あちこちですでに言ってきたことだが、僕はこの POD が、あらゆる英語辞典の中で いちばん好きだ。もちろんこれは小さい。The Oxford English Dictionary つまり例の世界一の英語辞典(第2版は全20巻)のオンライン版が最も 詳しくて、歴史的な英語の発展ぶり(あるいは退化の足跡)をたどることができるの で最も面白いともいえる。また、英英辞典にないような面白さが英和辞典には ある。たとえば「ジーニアス英和5」なんて、ほどよく小さい割には実に 優れている。英英辞典にはない良さがある。
しかしだ。あらゆる辞書にもまして、この小さな POD は優れている。 僕が自己研鑽のために洋書を読むときには、まずはこれを参照する。 ハードカバー版でも 2,000円くらいだと思う。ページ数は、ほんの 1,000ページほど。表紙が、小型辞書の割には実に分厚い。さらには、 1枚1枚の紙が分厚い。思いっきり酷使しても破れない。
そして何よりも、POD の記述は楽しい。あらゆる無駄をそぎ落とし、 差し当たって洋書を読むときに最小限度の知識を提供してくれる。 この辞書を引いても満足できない時に、僕は ODE つまり The Oxford Dictionary of English (2,000ページくらい) を開く。 さらに OED Online (例の20巻本のオンライン版) を引いたり、あるいは 「「ジーニアス英和5」を引いたりし、それに飽き足らないときには その他の辞書を渡り歩くことになる。
断片的な知識はついている。だから OED Online つまり例の20巻本の英英辞典の オンライン版を使うときに、その膨大な語源情報を検討するときや、 あるいは古い用例が古英語で書いてあるので、それを少しだけ読もうとして あくせくするときに、少しはこの知識が役立つ。
さて、5回目くらいの試みとして、またもや1か月ほど前から細々と この古英語に取り組み始めた。古英語とは「こえいご」と読み、 Old English だとか Anglo-Saxon だとか呼ばれる。これは 1,000年以上も前に今のイングランドあたりで話されていた言語だ。 日本語で言えば、さしずめ源氏物語に書いてある日本語みたいに 古い英語なのだ。
Old English Lesson 1 : Pronounciation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zs--wqVdBwo
ここで Old English の発音を教えてくれます。昔と違って、こういう 教材ビデオが無料でいくらでも見られるので、ありがたいものです。 ただし、素人が作っているものがほとんどなので、無料の情報というものは 危険でもあります。だから、素人から教わったものは、あとで必ず 権威ある教材で確認していくことが必要ですね。でもともかく、こういう 素人による情報の提供も、気を付けながら適切に使い、傍らできちんとした 権威ある教材と併用すれば、鬼に金棒ですね。
To be of the desert was, as they knew, a doom to wage unending battle with an enemy who was not of the world, nor life, nor anything, but hope itself; and failure seemed God's freedom to mankind. We might only exercise this our freedom ★by not doing what it lay within our power to do★, for then life would belong to us, and we should have mastered it by holding it cheap. Death would seem best of all our works, the last free loyalty within our grasp, our final leisure: and ◆of these two poles, death and life, or, less finally, leisure and subsistence, we should shun subsistence (which was the stuff of life) in all save its faintest degree, and cling close to leisure◆. Thereby we would serve to ●promote the not-doing rather than the doing●. Some men, there might be, uncreative; whose leisure was barren; but the activity of these would have been material only. To bring forth immaterial things, things creative, partaking of spirit, not of flesh, we must be jealous of spending time or trouble upon physical demands, since ★in most men the soul grew aged long before the body★. ●Mankind had been no gainer by its drudges●.
(1) Two households, both alike in dignity, (2) In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, (3) From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, (4) Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. (5) From forth the fatal loins of these two foes (6) A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life; (7) Whose misadventured piteous overthrows (8) Do with their death bury their parents' strife. (9) The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love, (10) And the continuance of their parents' rage, (11) Which, but their children's end, nought could remove, (12) Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage; (13) The which if you with patient ears attend, (14) What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.
Two households, (which are) both alike in dignity, break from ancient grudge to new mutiny, in fair Verona, where we lay our scene, where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
(1-a) Two households, (which are) both alike in dignity,
Here, these "two households" refer to the Montagues and Capulets. These two families enjoy the same degree of worth, or honorable status.
(2-a) break from ancient grudge to new mutiny,
And these families erupt from old feud to a new round of mutiny.
(3-a) in fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
And this new mutiny erupted in the beautiful city Verona, Italy. And it is in that city that "we" (ie the performers of this play) set their play.
