I was recently made aware of a “untranslatable” poem
Der Werwolf
Ein Werwolf eines Nachts entwich
von Weib und Kind und sich begab
an eines Dorfschullehrers Grab
und bat ihn: »Bitte, beuge mich!«
Der Dorfschulmeister stieg hinauf
auf seines Blechschilds Messingknauf
und sprach zum Wolf, der seine Pfoten
geduldig kreuzte vor dem Toten:
»Der Werwolf«, sprach der gute Mann,
»des Weswolfs, Genitiv sodann,
dem Wemwolf, Dativ, wie mans nennt,
den Wenwolf, — damit hats ein End.«
Dem Werwolf schmeichelten die Fälle,
er rollte seine Augenbälle.
»Indessen«, bat er, »füge doch
zur Einzahl auch die Mehrzahl noch!«
Der Dorfschulmeister aber mußte
gestehn, dass er von ihr nichts wußte.
Zwar Wölfe gäbs in grosser Schar,
doch »Wer« gäbs nur im Singular.
Der Wolf erhob sich tränenblind–
er hatte ja doch Weib und Kind!
Doch da er kein Gelehrter eben,
so schied er dankend und ergeben.
–Christian Morgenstern
which makes use of the fact that German has four noun cases (nominative, genitive, dative, accusative)-- sort of like Latin, Greek, Russian, etc
English lacks these cases, so translators sometimes opt to conjugate “was” to approximate the joke.
ONTOLOGY RECAPITULATES PHILOLOGY
One night, a werewolf, having dined/, left his wife to clean the cave /and visited a scholar’s grave/— asking, “How am I declined ?”
Whatever way the case was pressed / the ghost could not decline his guest/ but told the wolf (who’d been well-bred / and crossed his paws before the dead).
“The Iswolf, so we may commence,/ the Waswolf, simple past in tense, /the Beenwolf, perfect; so construed,/ the Werewolf is subjunctive mood."
The werewolf’s teeth with thanks were bright,/ but, mitigating his delight,/ there rose the thought,/ how could one be hypostasized contingency ?
The ghost observed that few could live, if were wolves were indicative; / whereas his guest perceived the role of Individual in the Whole.
Condition contrary to fact, / a single werewolf Being lacked/— but in his conjugation showed / the full existence, a la mode.
JEROME LETTVIN
Clever, but perhaps this is closer
One night, a banshee slunk away / from mate and child, and in the gloom /went to a village teacher’s tomb, /requesting him: “Inflect me, pray.”
The village teacher climbed up straight / upon his grave stone with its plate /
and to the apparition said / who meekly knelt before the dead:
“The banSHEE, in the subject’s place; / the banHERS, the possessive case. /The banHER, next, is what they call / objective case–and that is all.”
The banshee marveled at the cases /and writhed with pleasure, making faces, / but said: “You did not add, so far, / the plural to the singular!”
The teacher, though, admitted then / that this was not within his ken. / “While bans are frequent”, he advised, / “A she cannot be plurized.”
The banshee, rising clammily, / wailed: “What about my family?” / Then, being not a learned creature, / said humbly “Thanks” and left the teacher.
Max Knight
“‘The’ synonym or antonym of” ; I think that strained the meanings of those terms. Transposition was often only apposite absent more than just nuance, or opposition barely implied even when the words were from the same class.
