674. Die Donnerkeile blitzen; the thunderbolts lighten ; ein Donnerkeil, s, pl. e, masc. a thunderbolt, a compound of der Donner, masc. the thunder, and ein Keil, masc. a wedge. Blitzen, reg. neut. verb, (from der Blitz, sec. 396,) to lighten, to emit lightnings, also to shine, to sparkle, to glitter. It is used impersonally, as in English: es blitzet, it lightens; es hat geblitzet, there has been lightning. Sie blieben-sitzen, instead of sie würden sitzen bleiben, they would remain remain sitting. The imperfect instead of the conditional, to avoid würden, sec. 615. gestöret, undisturbed. We often have the participle past of the negative verb, though the verb itself has not yet been introduced. We have stören, to disturb, but not unstören ; hence such participles are called adjectives. Un 675. Dann und wann, now and then, sometimes, at times. Ein halbgebrochner Laut, a half-broken sound. We had laut as adj. and adv. sec. 201. Here it is a sub. masc. der Laut, es, e, the sound; in music, the tune; in Grammar a letter, as far as it is pronounced or uttered; as printed, it is called Buchstabe. Hence ein Selbstlaut, a vowel; ein Millaut, a consonant; ein Doppellant, a diphthong; ein Dreylaut, a triphthong; and from Laut, tune, we make, der Gleichlaut, assonance; Wohllaut, euphony; Misslaut, dissonance; Zusammenlaut, symphony; Uebellaut, cacophony. 676. Verkehren, reg. insep. comp. act. to turn the wrong side out, to change, to pervert; as act. neut. verb, to traffic, from kehren, to turn. Die Augen verkehren or verdrehen, to roll one's eyes in a strange way. Die grässlichen Geberden, the frightful looks, gestures, contortions. Grasslich, adj. and adv. ghastly, frightful, hideous. Die Geberde, fem. way of acting, speaking, walking, posture, manner, air, carriage, deportment, gesture. Luther translates Paul's Epistle to the Philippians, ii. 7, 8, " and was in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man;" Christus ward an Geberden als ein Mensch erfunden: and the 1 Samuel, xxi. 13, " and he changed his behaviour before them;" David verstellete seine Geberde. 66 677. Der Weisen Stein; in common life, der Stein der Weisen, the philosopher's stone, the secret of making gold. 678. Ihr irrt, you err; politely sie irren sich, you are mistaken. Irren, reg. neut. verb, to be wrong, to lie under a mistake. Sich irren, refl. to be mistaken; but we say indifferently, wo ich nicht irre, or wo ich mich nicht irre, if I am not mistaken. Irren ist menschlich, exactly the Latin" errare humanum est," men are liable to err. Actively, irren means to perplex, to confuse; and in common life sometimes to vex: ihn irret die Fliege an der Wand, a fly on the wall vexes him. 679. Des Zirkels Viereck, the quadrature of the circle. Ein Viereck, neut. a square, a quadrangle. We had above a striking instance of the superiority of a primitive language over a derivative and mixed one, in the compound words formed of Laut, which are intelligible to the meanest capacity, because they are made of known and familiar words existing in the language. Here again Vier eck, four angles, is the correct definition of the quadrangle. And this immense advantage extends to all mathematical terms. Drey eck, a triangle; ein langes Viereck, a rectangle; einlänglichtes Viereck, a parallelogram; ein geschobenes Viereck, a rhombus. An Englishman learns nothing from those terms, whilst a German instantly knows what they are intended to denote. 480. We select on this occasion Schiller's Address to his Friends, written in 1802: Lieben Freunde! Es gab schön're Zeiten Doch es ist dahin, est ist verschwunden Freunde! Es giebt glücklichere Zonen War die Kunst uns freundlich doch gewogen Will der Lorbeer hier sich nicht gewöhnen Wobl von grösserm Leben mag es rauschen Und es herrscht der Erde Gott, das Geld. Prächtiger als wir in unserm Norden Aber Rom in allem seinen Glanze Grössres mag sich anderswo begeben Alles wiederholt sich nur im Leben, Was sich nie und nirgends hat begeben, Dear friends!-There have been more glorious times than oursthat is not to be disputed; and a nobler people have once existed. Were even history silent about it, thousand stones dug out of the bosom of the earth give striking evidence. But they are gone; that highly-favoured race has vanished. We, we are living. Ours are the passing hours, and the living have their claims. Friends! there are, as the far-travelled wanderer tells us, happier regions than the country in which we live indifferently well; but if nature denies us much, knowledge is friendly smiling upon us, and our hearts are warmed by its lights. Though the laurel does not prosper here, and the myrtle becomes the prey of our winters, yet the cheerful foliage of