(4-a) where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
And in that city, the blood of citizens makes their hands dirty. That is, citizens fight each other, kill and injure one another, shedding a lot blood, dirtying their hands dirty with blood.
>>67 (5) From forth the fatal loins of these two foes (6) A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life; (7) Whose misadventured piteous overthrows (8) Do with their death bury their parents' strife.
★語彙の説明
(5) forth = [preposition] out of (Alexander Schmidt "Shakespeare Lexicon and Quotation Dictionary より)
>>67 (5) From forth the fatal loins of these two foes (6) A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life; (7) Whose misadventured piteous overthrows (8) Do with their death bury their parents' strife.
上の4行は、読めば意味が分かると言えばそれまでだが、あえて別の簡単な 英語で説明してみる。
>>67 (5) From forth the fatal loins of these two foes ---> From (out of) the fatal family lines (or sexual organs) of these two enemy families, (two lovers, ie Romeo and Juliet were born).
(6) A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life; ---> Two star-crossed (ie unfortunate or doomed) lovers kill themselves.
(7) Whose misadventured piteous overthrows ---> Their miserable, pitiful deaths
(8) Do with their death bury their parents' strife. ---> bury their parents' battle with their death. ---> put an end to their parents' fight with their own deaths. 👀 Rock54: Caution(BBR-MD5:0be15ced7fbdb9fdb4d0ce1929c1b82f)
>>67 (9) The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love, (10) And the continuance of their parents' rage, (11) Which, but their children's end, nought could remove, (12) Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage; (13) The which if you with patient ears attend, (14) What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.
(9) The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love, ---> The doomed love of these two lovers thus suffered a terrible fate.
(10) And the continuance of their parents' rage, ---> And their parents remained furious.
(11) Which, but their children's end, nought could remove, ---> And this was what nothing was able to remove, except their children's deaths.
(12) Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage; ---> These sad events will be presented by our two-hour stage performance.
(13) The which if you with patient ears attend, ---> If you (the audience) pay patient attention to the above,
(14) What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend. ---> we will strive to make up for anything that may be lacking in our performance. (That is, if we fail to show you anything that is supposed to be shown, then we will make it up to you by our later performances.)
(1) Two households, both alike in dignity★, (2) In fair Verona, where we lay our scene●, (3) From ancient grudge break to new mutiny★, (4) Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean●.
(5) From forth the fatal loins of these two foes★ (6) A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life●; (7) Whose misadventured piteous overthrows★ (8) Do with their death bury their parents' strife●.
(9) The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love◆, (10) And the continuance of their parents' rage★, (11) Which, but their children's end, nought could remove◆, (12) Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage★;
(13) The which if you with patient ears attend●, (14) What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend●.
(9) の love と (11) の remove とは、現代の標準英語の発音では rhyme しないけど、400年前の Original Pronunciation においては rhyme していたそうだ。
このように、400年前に Shakespeare が生きていたころに舞台で上演された ころにはきちんと rhyme しており、さらには pun になっていたりしたのに、 現代の標準英語の発音ではそれが台無しになってしまっていることがよく あるそうだ。それについては、すでに紹介した言語学者の David Crystal と その息子であり Shakespeare 役者でもある Ben Crystal とが、いろんな 著書や YouTube 上のビデオにおいても面白く解説してくれている。
(1) Two households, both alike in dignity, (2) In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, (3) From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, (4) Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. (5) From forth the fatal loins of these two foes (6) A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life; (7) Whose misadventured piteous overthrows (8) Do with their death bury their parents' strife. (9) The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love, (10) And the continuance of their parents' rage, (11) Which, but their children's end, nought could remove, (12) Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage; (13) The which if you with patient ears attend, (14) What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.
>>67 (6) A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life; (7) Whose misadventured piteous overthrows (8) ★Do★ with their death bury their parents' strife.
