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44. Sanft=sachte, leise, allmählich.—Sinn is used in the sense of the derivative Besinnung.

45. Sorge Sorgfalt.-The dim. Mütterchen is used in an endearing

sense.

46. fie, the two married people.

47. Rechtlich is here used as a synonym of achtbar ('respectable'), a use of the word peculiar to Low German dialects: in High German we might say rechte Gäste, though even this would be merely colloquial.

48. uhlen means 'to sweep clean.' The poet has employed the Low German form of the word; die Uhle (=die Eule) denotes a besom somewhat resembling an owl, a kind of mop. In the country it is the custom to strew the floor with sand, and to sprinkle it with water. Comp. below, v. 70.

49. Gardinen ('curtains') is the expression used in the North, while in the South Vorhänge is preferred.-Der Alfov is less usual than der Alkoven, but comp. the Eng. alcove (Span. alcoba, from Arabic al-kubbatu, 'the vaulted room,' whence also Fr. aucube). The 'Alkoven' in a German house is a curtained recess frequently used as a bedchamber.

50. Teppich is here used in the sense of Tischdecke.

52. Die Levkoje, from the Greek λeuкòv tov, 'white violet' (Engl. stock).—Spanischer Pfeffer, a variety of the plant denominated piper.—Goldlad, Engl. wall-flower.

53. Maililie, Convallaria majalis, called also Maiblumen, Mairiseli, or Baufen in some places. This plant is frequently grown indoors.

54. The omission of the e in gescheu(e)rt is harsh, and would not occur in prose. In the country we may still occasionally see rooms set out and decorated with plates and other crockery.

55. ftettinisch, manufactured at Stettin, the capital of the province of Pomerania.

56. Blaugeblümt=mit blauen Blumen geziert.-Feuerkiefe is likewise a Low German word, unknown in the South; Grimm, v. 673, explains ein tragbarer Ofen in volksmäßigem Gebrauch, and quotes from the Holstein dialect Rieke, Fürkiefe, the very word used by Voss. In Switzerland small stoves of this kind are called Gluthhund, on account of the live coals with which they are filled.

57. Defem, a Low German word: eine kleine Schnellwage, die durch eine mit Blei ausgegoffene Kolbe, auf einem Seile schwebend, die Last gegenüber bestimmt, Voss. Grimm, II. 1028, quotes only the present line in illustration of the word.

58. besaitet mit Saiten bezogen.

59. bebildert is a formation foreign to ordinary prose; Grimm, 1, 1211 gives 'bebildern, imaginibus ornare' without any special reference. We should commonly say mit Bildern or Abbildungen (bildlichen Darstellungen) verziert.

61 sq. This and the following lines are capital instances of the minute description of details, in which Voss excels.

63. We learn from this line, that just as 'Zacharias' had married his predecessor's daughter, his father himself, the Rüfter, had for his wife the daughter of his own predecessor. Die selige Küsterin, 'the late wife of the (last) parish clerk' had bought this remarkable Schrank as a wedding-gift for her daughter, to keep in it her linen, which always forms the special pride of a German housewife, whose thriftiness is almost measured by the size of her Leinenschrank.—In all this description, Voss may have depicted the house of his own parents. Voss's father was a schoolmaster, his maternal grandfather a Küster.

65. züngeln die Zunge vorstrecken.

67. zween is archaic and biblical, instead of zwei.

68. This is an instance of the prolepsis, or anticipation of the subject of a dependent clause, which is thereby made the object of the main sentence -a construction so well known to the student of the Greek and Latin languages. (Here, e. g. we might say, ἡ γυνὴ νοήσασα τὸν γέροντα ὡς ÉKELTO Kαleúdшv).-Observe the fine expression, in athmendem Schlummer, 'in breathing sleep,' instead of the prosaic in seinem Schlummer athmend.

69. It was 'a rush-bottomed chair.' The prefix be in binsenbeflochten expresses that a part only was made of rushes twisted together.

