ÀҾ˹éÒ˹ѧÊ×Í
PDF
ePub

Ich selber sann oft Nacht und Tag,
Und wieder Tag und Nacht,

So wundersamen Dingen nach;

Doch hab'ich nichts erdacht.

Drum Lieb' ist wohl, wie Wind im Meer,

Sein Sausen ihr wohl hört,

Allein ihr wisset nicht, woher,

Wisst nicht, wohin er fährt?

FAIR SUSAN.

I was long acquainted with fair Susan; fair Susan indeed was handsome, virtuous, and modest; that I could clearly see: I came and went, I went and came, like ebb and flood at sea. I was quite pleased when I came, yet when I went not sorry. And it happened that after a time I felt very differently; when I parted I was so sorry, and when I came I was so happy; I then had no pastime, no occupation, but her. My soul and body was all feeling, and felt for nought but her. I then was silly, dumb, and deaf; I knew nothing but her; I perceived neither tree nor flower blooming; Susan alone bloomed for me. Neither sun, nor moon, nor stars, shone any longer bright for me; nothing shone in my eyes but a child; I stared at her as at the sun, and grew blind with staring. And then there came a very different time, when I felt very differently; yet virtue, modesty, and beauty, remained with her. I came and went, I went and came, like ebb and flood at sea; I felt quite pleased when I came, yet when I went not sorry. Ye sages, much and deeply learned! who found it out and know how, where, and when, all go by pairs, why they love and embrace; ye learned sages! tell me, discover what passed within me; find out where, how, and when, it thus happened with me. I often thought all night and day, and again all day and night of these wonderful things, yet I could not make it out. Love, therefore, probably, is like the wind at sea; you hear it whistling, but you do not know whence it comes, and you do not know whither it goes.

458. Suschen is the diminutive of Susanna, Susan. The particle chen, sections 120 and 263, is particularly adapted to form the diminutives of Christian names, and has a very endearing effect. We say, Hannchen, Hänschen, Fritzchen, Röschen, Lottchen, Jettchen, Julchen, Fieckchen, Gretchen, Fräntzchen, &c. Suschen war wohl fein. Wohl here is a mere strengthening_expletive; she was indeed, she was really, handsome. Fein, adj. though it generally is fine, in opposition to coarse, is also the English fine, in the sense of pleasing, beautiful, agreeable, and sometimes the English refined, highly cultivated; ein feiner Mensch, a well-bred man. die feine Welt, the great world, the

higher circles. War's contr. for war-es, and the pronoun es with reference to Suschen; all diminutives in chen and lein being neuter.

459. die Tugend, pl. die Tugenden, fem. virtue. All the words in end are fem. except das Elend, misery, which is

neuter.

"Wir

460. die Sittsamkeit, fem. modesty, morality. fodern von einem jungen Menschen Sittsamkeit in der Gesellschaft alter und ehrwürdiger Männer, als einen Beweis seiner Urtheilskraft, seiner Ueberlegung, seiner Selbstbeherrschung, und seiner Achtung gegen Alter und Erfahrung; er soll mehr hören als reden, und, wenn er redet, nicht entscheidend und hofmeisternd."

461. Das sah ich klärlich ein, that I clearly perceived. Einsehen, irr. sep. comp. ich sehe ein, ich sahe ein, ich habe eingesehen, to perceive, from the sep. part. ein, into, and sehen, to see, to look, as it were, into a matter thoroughly, so as to understand it. Je mehr wir von einem Dinge wissen und geübter wir sind im richtigen Schliessen desto mehr sehen wir davon ein.

Die See,

462. zur See, contr. for zu der See, at sea. fem. the sea, a large collection of water; die Nord See, the North sea; der See, masc. the lake, a comparatively small collection of water; der Genfer See, the lake of Geneva.

463. Ganz wohl mir that es, is a poetical license: in prose it would be, es that mir ganz wohl, or ganz wohl that es mir, it did me quite well, I was very happy, quite delighted. es thut mir wohl, it gladdens me, it delights me. es thut mir weh, it pains me; es thut mir Leid, it gives me pain, it grieves me, sec. 267. es geschah, impf. of the impers. es geschieht, sec. 276. gar anders, quite otherwise, very different. gar is a strengthening expletive particle placed before adj. and adv. gar nicht, not at all; gar sehr, very much; es ist gar sehr geschickt, he is very clever. ganz und gar, completely; ganz und gar nicht, not at all, by no means.

464. vernehmen, irr. insep. comp. verb, to learn, to hear, to distinguish, to be informed, to understand, to feel. ich vernehme, ich vernahm, ich habe vernommen. Von den Lauten (sounds) der menschlichen Sprache sagen wir dass wir sie vernehmen, wann wir sie so deutlich hören

dass wir den Sinn der Rede auffassen, sobald wir nur die Sprache gelernt haben, worin der Redende spricht. Luther translates Genesis, xi. 7, dass keiner vernahm des andern Sprache, that they may not understand one another's speech: but anciently, vernehmen also meant, to perceive, to mark, to observe, to know; hence he translates, Genesis, viii. 11, Noah vernahm dass das Wasser gefallen war, Noah knew that the waters had abated. As a law term, vernehmen is to examine.

465. Scheiden, irr. neut. verb to part, to separate, sec. 321. ich scheide, ich schied, ich bin geschieden, but when active it is generally regular, at least it is conjugated with haben. It is also a refl. verb. Luther translates Genesis, i. 14, Lichter an der Feste des Himmels die da scheiden Tag und Nacht, lights in the firmament of heaven to divide the day from the night.