この (8) の Do は、現代人にとってわかりやすくこのように書いている のだろうけど、Arden Shakespeare という本の中では Doth になっている。 Shakespeare の脚本にはそれぞれ作品にいろんなヴァージョンがある。 どのヴァージョンでどのようになっているか詳しくは知らないけど、 (8) の Do よりも Doth の方が絶対に面白い。
というのも、Arden Shakespeare (3rd Edition) に書いてある通り、 Doth とそのあとの death との発音が似ていて面白いのだ。 このような doth と death との発音を似せるという手法のことを assonance というそうだ。
assonance = rhyming of vowel sounds only (eg time, hide), or of consonants only (eg cold, killed) (The Pocket Oxford English Dictionary)
なお、(8) の doth の主語は (6) の "a pair of star-cross'd lovers" なので、現代人から見れば間違っているように見える。しかしこれは、 Arden Shakespeare (3) によると、イングランド南部での正しい言い回しであり、 Shakespeare はあちこちでこのように doth を三人称複数の形として使っているそうだ。
(16) Enter SAMPSON and GREGORY, of the house of Capulet, armed with swords and bucklers
(17) SAMPSON Gregory, o' my word, we'll not carry coals. (18) GREGORY No, for then we should be colliers. (19) SAMPSON I mean, an we be in choler, we'll draw. (20) GREGORY Ay, while you live, draw your neck out o' the collar. (21) SAMPSON I strike quickly, being moved. (22) GREGORY But thou art not quickly moved to strike. (23) SAMPSON A dog of the house of Montague moves me.
>>86 (15) SCENE I. Verona. A public place. さて、イタリアの Verona の町にある公共の場所で、Capulet 家と Montague 家 との争いが、今日も繰り広げられる。その前に、Capulet 家の下っ端の連中が 下らない話をするのだが、下ネタがものすごく多い。
(16) Enter SAMPSON and GREGORY, of the house of ★Capulet★, armed with swords and bucklers ---> Capulet 家というのは、Juliet を含む一族だ。その Capulet 家の 下っ端の Sampson と Gregory とが、Verona の町の往来でしゃべっているのだ。
(17) SAMPSON Gregory, o' my word, we'll not carry coals.
---> o' と書いているが、on のことだろう。"on my word" は "upon my word" ともいうけど、よく出てくるセリフだ。文字通りの意味は、 「俺の言葉に誓って」というような意味だろう。上記のように on を o' として いるのは、ここでのリズムを調整するために n を省略する必要があったとも 言えるが、おそらくは on と言いたいときに単に o' と発音することがこの時代にも それからそれ以外の時代にも多かったのだろうと思う。実際、詩や小説の中でも、 on や of を o' としていることがよくある。
>>86 (19) SAMPSON I mean, an we be in choler, we'll draw.
(19-1) an というのは、if という意味。スコットランド語では if という 意味で gin と言うけど、その語頭の g- は消えやすいから in となり、 an に似通ってくると考えてもいい。400年前のロンドンで an (= if) が 使われていて、それがのちには中央では使われなくなったけど、周縁地域 つまり方言では残っていったというわけだ。
"an we be in choler" とは、"if we are angry" という意味。 "we be" の be とは、仮定法現在だろうと思う。Shakespeare の時代には、 if の後にくる動詞が仮定法現在になることが多かった。
>>91 にて Shakespeare 時代の an (= if) はスコットランド語(Scots)の gin (= if) と語源がたぶん同じだろうというふうに示唆しておいたが、 OED Online にて gin を見ると、gif (= if) と関連があるということを 示唆している。そしてこの gif は give, given とも関連があるかもしれない ということだ。
つまり、現代標準英語でも given という give の過去分詞は本来は 「〜ということが与えられて」という意味の分詞構文を作っていたが、 だんだんとそれが過去分詞であることが忘れられ、現代の英語の辞書では given はこの過去分詞の形のままで見出し語となり、前置詞だと書いてある。 given = considering, in view of というような意味なのだ。
このような given が gif (= if) と関係があると考えてもおかしくないと 思う。そしてこの g- が消えて if になってもおかしくない。
というわけで、if という意味の an, gin, gif は、give, given と 関係があるらしいということになる。
この歌は、僕が高校生くらいの時に英語を勉強していた時に、テレビの英語講座 で出てきたものだ。そしてずっと後になって、この歌が実はスコットランドで 深く愛されている Robert Burns の書いた詩であったことを知った。 上記の Gin a body meet a body というのは、If somebody meets somebody else というような意味だろう。
Gin a body meet a body Comin thro' the rye, Gin a body kiss a body — Need a body cry. Oh Jenny 's a' weet, &c.
Gin a body meet a body Comin thro' the glen; Gin a body kiss a body — Need the warld ken! Oh Jenny 's a' weet, &c. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/43801
>>86 (17) SAMPSON Gregory, o' my word, we'll not ★carry coals★ (18) GREGORY No, for then we should be ●colliers●. (19) SAMPSON I mean, an we be in ◆choler◆, we'll draw. (20) GREGORY Ay, while you live, draw your neck out o' the ★collar★.
