How nice to find something so satisfying. I wonder if Machado de Assis also lost his young wife.
As others have said, translation is the only option we have for a lot of poetry - and prose - so let us just do the best we can with translation.
Actually, it is interesting to me to look at a couple of CDs I have of Ute Lemper's - a lot of her songs she sings in the English and French or German versions at the same time. The lyrics are printed - and it is fascinating to view many songs I know well in their original German! Sooooooo different! Yet the songs are wonderful in English, too.
Lewis Carrol's poetry works brilliantly in German, by the way.
Does it? Cool. I admit to still being curious about "Jabberwocky" specifics -- Russian, German, doesn't matter. Like, "slithy" -- how is that translated? Are the words for "lithe" and "slimy" combined? Etc.
By the way, Bernard Bragg does a mean ASL "Jabberwocky", too. It's great on its own merits, but I wouldn't call it a really accurate translation. (As ASL is the only language I am fluent in other than English, that's about the only true comparison I can make.)
Well, I cannot do umlauts, but here we are!!!
Der Jammerwoch
(*) indicates an umlaut over the preceding letter - sorry!)
Es brillig war. Die Schlichte Toven
Wirrten und wimmelten in Waben;
Und allermu(*)sige Burggoven
Die mohmen Ra(*)th' ausgraben.
Bewahre doch vor Jammerwoch!
Die Za(*)hne knirschen, Krallen kratzen!
Bewahr' von Jubjub-Vogel, vor Frumio(*)sen Banderschna(*)zchen!
Er griff sein vorpals Schwertchen zu,
Er suchte lang das manscham' Ding;
Dann, stehend unten Tumtum Baum,
Er an-zu-denken-fing.
Als stand er tief in Andacht auf,
Des Jammerwochen's Augen-feur
Durch tulgen Wald mit wiffeh kam
Ein burbelnd ungeheuer!
Eins, Zwei! Eins, Zwei!
Und durch und durch
Sein Vorpals Schwert zerschnifer-schnu(*)ck,
Da blieb es todt! Er, Kopf in Hand,
Gela(*)umfig zog zuru(*)ck.
Und schlugst Du ja den Jammerwoch?
Unarme mich, mein Bo(*)hm' sches Kind!
O-Freuden-Tag! O Halloo-Schlag!
Er chortelt froh-gesinnt.
Es brillig war etc.
Carroll says of the words:
Brillig: (From v bryl or broil) the time of broiling dinner - ie the close of the afternoon.
Slithy: Compounded of slimy and lithe - smooth and active.
Tove; A species of badger. they ha dsmooth white hair, long hind legs, and short horns like a stag - they lived chiefly on cheese.
Gyre: Derived from gyaour or giaour, a dog; To scratch like a dog.
and so on - this and much more can be found in Martin Gardner's "The Annotated Alice"
...we now return you to your regular program....
Well the Deutsch version is OK... but not quite as musical (to these American-English ears, anyway.)
Here are Some More Annotations by Martin Gardner:
The OED lists "slithy" as a variant of "sleathy," an obsolete word meaning slovenly, but later Humpty Dumpty gives "slithy" a different interpretation.
"Toves" should be pronounced to rhyme with "groves," Carroll tells us in his preface to The Hunting ot the Snark.
The OED traces "gyre" back to 1420 as a word meaning to turn or whirl around. This agrees with Humpty Dumpty's interpretation.
According to the OED, "gimble" is a variant spelling of "gimbal." Gimbals are pivoted rings used for various purposes, such as suspending a ship's compass so that it remains horizontal while the ship rolls. Humpty Dumpty makes it clear, however, that the verb "gimble" is here used in a different sense.
"Mimsy" is the first of eight nonsense words in Jabberwocky that are used again in The Hunting of the Snark. In Carroll's time, according to the OED, "mimsey" meant "pring, prudish, contemptible." Perhaps Carroll had this in mind.
In his preface to the Snark, Carroll writes: "The first 'o' in
'borogoves' is pronounced like the 'o' in 'borrow.' I have heard people give it the sound of 'o' in 'worry.' Such is Human Perversity." The word is commonly mispronounced 'borogroves' by Carroll novitiates, and this misspelling even appears in some American editions of the book.
"Mome" has a number of obsolete meanings such as mother, a
blockhead, a carping critic, a buffoon, none of which, judging from Humpty Dumpty's interpretation, Carroll had in mind.
According to Humpty Dumpty, a 'rath' is a green pig but in Carroll's day it was a well known old Irish word for an enclosure, usually a circular earthen wall, serving as a fort and place of residence for the head of a tribe.
'Frumious' is composed of 'fuming' and 'furious.'
'Manx' was the Celtic name for the Isle of Man. Whether Carroll had this in mind when he coined the word 'manxnome' is unknown.
'Tum-tum' was a common colloquialism in Carroll's day referring to the sound of a stringed instrument, especially when monotonously strummed.
In a letter, Carroll wrote that 'uffish' suggested to him "a state of mind when the voice is gruffish, the manner roughish and the temper huffish.
'Gallumph' - this Carrollian word has entered the OED as a combination of 'gallop' and 'triumphant,' meaning "to march on exultantly with irregular bounding movements."
The OED traces the word 'beamish' back to 1530 as a variant of 'beaming.'
'Chortled' - A Carrollian word that has made its way into the OED, where it is defined as a blend of 'chuckle' and 'snort.'
Interesting, Piffka, that several of the words in "Jabberwocky" are in the OED (previous to Carroll, that is). "Beamish" for one. I didn't know that--very cool, and thanks for sharing!
Oh my!
Actually I did know that, but nice to see it all laid out.
I guess I wasn't clear with my question -- I don't know German, so the etymology of the nonsense words isn't clear. I see "brillig" is there, but I notice, for example, "Wirrten und wimmelten" for "gyre and gimble" -- are "wirrten" and "wimmelten" actual words? Are they composits of actual words? If so, what words? Etc.
Isn't it amazing? I love my OED and can spend hours reading about the etymology of words (despite that annoying but necessary magnifying lens). I admit though, D'A, I cannot take credit for any of that last bit of research. It came from a new site which I've just added to our Helpful Links section. Please check it out --
http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/index.html
you'll probably find some of your favorite poems discussed there.
Knowing where to find useful information is what it's all about, Piffka. And you did!
Wirrten can mean "to stray" and wimmelten can mean "to teem" or "to swarm".
from
http://dict.tu-chemnitz.de/
I always think of gyre and gimble as verbs too -- gyre... to twirl and gimble .... to gambol or play (though I realize Gardner doesn't SAY that!)
Wow great link Piffka and I just found my favorite ED poem. I am now zooming off to post it since it is relevant to current events. It is about grief and saddness in case anyone cannot understand it.
รค yikes, Charli, it WORKS!!!!
dlowan - You're welcome. However, I can't find the grid on the Kelsey site. I just tried to delete my post about it. What happened to the "X" next to the "edit" here???!!!???
O.K., you get it on the first edit, but not afterwards.[/size][/b]
!!
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