the vine thrives to crown our brows. There is no doubt more bustle on the busy shores of the Thames, in the market of this earth, where four worlds exchange their treasures. Thousand vessels arrive and depart; every thing more precious may be had there; and, money, the divinity of the world, rules triumphant. But it is not from the troubled mud of brooks swollen by heavy rains that the image of the sun is reflected; this plays only on the smooth surface of the calm rivulet. The beggar at the gates of the castle of Saint Angelo has a more splendid dwelling than we in our North, for he beholds everlasting and unparalleled Rome. He is surrounded by a throng of beautiful and magnificent objects, and a second heaven, the marvellous dome of St. Peter, rises before him in the sky. But Rome, in all its splendour, is the tomb of past glory; it is only the fresh plant that buds in the cheering revolving hour, which exhales life. Greater things may happen elsewhere than with us in our little sphere; yet nothing new is seen under the sun. But on the boards that represent the world, we tranquilly behold the great deeds of all ages ingeniously passing before our eyes. Every thing in life is but repeated; imagination alone is ever young; nothing is free from growing antiquated, but what never and no where occurred. 681. Es gab, there was, there were; it is the impf. of the impersonal es giebt, sec. 189. But es giebt serves more to express general ideas, and has commonly a dependent idea, following by means of a pronoun relative, or of a conjunction. Es giebt überall seltsame Menschen, there are every where odd men. Es giebt Menschen die alles glauben, there are men who believe any thing. Es gab schönere Zeiten, (as here) there were finer (more glorious, brighter) times. Es gab Länder wo die Menschen glücklicher waren, there were countries in which the people were more happy. But to express individual ideas, we use the word seyn, "to be," impersonally, es ist, es war, &c. in the singular, and es sind, es waren, &c. in the plural. Es ist ein Mann vor der Thüre, there is a man at the door. Es sind drei Kinder in dem Zimmer, there are three children in the room. war ein Wagen vor der Thüre, there was a carriage at the door; es waren vier Frauenzimmer darin, there were four females in it. In all these cases we could not say es giebt; our expression differs in this respect from both the English "there is," and the French" il y a," or "il est," though it agrees with the latter by remaining constantly in the singular. Es 682. Das ist nicht zu streiten, that is not to be disputed, that is unquestionable. We use the infinitive active in many cases where the sentence would be expressed in English by the infinitive passive. "It cannot be helped," is, in German, Dem ist nicht zu helfen. "This was not to be foreseen." Dies war nicht vorauszusehn. Goethe says: "Zu drücken sind sie, nicht zu unterdrücken;" They may be oppressed, but not suppressed. A. W. Schlegel translates Shakspeare's "Do you think I am easier to be played on than a pipe ?" "Denkt ihr dass ich leichter zu spielen bin als eine Flöte?” 683. Voss translates "Sopiendus erat," he was to be lulled to sleep, "noch war einzuschläfern der Drache," But we may express the Latin future participle of the passive voice, Amandus, Docendus, one who is to be loved, one who is to be taught; in the Latin way, by a single word, chiefly in compound verbs: "accusandus," he who is to be impeached, der anzuklagende; "mutatis mutandis," changing what is to be changed; abzuänderndes abgeändert. And even in some simple or primitive verbs, we say, das zurührende Herz, the heart that is to be moved. Das zuessende, what is to be eaten. A voracious glutton be defined in German : 66 Ein Mensch dem es in seinem Hunger um das Essen nur, aber nicht um Zubereitung und Wohlgeschmack des zuessenden zu thun ist." may 683. Könnte die Geschichte davon schweigen, could history be silent about it. Remember that we may leave out the conditional conjunction "if," wenn, before any verb and any tense, on throwing the nominative behind, sec. 75. Die Geschichte, sub. fem. history; an event, a story, a narration or account. Die älte und neuere Geschichte, ancient and modern history. Die Geschichtkunde, the knowledge of history. Eine Lebensgeschicte, a biography. The diminutive ein Geschichtchen, neut. is an anecdote. Combined with ganz, "whole," Geschichte often means affair, business, and is employed sneeringly: ich mag von der ganzen Geschichte nichts wissen, I do not want to know any thing of the matter. Davon, adv. thereof, and in com pound verbs therefrom, away. Schweigen, irr. neut. verb, to be silent, to forbear speaking. Ich schweige, ich schwieg, |