PRINCE (1) Rebellious subjects, enemies to peace, (2) Profaners of this neighbour-stained steel,-- (3) Will they not hear? What, ho! you men, you beasts, (4) That quench the fire of your pernicious rage (5) With purple fountains issuing from your veins, (6) On pain of torture, from those bloody hands (7) Throw your mistemper'd weapons to the ground, (8) And hear the sentence of your moved prince. (9) Three civil brawls, bred of an airy word, (10) By thee, old Capulet, and Montague, (11) Have thrice disturb'd the quiet of our streets, (12) And made Verona's ancient citizens (13) Cast by their grave beseeming ornaments, (14) To wield old partisans, in hands as old, (15) Canker'd with peace, to part your canker'd hate: (16) If ever you disturb our streets again, (17) Your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace. (18) For this time, all the rest depart away: (19) You Capulet; shall go along with me: (20) And, Montague, come you this afternoon, (21) To know our further pleasure in this case, (22) To old Free-town, our common judgment-place. (23) Once more, on pain of death, all men depart. shakespeare.mit.edu/romeo_juliet/full.html
>>96 (20) And, Montague, ★come you★ this afternoon,
このような、命令形における "動詞原形 + 主格の you, ye, thou" という形を ここで確認しておきたい。ここでの you は目的格の you と形が同じだから ついつい目的格かと思ってしまう。Look ye here! とか Look'ee here! という 方言での表現もあるが、その ye もやはり目的格のはずだ。
否定命令形の Don't you touch me! というときの you もやはりこれと同じ ようなものなんだろうという気がする。
(初心者はこれを否定疑問文だと思い込んだり、あるいはせっかく Don't you touch me! と書いてあるのに、その you を省いて Don't touch me! という ふうに聞いたり読んだりしたのだと思い込んでしまう。)
★Look’ee here★, Pip. I’m your second father. You’re my son, —more to me nor any son. (Charles Dickens "Great Expectations") https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1400/1400-h/1400-h.htm
>>96 (22) To old ★Free-town★, our common judgment-place.
Free-town Villafranca in Italy (Alexander Schmidt "Shakespeare Lexicon")
この Villafranca をネットで検索すると、次のようなことが書いてある。
◆Villafranca di Verona◆ In the Middle Ages, in occasion of the foundation of the Rectors' Council of Verona, on March 9, 1185, it received the privilege of ●a tax free town●, from which derived the name of ★villa franca★. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villafranca_di_Verona
Capulet 家と Montague 家のそれぞれの下っ端が始めた乱闘を Verona の町の Prince が鎮めて、両者を罰することを宣言した後の場面。
MONTAGUE (1) Who set this ancient quarrel new abroach? (2) Speak, nephew, were you by when it began? BENVOLIO (3) Here were the servants of your adversary, (4) And yours, close fighting ere I did approach: (5) I drew to part them: in the instant came (6) The fiery Tybalt, with his sword prepared, (7) Which, as he breathed defiance to my ears, (8) He swung about his head and cut the winds, (9) Who nothing hurt withal hiss'd him in scorn: (10) While we were interchanging thrusts and blows, (11) Came more and more and fought on part and part, (12) Till the prince came, who parted either part. shakespeare.mit.edu/romeo_juliet/romeo_juliet.1.1.html
>>112 の続き broach Etymology: Middle English broche , < French broche (13th cent. in Littré), Old Northern French broke, broque; corresponding to Provençal broca , Spanish broca , Italian brocca ‘a carver's great fork’ (Florio) < Romance or late Latin *brocca spike, pointed instrument, akin to broccus , brocchus adjective in brocchi dentes projecting teeth. The same word as ★brooch★ n., the senses having been differentiated in spelling.
この broach の名詞としての意味 I. A tapering pointed instrument or thing.
