounded with voll govern the accusative of the thing, when used without voll they govern the accusative of the vessel or object which is filled by means of the verb, whenever they are employed with voll. Thus we say, without voll, ich giesse den Wein in das Glass, I pour the wine into the glass; ich schütte den Weitzern in den Sack, I put the wheat into the sack; but on using voll-ich giesse das Glass voll, I fill the glass; ich schütte den Sack voll, I fill the sack. They are elliptical expressions. Ein Glass vollgiessen, is ein Glass durch giessen voll machen, to make a glass full by pouring into it. See the adj. voll, section 531. |