466. der Zeitvertreib, sub. masc. pastime, diversion. All the words in eib are masc. except das Weib, the woman, which is neuter. etwas zum zeitvertreibe thun, to do something by way of diversion, as a pastime.

467. das Geschäft, es, e, pl. die Geschäfte, neut. occupation, business, affair. We say of a merchant who has extensive dealings, er macht grosse Geschäfte. Seinen Geschäften nachgehen, or vorstehen, to attend to one's business. It is the opposite of leisure, and always undertaken for the sake of profit, or to be useful.

468. Stumm, adj. mute, that gives no sound, dumb; hence it is also applied to animals, and even inanimate objects, whilst sprachlos, speechless, dumb, applies to human beings only. A. W. Schlegel says:—

"Und stumm und einsam bin ich wie ein Grab.".

and Klopstock

"Stumm entflogen die Vögel des Himmels in tiefere Haine."

whilst Luther translates Gospel of St. Mark, vii. 37, die Tauben macht er hörend und die Sprachlosen redend, he makes both the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak. Taub, adj. deaf. Hagedorn says :—

"So lud vor einem tauben Richter
Ein tauber einen tauben vor."

"Thus a deaf man summoned a deaf man before a judge who was deaf."

469. hineinsehen, sep. irr. comp. verb, to look into, in the direction from the speaker; ich sehe hinein, ich sah hinein, ich habe hineingesehen.

470. und sah mein Auge blind, and looked my eye blind, and made myself blind by looking. The Germans are fond of such elliptical expressions. sich müde reiten, to tire one's-self by riding; sich heiser singen, to make one's-self hoarse by singing; der Prediger schreit die Gemeine taub, the parson makes the congregation deaf by his screaming; die Zeisige haben das Öhr mir taub gezwitschert, the greenfinches have made my ear deaf by their chirping.

471. gar anders ward es mir, quite otherwise it became to me; in prose, es ward mir gar anders, I felt very differently. We say, es ist mir wohl, I am well, I feel comfortable; est ist mir übel, I feel unwell; es ist mir schlim, I am sick; and we denote the incipient state of those feelings by werden, to become, to grow. es wird mir übel, I am growing ill; in the impf. es ward mir übel, I felt ill; just as we say, es ist kalt, it is cold; es wird kalt, it grows cold; es ward kalt, it grew cold.

472. hoch und tief gelahrt, highly and deeply learned. gelahrt is an antiquated and solemn way of spelling the adj. gelehrt, learned.

473. die ihr's ersinnt, contr. for die ihr es ersinnt, ye who meditate upon it. ersinnen, irreg. insep. comp. act. verb, to obtain by thinking, like erdenken, sec. 348, made of the insep. particle er, which generally denotes obtaining, acquiring, or earning, by means of the action expressed by the verb; and sinnen, irr. neut. to meditate; ich ersinne, ich ersann, ich habe ersonnen.

474. warum sich's liebt, would be in prose, warum es sich liebt, wherefore they love each other.

475. Sagt mir's an, in prose Sagt es mir an, announce it, tell it me. Ansagen, sep. reg. comp. ich sage an, ich sagte an, ich habe angesagt, announce, to inform.

476. ergrübeln, to obtain by very deep thinking, is an insep. reg. comp. verb, formed in the same way as ersinnen, with the particle er, and grübeln, to meditate deeply, to search, to fathom things by thought. We have five

K

lines lower down, erdacht, part. past of erdenken, to obtain by thinking, and the three verbs erdenken, ersinnen, ergrübeln, express the same idea of obtaining by meditation: they differ only in the intensity of the thoughts.

477. wundersam, adj. wonderful. The particle sam, which is the termination of several German adjectives, is the same with the English some, in "troublesome, wholesome," &c.: we say, heilsam, wholesome; arbeitsam, laborious; mühsam, troublesome, painful. When the adj. are formed of verbs, sam denotes the capability to perform the action of the verb, as in arbeitsam, laborious, capable of labouring; erfindsam, inventive, capable of inventing; duldsam, patient, capable of enduring; sparsam, economical, capable of sparing, &c. When they are

formed of nouns, then sam denotes possession of the object expressed by the noun; tugendsam, virtuous, possessed of virtue; sittsam, moral, possessed of morality; ehrsam, honourable, possessed of honour; furchtsam, timid, timorous, possessed of fear, &c.

478. Sein Sausen ihr wohl hört, is a poetical transposition for Sein Sausen hört ihr wohl, or ihr hört wohl sein Sausen, ye hear its whistling, its roaring: wohl, well, is a mere expletive, answering to yes, indeed, it is true; and on that account it is followed by allein, conj. but. When allein is an adj. it means "alone."

479. We extract for our present lesson, a few stanzas from Wieland's Oberon, a delightful poem, known all over the world. C. M. Wieland died at Weimar, on the 20th of January, 1813, in the 81st year of his life.

Herr Huon lässt am Feuerherd

Auf einer Bank von Moos sich mit dem Altem nieder,

Und als er drauf die reisemüden Glieder

Mit einem Trunk, so frisch die Quelle ihn beschert,

Und etwas Honigseim gestärket,

Beginnt er seine Geschichte dem Wirth erzählen, der sich

Nicht satt an ihn sehen kann, und stets noch was bemerket

Worin sein vor'ger Herr dem jungen Ritter glich.

Der junge Mann erzählt, nach Art der lieben Jugend,
Ein wenig breit: wie seine Mutter ihn

« ¡è͹˹éÒ´Óà¹Ô¹¡ÒõèÍ
 »