あれからも古英語(Old English)を、毎日少しずつ勉強している。そんなことが 以前よりも楽になったのは、Kindle 版の Teach Yourself Old English の 本が出てくれたからだ。
毎日、僕は必ず60分から80分くらい外を歩くのだが、その時にいつも英語での 小説か何かの朗読を聞きながら、あるいは本を読みながら歩く。5か月前に 買った Kindle 専用端末と、1月26日に買った Teach Yourself Old English の Kindle 版のおかげで、毎日、歩きながら Old English の勉強ができる。
Old English は、僕にとってもさすがに馴染みにくい。やっていると辛気臭い というか、あくびが出てくる。すぐに眠くなる。だからこそ20年前から 取り組み始めたとはいえ、いつもすぐに挫折していた。何度も取り組み、 そして挫折してきた。
今度こそは、Kindle 版のおかげで少しは前へ進めそうだ。この本は紙版では 手のひらよりも少し大きいサイズくらいで、340ページくらいしかない。 とはいえ、やっぱり Old English だ。読むのがしんどい。紙版を読んでいた ときは、うんうん唸りながら読んで、少し読んではまたもや挫折していた。 今回は Kindle 版を、歩いているときにしか読んでいない。自宅にいるときは さすがに仕事をしないといけないとか、あるいは時間のあるときには Old English なんていう陰気なものじゃなくてもっと楽しそうな本を読みたいとか なんとか考えてしまって気が散ってしまう。だから自宅では Old English の 勉強(特に単語を覚えるとか動詞や名詞の活用形を覚えるなどという 実にくだらない単純作業)ができない。(続く)
そういうわけで、やっと58%のところに到達した。曲がりなりにもこんなにまで 古英語の勉強を進めたのは、この20年間で初めてのことだ。できればこの調子で、 この本を最後まで一応は通読したい。そしてそのあと、何度もこの本を読み返したり、 別の Old English の本の紙版と Kindle 版とをすでに買ってあるので、それも 読みたい。
>>121-122 benevolence という英単語を OED Online で引き、その語源欄を見て そのラテン語や中世フランス語の形を確認しておく。せめてラテン語は たくさん覚えて、いずれはきちんと読めるようにならないといけない。
benevolence < Old French ●benivolence●, < Latin ★benevolentia★ well-wishing, < benevolent-em : see benevolent adj. This Old French form was a learned or semi-popular adaptation of the Latin word; its genuine French descendant being bienvoillance, later -veuillance (whence Caxton's bienveullance), now corruptly bienveillance. In English benivolence was further latinized as benevolence at an early period (if this was not directly < Latin.
>>111 Benvolio という名前は、イタリア語の ti voglio bene (= "I am well disposed towards you" or even "I llove you") という表現から来ているのだ と Arden Shakespeare "Romeo and Juliet" (Third Series) p.120 には 書いてある。
この本にはさらに、Malvolio という名前も Shakespeare は Twelfth Night の中で使っていると書いている。Malvolio の mal は もちろん、bad, ill というような意味での副詞や形容詞だ。英語では malign, malediction, malfunction などという単語にこの mal- が 含まれている。
LADY MONTAGUE (1) O, where is Romeo? saw you him to-day? (2) Right glad I am he was not at this fray.
BENVOLIO (3) Madam, an hour before the worshipp'd sun (4) Peer'd forth the golden window of the east, (5) A troubled mind drave me to walk abroad; (6) Where, underneath the grove of sycamore (7) That westward rooteth from the city's side, (8) So early walking did I see your son: (9) Towards him I made, but he was ware of me (10) And stole into the covert of the wood: (11) I, measuring his affections by my own, (12) That most are busied when they're most alone, (13) Pursued my humour not pursuing his, (14) And gladly shunn'd who gladly fled from me.
MONTAGUE (1) Many a morning hath he there been seen, (2) With tears augmenting the fresh morning dew. (3) Adding to clouds more clouds with his deep sighs; (4) But all so soon as the all-cheering sun (5) Should in the furthest east begin to draw (6) The shady curtains from Aurora's bed, (7) Away from the light steals home my heavy son, (8) And private in his chamber pens himself, (9) Shuts up his windows, locks far daylight out (10) And makes himself an artificial night: (11) Black and portentous must this humour prove, (12) Unless good counsel may the cause remove.
BENVOLIO (1) My noble uncle, do you know the cause?
MONTAGUE (2) I neither know it nor can learn of him.
BENVOLIO (3) Have you importuned him by any means?
MONTAGUE (4) Both by myself and many other friends: (5) But he, his own affections' counsellor, (6) Is to himself--I will not say how true-- (7) But to himself so secret and so close, (8) So far from sounding and discovery, (9) As is the bud bit with an envious worm, (10) Ere he can spread his sweet leaves to the air, (11) Or dedicate his beauty to the sun. (12) Could we but learn from whence his sorrows grow. (13) We would as willingly give cure as know.