71. By so doing the good old woman prevented the clock from striking, and the cuckoo from calling out the hour. We must imagine an old-fashioned clock somewhat like the well-known Black Forest clocks. 73. Comp. the noun das Schneegestöber, the snowstorm.' See below,

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74. Oft=Ostwind, one of the roughest and most trying winds in the north of Germany. Comp. below, vv. 119, 182.—wirbelte= aufwirbelte with an object easily to be supplied by the reader's imagination.

75. More commonly der Krähen. The omission of the e is unusual. 77. She was not aware of speaking or rather whispering what was uppermost in her thoughts.

78. We had the expression Gründe once before, v. 26. In Northern and Central Germany this is the term used of narrow, shallow dells and glens, while Thal denotes a valley surrounded by higher hills or mountains.

79. There is a stress on muß: 'to be pitied is he who must needs

travel on through all this storm.'-In prose we should prefer fern von der Einkehr.

80. Poor people go out to gather sticks in the forests, often with pinched stomachs and shivering with cold on account of their insufficient clothing.

81. wohl, 'I daresay.'

82. The expression is proverbial: es ist ein Wetter, daß man keinen Hund zur Thür hinaus jagen möchte.—sich erbarmen is here used in the general sense of Barmherzigkeit haben (fühlen) für (gegen) einen.

83. Söhnchen is said in an endearing sense.

84. We also say von Kindesbeinen auf. Comp. the Latin a pueris, the Greek ἐκ παιδός.

85. Mein Herz wühlt mir is not a common expression. We generally say mein Herz klopft mir or arbeitet mir in der Brust herum.-Country-people, and especially old people, have always a certain attachment to this or that innocent superstitious belief, should they be ever so well taught and educated in other respects. (The present passage is quoted in Grimm, 5, 282.) In one of Voss's Low German Idyls 'De Winterawend' we read: Strakt fik de Kater ben Bard, so bedüdet et Frömd' is en Spräkword (p. 44 Hempel).

87. The common phrase is tas bedeutet Besuch.

88. Sprach's und is an imitation of the Homeric phrase ja kal, which Virgil has likewise rendered dixit et.-ordnen is more frequently used in a metaphorical sense (e. g. seine Verhältnisse or Angelegenheiten ordnen); to denote actual putting in order, it is more usual to say in Ordnung bringen. 89. In prose we should expect the plupf. verschoben hatte.

90. Comp. v. 33 above.

92. The construction of lächeln with the genitive (after the analogy of spotten) is less common than that with the prep. über. But the verb lachen is often joined with the gen.-Thorheit=thörichter Gedanke.

94. Drillich denotes linen of threefold thread, just as 3willich means a linen stuff of double thread.

95. Her hands tremble with age.

96. The adj. blechen is not noticed in Grimm 2, 86, who quotes only the common form blechern, but Sanders 1, 158, III. quotes blechen from Goethe, Voss, and Rückert.—großklumpig means 'cut in large pieces' (große Klumpen).

97. We commonly say wegscheuchen or verscheuchen.

98. Her husband had spared a few flies to keep him company during

the winter.

99. In prose: sie hob von dem Gesimse.—Posen are goose-quills; Voss himself observes 'Aus Posen, Federspulen, macht man gefärbte Aufsäge der Pfeifen.' ΙΟΙ. In prose: sie hatte alles zum Empfang der Kinder vorbereitet.

102. Drücker, the latch.

103. rummeln is a mimetic word, like rumble in English; but it does not exactly belong to the vocabulary of a choice diction. Sanders quotes it from this passage, and from another one in Voss.

104. Marie should be pronounced in two syllables, with the accent on the last.

106. Hastigen Schwungs is the gen. of quality or manner, instead of which we should prefer in prose in hastigem Schwunge.

107. Der Umschwung, the turning of the wheel.

108. In this line we have an instance of the peculiar employment of the past participle in an imperative sense, instead of scharre flink lebendige Kohlen etc. Comp. Goethe, Herm. and Dor. 1, 174, frisch, Herr Nachbar, getrunken! and our note on that passage.

