eulisch - mea sog i ned

Standard German taste of Marriage

"Standard German was created mainly for economical and religious purposes." Allowing this statement to be worth a thought, one gets a simple reason for many crazy, funny, unbelievable or naughty misunderstandings within the use of this language.


There is - for example - this poem which Julie Katharina von Hausmann wrote in 1862 to illustrate her devotedness to the Lord. It later was set into music by Friedrich Silcher, who composed quite a number of still well-known German songs, some orchestral and chamber music and motets.


The poem goes like this:

So nimm denn meine Hände

Und führe mich

Bis an mein selig Ende

Und ewiglich!

Ich mag allein nicht gehen,

Nicht einen Schritt;

Wo du wirst geh'n und stehen,

Da nimm mich mit.

In dein Erbarmen Hülle

Mein schwaches Herz

Und mach es gänzlich stille

In Freud und Schmerz.

Laß ruhn zu deinen Füßen

Dein armes Kind;

Es will die Augen schließen

Und glauben blind.

Wenn ich auch gleich nicht fühle

Von deiner Macht,

Du bringst mich doch zum Ziele,

Auch durch die Nacht.

So nimm denn meine Hände

Und führe mich

Bis an mein selig Ende

Und ewiglich!

We see Miss von Hausmann was a deeply feeling, religious woman. Reading her biography you may learn that she must have had a silent, serious and caring nature, valuing as much as suffering solicitude, cheering up and strengthening herself by contemplation and praying.


From nowadays perspective the style of the poem as well as the expressed humility might appear a bit weird. Back in her times she touched the hearts of people and especially with this poem and the musical realisation by Silcher even became famous beyond the German speaking regions. A North-American gentleman, ordinated and with a Bachelor of Arts degree, Hermann Heinrich (Henry) Moritz (Maurice) Brueckner, found it worth to be translated into English. Obviously he understood the original intention of the Baltic-German lady very well. With his translation he offers us the correct interpretation I am sure:

O take my hand, dear Father, and lead Thou me,

Till at my journey's ending I dwell with Thee.

Alone I cannot wander one single day,

So do Thou guide my footsteps on life's rough way.

O cover with Thy mercy my poor, weak heart,

Lest I in joy or sorrow from Thee depart.

Permit Thy child to linger here at Thy feet,

Thy goodness blindly trusting with faith complete.

Though oft Thy power but faintly may stir my soul,

With Thee, my Light in darkness, I reach the goal.

Take then my hand, dear Father, and lead Thou me,

Till at my journey's ending I dwell with Thee.

Understood like that the song became appropriate and often used at funerals even by and for less emotional disposed fellows. But now let us enjoy the truly weird German component of it. While the meaning was rather clear for the translator into English and so he did not hesitate the addressing of "dear Father" whenever he found it useful for the meter, in the German text you have to know what it is talking about. The German only says "Du" - "you", and this "you" can be anyone - no? Members of many German folks tend to interpret what they hear according to their own needs and perceptions. And as quite some of them were (are?) using a created Standard language besides their idiom, they make anything in the Standard language an abstract of what they would have liked to be expressed.


My dear mother nearly hated this song, because she did not come to know with it as an uplifting hymne during the sad hours of a funeral, but as the fixation of her status in marriage during her wedding. Let's see what happens if you try to translate the poem literally:

So well, take my hands

and lead me

until I reach my blessed end

and eternally!

I don't want to go alone,

not one single step;

wherever you will walk and stand

take me with you.

Cover with your mercy

my weak heart

make it completely silent

in joy and pain.

Let rest at your feet

your poor child;

it wants to close its eyes

blindly believing.

Even if I do not feel at once

your power,

you lead me to the goal

even through the night.

So well, take my hands

and lead me

until I reach my blessed end

and eternally!

You see? As a romantic German groom with a knowledge about how your future wife has to behave to be happy according to her nature you will immediately understand that this "you" is yourself and the bride is singing for "you". Of course you could never tell her that in your idiom, because she might not favor submissiveness as much as you do, but with a Standard German poem you will impress her and show that you are an educated man. And she will love that. 

Feel free to follow your own thoughts from here on ...