Als e chli heidnisch / Mochtid mer werde / Chontid dan turggisch / Laben af Erde
Ach e chli judisch / Mochtid mer sy / Swarid dan gwuss / Kani Zinsli meh chly
Thank you!
I am looking for help translating this song in Swiss German. I know the man depicted is supposed to be German theologian David Friedrich Strauss http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Strauss , and that the item was produced in Zurich in 1840. This item is part of a Judaica Collection, so I am particularly interested in what the word "jüdisch" is doing in the song, since Strauss was not himself Jewish. I'll attach a jpg of the item. As far as I can tell, it reads:
Als e chli heidnisch / Mochtid mer werde / Chontid dan turggisch / Laben af Erde
Also a bit pagan / we want to become / we could then like the Turks / feast on earth
Ach e chli judisch / Mochtid mer sy / Swarid dan gwuss / Kani Zinsli meh chly
Also a bit jewish / we want to be / then certain / no interested would be small anymore
...that's it, more or less. Hope I got it right
Sounds more Austrian to me
Note that the title is :Victory hymn of a Straussian(*): thus it is meant as an insult.
(*) Not to be confused witch the newer Straussian ( Leo Strauss ).
While it gets the meaning across, this is not entirely accurate. So here we go. With added accuracy.
Everything a bit heathen / We want to be / Could like the Turkish / Live on Earth
Oh, a bit jewish / We want to be / Certainly, it would not be / that any interest is small anymore.
apologies that this page is in German, but I suspect you will be able to find other material in English that will help explain some of the background behind your find:
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z%C3%BCriputsch
I think the reference to Zinsli is interest on money, e.g. a loan or rent, so the reference to Judaism simply plays on predominant stereotypes of the era relating to Jews and money. obviously the other translations are much more accurate, but the short version in English would be "if we wanted to be pagans we could live off the land like the Turks / if we wanted to be Jewish then no amount of interest would be too small."
it's a fascinating find, I think, and a fascinating part of the history of Switzerland.
The song or poem is is not Züridütsch, despite the book or whatever being produced in Zürich.
This sounds more like Berndütsch or even further southwest.
perhaps, but the broader events from that era were hardly limited to Zurich. I think the OP would find a little bit of research behind the piece to be absolutely fascinating, probably not at all from a Jewish history perspective but certainly from a Swiss history perspective.
Sorry, I am not happy with your translation and it misses certain points.
(prof. taratonga 's version has the interest ed typo but otherwise it is perfectly o.k.)
Hard to tell if it is "laben" or "läben". The first one would be perfectly o.k. as it would be a sterotype like it the interest/Zinsli in the second verse.
@srg can you post a better version of just the song text? Because Umlauts ä/ö/ü are important.
heathen and pagan are a both a not so good translation of heidnisch. Not incorrect, but both terms have other meaning today as in 1840. A better translation would be muslimic.
The difference between "Möchtid mer werde" and "Möchtid mer sy" is important. As one can become a Muslim quite easily whereas it is nearly impossible to become a Jew (at least back then).
David Strauss wrote the Das Leben Jesu, kritisch bearbeitet and Christliche Glaubenslehre. Two books with a view on Christanity never read before.
The message of the pamphlet is: If you think the gospels are a joke, then why not just belief anything and act accordingly?
Is it Züridütsch? At least is not too far that it could not be. Considering it was written 1840 and the umlauts are missing.
With umlauts (hard to tell from the image) it is certainly not Berndütsch.
Ah, e chli heidnisch möchtid mer werde, Chöntid dän türggisch läben u f Erde.
Ach e chli jüdisch möchtid mer sy, Swärid dän gwüss käni Zinsli meh chly.
Thank you all for your help! Per request, I am posting a close-up of the text. Umlauts are included in the original--my apologies, I should have been more precise.
I have also put a close-up of the text in Dropbox, which can be accessed here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/qvzo7f487...edeDyLKTa?dl=0
Any background information you can link to is incredibly helpful! I can read "textbook German," but this particular item is beyond my skill set.
Thanks a lot:
Here the text in Roman type
Äh e chli heidnisch
Möchtid mer werde
Chönntid dänn türggisch
Läben uf Erde!
Ach e chli jüdisch
Möchtid mer sÿ
Swärid dänn gwüß
Käni Zinsli meh chlÿ!
n with overline == nn.
http://www.frakturschriften.de/frakt...eNo=1&05501c71
ÿ is comes from the ligature of ij
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ÿ
Today we would just write y. (Or ii or whatever a Swiss german writer think is appropriate for his dialect.)
Interesting the ß. A very normal occurrence in Fraktur , now no longer used in Switzerland (ß ==> ss). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typogra...stic_ligatures