>>133 MONTAGUE (5) But he (= Romeo), his own affections' counsellor, (6) Is to himself--I will not say how true-- (7) But to himself so secret and so close, (8) So far from ★sounding★ and discovery,
sound (lead つまり鉛を使った測深) の語源 < sound v.2, or < French sonde (Spanish sonda , Portuguese sonda ) in the same senses, apparently < ★Old English or Old Norse sund sound★ n.1 Compare Old English sund-gyrd, -líne, -ráp, sounding-pole, -line, -rope. (OED Online, OED Second Edition)
John Donne は400年ほど前に生きた人だが、びっくりするほど現代的な感覚で 詩を書き残している。英語そのものは古いけど、現代人が書いているみたいに見える。 次の詩は "For Whom the Bell Tolls" という Ernest Hemingway の小説の タイトルの出所になった詩だ。
For whom the bell tolls a poem (No man is an island) by John Donne
No man is an island, Entire of itself. Each is a piece of the continent, A part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less. As well as if a promontory were. As well as if a manor of thine own Or of thine friend's were. Each man's death diminishes me, For I am involved in mankind. Therefore, send not to know ★For whom the bell tolls★, It tolls for thee.
(1) BENVOLIO See, where he comes: so please you, step aside; (2) I'll know his grievance, or be much denied.
(3) MONTAGUE I would thou wert so happy by thy stay, (4) To hear true shrift. Come, madam, let's away. (5) Exeunt MONTAGUE and LADY MONTAGUE
(6) BENVOLIO Good-morrow, cousin. (7) ROMEO Is the day so young? (8) BENVOLIO But new struck nine. (9) ROMEO Ay me! sad hours seem long. (10) Was that my father that went hence so fast? (11) BENVOLIO It was. What sadness lengthens Romeo's hours? (12) ROMEO Not having that, which, having, makes them short. (13) BENVOLIO In love? (14) ROMEO Out-- (15) BENVOLIO Of love? (16) ROMEO Out of her favour, where I am in love. (17) BENVOLIO Alas, that love, so gentle in his view, (18) Should be so tyrannous and rough in proof!
>>137 このような文章を読んでいると、一応はだいたいの意味はわかるが、一つ一つの 文法事項が細かくわかっていない。まだまだ400年前の Early Modern English がわかっていないのだ。一応は Abbott という人が書いた有名な Shakespeare 時代の英語の文法を詳しく解説した本など、この時代の文法の解説書は2冊か 3冊くらい持っていて、あちこちを参照することもよくある。しかしもっと 本格的に、重箱の隅をつつくような勉強を長いあいだやらないと、きちんと理解 できるようにはならないようだ。
解説をさらに読むと、ゲルマン諸語ではこのラテン語の scriptum (= something written) という言葉から派生して "confession made to a priest" という 意味に変わっていったが、ロマンス諸語ではそんな意味には変わることなく、 現代語でも something written という意味しかないということだ。
shrift ★Old English scrift★ (masculine), corresponding to Old Frisian skrift (masculine and feminine), Middle Dutch schrift (schricht ) (feminine and neuter), (●Dutch schrift● ), Old High German scrift (feminine) (Middle High German, ★German schrift★ ), Old Norse skript , skrift (feminine) (Swedish, Danish skrift ), verbal noun < ◆shrive v.◆
WHO CAN BE YOUR COUSIN? In Shakespeare's day, you could call almost any relative your cousin, as well as people who did not belong to your family at all, but who were your social equals (as long as you were on good terms with them, or wanted to be).
Oxford Illustrated Shakespeare Dictionary David and Ben Crystal
ROMEO (1) Alas, that love, whose view is muffled still, (2) Should, without eyes, see pathways to his will! (3) Where shall we dine? O me! What fray was here? (4) Yet tell me not, for I have heard it all. (5) Here's much to do with hate, but more with love. (6) Why, then, O brawling love! O loving hate! (7) O any thing, of nothing first create! (8) O heavy lightness! serious vanity! (9) Mis-shapen chaos of well-seeming forms! (10) Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, (11) sick health! (12) Still-waking sleep, that is not what it is! (13) This love feel I, that feel no love in this. (14) Dost thou not laugh?
BENVOLIO (15) No, coz, I rather weep. ROMEO (16) Good heart, at what? BENVOLIO (17) At thy good heart's oppression.
