as I do you. If you have learnt nothing with me, remember, at least, this one lesson. O then will contentment infallibly follow you on every step! Come only up to me to-morrow morning, and see whether I shall not dress myself from head to foot quicker than you, without grumbling at the little trouble. You, who so readily gave up your sleep for me, though ever so sweet to you, and carried the lantern before me through the high snow with so much pleasure, when I went almost every night to see her who now happily is mine, and crossed with you in the dark, through rivers and woods, in hot and cold weather, you soon must, were they ever so rare, meet with a master, who henceforth will be your friend, as I was, and reward you for that, for which, alas! I can only thank you. 930. Endlich muss ich doch es einmal sagen, at length I must however say it for once, viz. at length I must however declare. The einmal" once, for once," is an expletive, the weight and importance of which are readily felt by an Englishman, as it insinuates the idea, "to have done with it;" but it would be impossible to explain it to a Frenchman: une fois does not recal the idea of une bonne fois pour toutes. Verschweigen, irr. insep. act. comp. verb, (which follows the irregularities of the neuter verb Schweigen, to be silent, sec. 683, with haben,) to keep back what one knows; not to divulge; to be silent on a subject. The insep. particle ver, here, serves only to convert the neuter schweigen into an active. verb. We say, er kann nichts verschweigen, he can keep nothing secret; er kann nicht schweigen. he cannot be silent, he cannot hold his tongue. Verhehlen is to conceal, to prevent a thing being known from interested motives. Lessing says, "Ich sage, aufrichtig, (I say, with sincerity,) nicht weil Sie es mir, verhehlen würden, wenn er nicht damit zufrieden wäre, sondern weil sie mir vielleicht verschweigen dürften, wie sehr er damit zufrieden ist." The adj. verschweigen is discreet. Naht der letzt' heran, contr. for der letzte heran, the last is approaching. Herannahen, sep. neut. comp. verb, to approach, to draw near; made of heran, and nahen, to approach, which is seldom used. We may say die Zeit nahet, the time draws near; but we generally use die Zeit nahet heran, the time is approaching. Both verbs are conjugated with seyn. 931. Kahl, adj. and adv. bare, thread-bare, as here; naked, bald, barren, empty, idle, frivolous, poor, sorry, paltry, cold, meagre, flat, stale, jejune, pitiful, stingy. The connexion in which it stands points out its meaning. Dennoch, conj. yet, however, differs from doch, by referring with more certainty, less vaguely, to an antecedent proposition, whether it be understood or expressed, and which seems in opposition to it; as here, wie so oft du auch den Schneider rufest, though you call the tailor ever so often; dennoch, yet, riefst du doch für mich ihn nicht, you did, however, not call him for me; the doch, which is added, is a mere expletive which strengthens the idea. Dennoch has a greater energy than doch, and is less familiar. The latter often answers the English though, in the familiar, and perhaps incorrect expression: "I'll do it, though," viz. in spite of your dissuading it. 932. An dem Renettenbaum, by or near the apple-tree. Die Renette, sub. fem. or, der Renetapfel, sub. masc. a kind of apple of the pippin species. We call the golden pippin, die Englische Renette, and we have die graue Renette, and die Königs renette. They are very fine apples. The name is derived from the French rainette, sub. fem. which is an excellent species of apples thus called from the small red or grey spots with which they are marked, like the green frog, called in French une raine, and in the diminutive, une rainette. 933. Meinen Aktenriemen statt den Zaum, my leather string for my papers instead of a bridle. Der Riemen, sub. masc. a strap, a leather string or thong. Akten or Acten, from the Latin Acta, pl. are the papers belonging to any legal proceedings, depositions, &c. and Aktenriemen, the strap which holds them together when they are carried from the lawyer's house to the court. Hence the archives or rolls, the places where public acts and judicial papers are deposited, is das Acten behältniss. Statt is properly the preposition anstatt, instead of, which governs the genitive, as in the next line, statt der Peitsche, instead of the whip. The poet here uses it as a conjunction, and construes it with the accusative, which is a poetical license. that 934. Das geht durch's Mark! cont. for durch das Mark, goes through the marrow; viz. that goes to the heart. Das Mark, sub. neut. marrow. We figuratively say of any thing that affects us very much, that comes home to our feelings, das geht, or dringt durch Mark und Bein, that penetrates through marrow and bones; that finds its way to the heart; makes a very painful impression. 935. Sind dagegen Quark, are nothing against it; compared with it. Dagegen, adv. there against; in comparison with it. Ich habe nichts dagegen, I have nothing to say against it. When it is a conjunction, it means but; on the contrary; in opposition to this. Er ist zwar mein Feind, dagegen aber habe ich dich zum Freunde; he is my enemy, it is true; but in opposition to this, I have a friend in you. Der Quark, sub. masc. the curd or curds of milk; quagmire; a thing of no value, as here. 936. Meinen Blessen, my horse with a white spot in the forehead. We call Blässe, sub. fem. any pale or white spot in the forehead and legs of animals, and particularly of horses, and Blässe, sub. masc. (not Blesse, as here, since the word comes from blass, adj. pale) any horse that has such a mark or spot. We now recapitulate the most essential remarks which we have offered on the German language and in the same order, with the view to supply any important omission. 