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Tue 10 Aug, 2004 07:16 pm
Can someone tell me what
this says? It's a shot of a mug and I can't figure out what it says using normal online translator sites. I'm not sure where the spaces should be between words and the words that I have translated don't make sense to me the way they're put together. I only had a little training in German many years ago. So far the words I think I've figured out come up to this:
So that live fall go probably you ??? house I ??? of you ???
I'm sure even that much is wrong. Could someone tell me the literal translation for what this mug actually says? I'm sure it doesn't just say "store pencils here", but that's what I do with it.
Thank you
So leb' denn wohl
du stilles Haus
ich geh' betrübt
von dir hinaus
So farewell then
You silent house
Sadly, I go
Forth from you
Actually, that last line is more like "Sadly, I go out of you," but that sounds rather odd in English.
Not sure why a mug would say that: my advice is to drink and don't ask questions.
Joe's translation is completely correct - as usual, his German is excellent.
(Might be,
The text is the first verse of a kunstlied by Ferdinand Raimund, an Austrian poet and writer of the Biedermeier epoche (01.06.1790 - 05.09.1836).
The complete lied is about saying good-bye; so I guess, this mug was presented so someone, who left a place, a town, a job ...
1. So leb denn wohl, du stilles Haus!
Ich zieh' betrübt von dir hinaus,
So leb denn wohl, denn ich muß fort,
Noch unbestimmt, an welchen Ort.
2. So leb denn wohl, du schönes Land,
In dem ich hohe Freude fand;
Du zogst mich groß, du pflegtest mein
Und nimmermehr vergeß' ich dein.
3. Auch du leb wohl, mein trauter Freund,
Und wenn die Sonne nicht mehr scheint.
So denk ich oft an dich zurück,
Denn Du warst ja mein größtes Glück.
4. So lebt denn, all ihr Lieben, wohl,
Von denen ich jetzt scheiden soll;
Und find ich draußen auch mein Glück,
Denk ich doch stets an euch zurück.
5.Und kehr ich einst zurück zu dir,
So wahre deine Liebe mir,
Denn deine Liebe macht mich reich,
Sonst gilt mir alles, alles gleich.
"I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy", or (possibly)....
'Could you French bastards grow some trees on these streets? We prefer to march in the shade'.
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