ROMEO (18) Why, such is love's transgression. (19) Griefs of mine own lie heavy in my breast, (20) Which thou wilt propagate, to have it prest (21) With more of thine: this love that thou hast shown (22) Doth add more grief to too much of mine own. (23) Love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs; (24) Being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers' eyes; (25) Being vex'd a sea nourish'd with lovers' tears: (26) What is it else? a madness most discreet, (27) A choking gall and a preserving sweet. (28) Farewell, my coz. shakespeare.mit.edu/romeo_juliet/romeo_juliet.1.1.html
BENVOLIO (1) Soft! I will go along; (2) An if you leave me so, you do me wrong. ROMEO (3) Tut, I have lost myself; I am not here; (3) This is not Romeo, he's some other where. BENVOLIO (4) Tell me in sadness, who is that you love. ROMEO (5) What, shall I groan and tell thee? BENVOLIO (6) Groan! why, no. (7) But sadly tell me who. ROMEO (8) Bid a sick man in sadness make his will: (9) Ah, word ill urged to one that is so ill! (10) In sadness, cousin, I do love a woman. BENVOLIO (11) I aim'd so near, when I supposed you loved. ROMEO (12) A right good mark-man! And she's fair I love. BENVOLIO (13) A right fair mark, fair coz, is soonest hit. ROMEO (14) Well, in that hit you miss: she'll not be hit (15) With Cupid's arrow; she hath Dian's wit; (16) And, in strong proof of chastity well arm'd, (17) From love's weak childish bow she lives unharm'd. (18) She will not stay the siege of loving terms, (19) Nor bide the encounter of assailing eyes, (20) Nor ope her lap to saint-seducing gold: (21) O, she is rich in beauty, only poor, (22) That when she dies with beauty dies her store.
>>151 ROMEO (3) ★Tut★, I have lost myself; I am not here;
Tut は、相手を軽くたしなめるときの間投詞なんだろうが、今までに二回ほど 見聞きしたことがある。
... my mother, after vainly trying to restrain herself, began to cry. ‘Oh ★tut, tut, tut!★’ said Miss Betsey, in a hurry. ‘Don’t do that! Come, come!’ (Charles Dickens "David Copperfield") www.gutenberg.org/files/766/766-h/766-h.htm
上記の小説では、主人公の David Copperfield が、自分を身ごもった母親が 困り果てて泣き始めたときに、主人公の叔母が Tut と3度、言っている。 なお、この小説の映画版でも、同じ場面でやはり Tut を繰り返している。
>>151 BENVOLIO (4) Tell me ★in sadness★, who is that you love. ROMEO (5) What, shall I groan and tell thee? BENVOLIO (6) Groan! why, no. (7) But ★sadly★ tell me who.
>>151 ROMEO (10) In sadness, cousin, ★I do love a woman.★ BENVOLIO (11) I aim'd so near, when I supposed you loved.
(10) での "do love" は love の強調のために do をつけているのではなく、 この時代によくあった、意味のない do かもしれない。強調している わけではなくても、このように動詞の前に do をやたらにこの時代には つけていたそうだ。
ただし Shakespeare の戯曲においては、語呂を合わせるために do を 付けていたという可能性はある。
さて、(10) で I do love a woman. と Romeo は言っているが、 Romeo はこの前にすでに恋に悩んでいるということをしきりに言っている。 だから I do love a woman. といえば、当たり前じゃないかということになる。
これはもしかして、観衆を笑わすためのセリフだったのだろうか?つまり、 この前に Benvolio が Tell me in sadness who is that you love. と言っている。「誰に恋しているのか教えてくれ」というわけだ。
それに対して Romeo が口を開いて I do love.... とまで言ったときに、 観衆はそのあとに女性の名前を言うだろうと期待する。ところが "a woman" としか言わない。拍子抜けして観衆はここで笑ったのではないか? 同時に Romeo は I'm not in love with a man, but with a woman. というようなことを言ったことにもなるから、これもまた笑いの種だった かもしれないと僕は推測している。
>>151 ROMEO (10) In sadness, cousin, I do love a woman. BENVOLIO (11) I aim'd so near, when I supposed you loved. ROMEO (12) A right good mark-man!
(10) よりもずっと前に Romeo が in love の状態にあるということが 言われているから、(10) の I do love a woman. は言わなくてもわかる 当たり前のことだと考えられるけど、(11) では Benvolio が、 「君が恋に悩んでいるっていうから、そうだとは思ってたけど」と 言っているのも、これもまた当たり前のことに過ぎない。さらには これを畳みかけるように、(12) では Romeo が、「よくわかったな」 などと言っている。
特に「Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.」の部分が私は好きだ。
この詩を John Merrickは愛し、自分の悲惨な状況にもかかわらず、人を愛し、 神を信じ、感謝をしていた。
「the valley of the shadow of death」と類似する表現が、Job38:17にも出てくる。
Have the gates of death been opened unto thee? or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death?
Love takes. Love doesn't give. If you think anyone is capable of altruism, you're wrong. When you think you love someone and want to do something for them, you're not going to do that for their own sakes. It's actually for your own sake.
In doing something good for the one you love, you're trying to do something that you would have wanted someone else to do for you yourself.
Suppose you love to eat. As a child you were always hungry. You've grown up to be a constantly hungry person. You're obsessed with food. When you think you love somebody, you feel like giving them something good to eat. When they eat it, enjoy it immensely, and thank you for it, you couldn't be happier.