937.-1. With respect to Articles; the distinct inflexions of both articles definite and indefinite are highly favourable to inversions, and enable us to construe any simple sentence in which the words are employed in the nominative, genitive, dative, and accusative, and are of the masculine gender, in five different ways: "The king gave the hat of the young prince to the valet." 1. Der König gab dem Kammerdiener den Hut des jungen Fürsten. 2. Den Hut des jungen Fürsten gab der König dem Kammerdiener. 3. Dem Kammerdiener gab der König den Hut des jungen Fürsten. 4. Der König gab den Hut des jungen Fürsten dem Kammerdiener. 5. Den Hut des jungen Fürsten gab dem Kammerdiener der König. And the case is the same with the indefinite article ein, which is also the English numeral one, in the masculine. "A rich man gave a dollar to a beggar." 1. Ein Reicher gab einem Bettler einen Thaler. 2. Einen Thaler gab ein Reicher einem Bettler. 3. Einem Bettler gab ein Reicher einen Thaler. 4. Ein Reicher gab einen Thaler einem Bettler. 5. Einen Thaler gab einem Bettler ein Reicher. In the feminine and neu ter, the accusative is like the nominative; the inversion, therefore, must be clear from the connexion, and the inflections of both the substantives and adjectives generally suffice to point out the true construction. There is no article partitive we speak without any article whenever the Eng lish some is expressed or understood, and after nouns implying weight, measure, place, or quantity. We translate the Latin, “ministrantem platanum potantibus umbram," by "Fröhlichen Trinkern erquickenden Schatten bietende Bäume," exactly like the English, "trees offering refreshing shade to jovial topers;" whilst the French would be obliged to say, "des arbres qui offrent aux buveurs exaltés la fraîcheur de leur ombrage" twelve words instead of seven in English, and six in German! The article is also omitted as in English after "whose," dessen, derer, deren. "The man whose daughter lives in our village," der Mann dessen Tochter in unserem Dorfe wohnt. And moral ideas may be generalized without the article: "Gentleness has more power than violence," Sanftmuth richtet mehr aus als Gewalt. The article is further omitted before several nouns substantive crowded together. Voss imitates Milton word for word, when, in the second book of his Paradise Lost, the latter has : "So eagerly the fiend O'er bog or steep, thro' strait, rough, dense, or rare, The German poet says:— "Wie doch ein Sterblicher Durch Moor und Jähn, durch Flach, Rauh, Dicht und Dünn 938.-2. With respect to Genders, the difficulty for the English student is increased by the circumstance that besides the masculine and feminine we have also a neuter gender. The number of regular terminations in German, according to the Reverend Mr. Fischer's classification, does not exceed 330, and we have pointed out several of those which may assist in discovering the gender; but we ear nestly recommend the joining of the proper article definite, der, die, or das, to any German noun substantive that is treasured up in the memory; the article indefinite ein serving both for the masc. and neut. is insufficient for that purpose. 939.-3. We have already remarked on the assistance which some German terminations afford towards the import of nouns substantive. 940.-4. The Declensions themselves must be carefully learnt upon Dr. Noehden's plan first, and then upon the plan of the German grammarians, as stated in the Nature and Genius of the German Language, page 34. 941.-5. With regard to Adjectives, that the German adjective is indeclinable like the English, whenever it is used in reference to a noun substantive mentioned before or after, of which it is the attribute or predicate, sec. 38. We say, like the English, mein Vater ist gut; meine Mutter ist gut; meine Brüder sind gut; meine Schwestern sind gut; and also with the neuter, mein Pferd ist gut; meine Pferde sind gut. But when the adj. is an epithet, with the article definite, you add an e to it in the nominative, and en in all other cases, except those that are always the same with the nom. viz. the accus. sing. fem. and neut. sec. 10; and you do the same with the article indefinite, only marking the gender in the nom. masc. and neut. by the letter r and s. Der gute Vater, ein guter Vater; das gute Pferd, ein gutes Pferd, sec. 16. When a noun substantive joined to an adjective is employed without any article, the adj. takes the terminations of the article itself, sec. 38. 942.-6. The principal terminations of German adjectives which influence their meaning, are, (1.) bar, sec. 336. (2.) ig, denoting the presence of the object expressed by the noun substantive of which the adj. is formed, haarig, hairy; freudig, joyful; begierig, desirous; lustig, merry, &c. sec. 877. (3.) lich, sec. 786. (4.) isch, denoting also the presence of the quality of the object expressed by the noun substantive of which the adj. is formed, as himlisch, celestial; höllisch, infernal; irdisch, terrestrial, &c. (5.) haft, denoting likewise the possession of, or great similiarity with, the object expressed by the substantive, as fehlerhaft, faulty; meisterhaft, masterly; herzhaft, courageous; zweifelhaft, doubtful; lasterhaft, vicious; tigerhaft, tiger |