IIO. Coffee, just after being roasted, has a fresher and more aromatic flavour.

111. Kien Kienholz or Kienspan. Fir-wood is much used for lighting the fire, while turf (peat) and beechwood are employed to keep it up when once lighted.-Stammholz means large solid pieces of the main trunk (Stamm) of the tree.

113. Sinkt das Feuer=wenn das Feuer...sinkt.

114. leidig is a very idiomatic word denoting 'unpleasant, disagreeable'; leid is etymologically the same as loath. The connexion of these words may also be seen in such a sentence as this: die Sache ist mir ganz verleidet, I loathe the matter altogether.-In prose we should say, um den leidigen Frost abzuwehren.

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115. Fröstling (not a common word), one who easily shivers or feels cold,' from frösteln, 'to shiver.'

117. A more correct construction would be es braucht gründlicher Wärme (with the gen.). Comp., e.g., the quotations from Schiller given by Grimm 2, 319: es braucht hier keiner Vollmacht, 'there is no need of a letter conferring full power upon you,' and (from Tell): was braucht's des Edelmanns ? Laßt's uns allein vollenden. 'What need have we of a nobleman? Let us do it alone!' But there are also instances in Schiller (see Grimm 2, 318) analogous to the present passage; e.g. Es brauchte diesen thränenvollen Krieg (Wallenstein), 'This tearful war was needed.' Goethe also uses es braucht with the accusative, as is copiously illustrated by Grimm 1. c.- For Kinderchen comp. v. 121.

119. Barsch is a word originally appertaining to Low German, which seems to have imported it from Danish; in High German it is commonly used with reference to living beings, ein barscher Mensch, ein barscher Ton, ein barsches Wesen; and in the adv. barsch reden, einen barsch anfahren. It is not usual to say ein barscher Wind, or, according to the construction in this passage, der Wind weht barsch, though this agrees with the original meaning of the word, which is 'rough.' See Sanders 1, 87, II., whose article is far more complete than Grimm's.-luftreisen is an unusual verb, but the noun eine Luftreise is quite common.

120. wählig is another importation from Low German, in which welig has the sense of 'wanton, sportive, frolicsome,' from Wel or Wähl, 'wantonness.' Since Voss, the word has been frequently employed in High German; comp. Sanders 3, 1457, II. It is evident that Voss uses it here in the sense of strong and healthy; comp. 219, where the young wife describes her superabundance of health.―tammeln means 'to work one's way slowly' through something; Grimm 2, 703 quotes the present passage as an illustration of this rare word, which is likewise foreign to High German. In Low German the usual form is bömeln.

121. Kälberchen is a plural (Kälber) with the addition of a diminutival suffix, just like Kinderchen above, v. 117. This is again a dialectic peculiarity, the correct forms being tas Kälbchen, pl. die Kälbchen.

122. Fach is the partition of the stables in which the cows stand.— Schönmädchen and Blüming are the names of the calves. It should be observed that endearing names are in Low German often terminated in ing.

123. kraueln (or fräueln) is a diminutival derivative of frauen, 'to scratch.' It does not appear to be a very common word. We should observe that Voss makes the servant talk in a very idiomatic and natural dialect.

126. The more usual construction is sie schimpfte auf den Rauch.

127. The genuine spelling is emfig (with an e) and not imsig, as is found in some editions. In Middle High German it is emezic. The adj. is related to the name of that industrious little insect, the (English) emmet, Emse, Ameise. See Grimm 3, 443.

129. würzig is the adverb qualifying duftender in the next line.

130. Diele Hausflur (entrance hall).

131. Mühle=Kaffeemühle.

132. zwängend is used in the sense of the compound einzwängend, which is often employed to denote 'holding fast' between two things.

133. munter is not merely 'cheerfully,' but also ‘busily, actively.'

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