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German to English translations [PRO] Art/Literary - Poetry & Literature / Manfred Hausmann - Du gehst hinaus 1938
German term or phrase:Schwermüttige
Greetings honored Colleagues! It's been a while. I am translating a poem by Manfred Hausmann and have encountered this noun. My German resource says it is an older form of Schwermütige, which seems odd in this context. Any ideas?
DU GEHST HINAUS
Du gehst hinaus Ganz stumm vor Schmach. Ich stehe da Und sehe dir nach. Das Haar nicht gemacht, Kein Band im Schuh, Komm nur nicht wieder, Zigeunerin du! Deine dreißig jahr, Deinen Gang, deine Ruh, Wie satt ich dich habe, Zigeunerin du!
Du sprichst im Haus Mit Kind und Magd. Ich sitze da Und bin verzagt. Ich sehe zur Tür, Die Tür beilbt zu. Willst du nicht kommen, Schwermüttige du? Dein loses Haar, Deine leisen Schuh, Wie lieb ich dich habe, Schwermüttige du!
Thanks Stefanie, I went with melancholy soul! Thank you all for your help and Björn for your whiz-kid research! 4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer
You walk away In mute disgrace. I’m standing there, And watch your retreat. Your hair is a mess Your laceless shoe Don’t dare to come back Bohemian soul! Your thirty-some years Your slow gait, your sang-froid, How fed up I am, you Bohemian soul!
Inside, you speak to child and maid, I just sit here Despondently. My eyes on the door, The door stays closed Won’t you come back Melancholy soul? Your open hair Your placid shoe How deeply I love you Melancholy soul!
Ramey Rieger (X)
Germany
ASKER
Hi Clarissa
16:03 May 31, 2019
unfortunately, it's not. Would have been fun though, wouldn't it have?
Just to echo Ramey's thanks - thank you for the dictionaries link! (It's also reminded me that I have a vague recollection of writing an essay on the 'Grimmsches Wörterbuch' while at university, which I'd completely forgotten about!)
As to why he wrote what he wrote, maybe you want to take a look at pages 96 through 100 of this document: https://d-nb.info/975474103/34
Plus, think about the fact that he was born rather in the north of Germany--they're all a bit melancholic :D
Helen could probably help out here. I'm not so well-versed in this area.
Best wishes
Ramey Rieger (X)
Germany
ASKER
Hi Björn
14:46 May 30, 2019
I've redirected the question to the client to find out exactly what he/she intends. Yes the poem is from 1938, as far as I know. Thanks for the link, I'll certainly bookmark it for future use. Enjoy the holiday.
Anytime. As I said, it's hard to get access to this. Maybe your client wants to turn it into a wordplay. I hasten to add that 1960 was not the first time these poems were published, so I can't look at any older versions.
There's even a Pfälzisches Wörterbuch among those!
One of the most important links for etymological research is the DWB by the Brothers Grimm (yes, the fairytale guys). It was the most comprehensive dictionary of its time. There, you'll see that "schwermüthig" was typically spelled with a th (which makes sense, as the -h- draws out the sound): http://woerterbuchnetz.de/cgi-bin/WBNetz/wbgui_py?sigle=DWB&...
Since Manfred Hausmann was 20th century, anything older than this would be odd.
[...]
Ramey Rieger (X)
Germany
ASKER
Hi Björn
14:22 May 30, 2019
You're a research wiz! I got as far as the contents of the poetry volume, but couldn't access the poem itself. The client may not wish to divulge his/her poor typing skills? THANKS BRO! But I still can't quite swallow 'melancholy' as a major image in a love poem. The pregnant image caught my fancy, it would be lovely wordplay! I guess I'll keep it straightforward and send the translation to the client for approval. I LOVE this stuff, counting out meter, matching ryhmes... Cheers!
The double -t- is probably not intentional. Did you look in GoogleBooks?
It's called "Die Gedichte" by Manfred Hausmann and was published by S. Fischer in 1960. You can't really preview the book, but you can search for single words.
If you do that by typing in "Schwermütige" with one(!) -t-, it'll show a bit of the poem you posted. There is no double -t- anywhere.
It's a bit hard disagreeing with the author himself.
Best wishes
Ramey Rieger (X)
Germany
ASKER
Hi Jenni
13:45 May 30, 2019
Yes, this is a possibility - wistful, pensive or even enigmatic. Still, I don't want to read too much into it either. Good to see you here at kudoz!
Hi there Ramey :) I'm foxed by this, too - with a brief bit of research, it does seem that 'schwermuettig' is solely used analogously to sad/melancholy etc (as, for example, in this rather old text (https://bit.ly/30WfkCw) which talks about being "nit trawrig oder schwermuttig" ["nicht traurig oder schwermuetig", for those less familiar with old German!]). I wonder if one possible solution (especially given the context of a wedding!) could be to err slightly on the more positive side of "schwermuetig", along the lines of "pensive", "reflective", or even a "dreamer"?
Ramey Rieger (X)
Germany
ASKER
The double 't' is intentional
12:57 May 30, 2019
Also, this is poem to be read at the client's daughter's wedding. Odd, odd, odd.
Ramey Rieger (X)
Germany
ASKER
Schwermütig
12:53 May 30, 2019
Of course, I'm familiar with schwermütig (melancholy/wistful), yet this seems so odd in this context. Could it be that the woman described is pregnant? A wordplay on heavily mothering?
Automatic update in 00:
Answers
7 mins confidence: peer agreement (net): +2
melancholy person
Explanation: "Schwermütig" (with one t) means melancholy. The noun Schwermütige in this case melancholy female person.
The word literally means of heavy mind or spirit.
However you want to solve this in a poetic way (melancholy soul... or such).
Stefanie Reinhold United States Local time: 01:35 Works in field Native speaker of: German PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
Thanks Stefanie, I went with melancholy soul! Thank you all for your help and Björn for your whiz-kid research!
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thank you, Stefanie! Melancholy soul is a lovely translation, IF the poet truly means schwermütig. The double 't' is intentional.
Explanation: There is a typo here, it is not "schwermüttig", but "schwermütig"; an adjective meaning "melancholy" (the adjective!), "melancholic", "soulful".
A bit freer would be: "disenchanted"
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 14 mins (2019-05-30 12:36:28 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
Just noticed: Stefanie Reinhold beat me to it ("melancholy"). :-) However, "soulful" and "disenchanted" are options that one might want to consider
Asker: Thanks Adrian, but when the alternative spelling is actually a typo, it would be highly presumptuous of me to infuse the translation with my interpretation.
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