But who knows? There may be some people out there who actually don't need your benevolence. They may not like it when you try to give them what they don't need. They may not be as hungry as you are.
Suppose you were deprived of the good education you deserved when young. You've been education-starved all the time. You've grown up to be obsessed with the idea of knowledge. When you see anyone unhappy, you tend to assume that they're unhappy because of the educational opportunities they may have missed when young. So naturally you try to give them good education, especially to your children.
But again, who knows? Maybe your children don't want any such education as you did. You may have been hungry for knowledge, but they may hate it when you try to teach them anything. They may not like it when you're ready to pay a fortune to send them to good schools.
This is just a clumsy free verse, or rather, a pseudo-poem. Laugh at me if you like. I am what I am, whether you like me or not.
****************
Yes, I remember it quite distinctly. It was 15 years ago that I realized how lonely I was. Until that time I had never known I was that lonely. In fact, I had never felt lonely or not lonely.
But at that time, when all of a sudden I fell desperately, fatally in love with that devilish woman, I knew for the very first time in my life That I was actually eternally, absolutely lonely. Every second that I was not with her, I felt totally empty, craving her presence. I kept weeping, sobbing, and crying in my excruciating longing for a sight of her heavenly smiles.
Then, one year after I first met her, Rumor reached me that she got married with another man. I wanted to hear her giggles, which had always thrilled me. But she never wanted to see or hear me any more.
Yes, it was when I met her for the first time That I knew that I was eternally, absolutely lonely. Ever since that time, for the past 15 years, I have always been absolutely lonely, Feeling as though I were totally alone Without any human or animal companion In this vast, pitch-dark, indifferent universe, Without any hope of my desperate voice Reaching anyone's ear.
(1) そういう腹芸のできるタイプの編集者ではないのだ。 She was not the kind of editor that could decipher what others thought and felt without the intermediary of words.
(2) 隆子がじっくりとビジネスライクに計画を立てて仕事をするタイプであるのに比べ、 While Takako was the type that worked steadily with businesslike planning,
(3) 朱音はキャラクターで作家たちをつかんで友人関係を築いてから仕事をするタイプだった。 Akane was the kind that did work only after taking advantage of her character to attract the authors she was about to work with before actually beginning her work.
(4) 二人は編集者だが、勤めている出版社は違う。 The two were editors, but worked for different employers.
(5) 年齢も十歳ほど離れている。 They were about ten years apart in age.
(6) しかし、狭い世界だし、同じ作家を担当していれば、おのずと顔を合わせる 機会は多くなる。 But, the publishing world being small, and as they shared one or two authors, the two women would naturally come across each other often.
(7) 朱音は純文学畑に強い編集者として、そのパワフルで天真爛漫な性格とともに 有名だった、 Akane was famous as an editor strong in serious literature, and for her powerful, open and natural character.
(8) 隆子はエンターテインメント系を中心に単行本を作っていて、朱音のことは 知っていたが、 Producing books mainly in entertainment, Takako did know Akane, but
(9) 自分の扱う本ではあまり接点はないだろうと思っていた。 she did not think she had much in common with Akane when it came to books she handled.
(10) だが、興味を持つ作家が皆、先に朱音が接触しているのに気付き、 Noticing that all the authors she was interested in had been approached by Akane first,
(11) 朱音が実は大変なミステリファンだというのを知ったのである。 Takako came to know that Akane was actually tremendously into mystery novels.
誤記を訂正しました。 Britons・・・西ブリテン(ウエールズ) Strathclyde・・・北ブリテン(スコットランド) --------------- イングランド7王国 --------------- アングル人 North-umbrians・・・北アンブリア( Mercians・・・・・マーシア(MERCIA) East Angles・・・・・イーストアングリア(EAST ANGLIA) --------------- サクソン人 East Saxons・・・・エセックス(ESSEX)←←←←訂正。 West Saxons・・・・ウェセックス(WESSEX) South Saxons・・・サセックス(SUSSEX) --------------- ジュート人 Kent ---------------
Strathclyde・・・北ブリテン(スコットランド) に関する解説をしておきましょう。 ScotlandについてもともとKingdom of Strathclydeというのがあり、 南の方にLothianという別の国があったのを、 アルピン朝の時代にLothian王国軍を破って ほぼ現在のScotlandの前身となる、後のkingdom of Scotlandになったようです。 Now,Lothian as the council of Scotland is separeted to East Lothian、Mid Lothian、West Lothian.