[Multilingual Monday] Mr. God Knows Why

[aadroma]

So anyone who reads this, knows I'm a huge Eurovision fan, even when I bitch about various aspects of song selection, etc. One more recent change (within the last decade) has been the elimination of the language rule, which stated that a country had to submit a song in one of its national languages. Since the rule ws lifted, though there have

Comments

[muckefuck]

Isn't it just a case of the word for "mister" being derived from the word for "lord"? German, for instance, has, "der Herrgott". This corresponds to "the Lord God" in English usage, but whereas "lord" and "mister" are derived from completely different roots in English (one Germanic, one Latin), in German "Herr" does duty for both. I expect the situation is the same with "pan" and whatever the Latvian term in question might be.

[aadroma]

It's quite possible, and that in turn I'd suggest comes from the Hebrew אֲדוֹן, adon, "lord", with adonai meaning "God". But in Modern Hebrew, אֲדוֹן is just "sir!".

Is there a difference in what is being referred to between "Gott" and "Herrgott"? I think THAT is the more intriguing part, to me.

That and that someone would actually write a song with "Mr. God" in its chorus. :: laugh ::

[cpratt]

The difference is between God and The Lord God. I'm always a little creeped out by the whole "Jesus is Lord" type stuff, FWIW, but it's pretty clear that we're talking a master-servant relationship here between Israel and Elohim or whatever his name is, I guess.

[cpratt]

Beat me to it, ya bastard. :)

[progbear]

Unbelievably, what with all the mediocrity selected this year, Latvia’s entry is hands down one of the worst. Only the Dutch song written by Papa Smurf is worse!

[wiped]

in persian the word حضرت (from arabic حضرة which is used similarly), means "excellency, majesty, highness, etc." and is typically used when referring to prophets (ie حضرت موسی 'hazrat-e musâ', meaning "his excellency, moses") as well as royalty (حضرت پادشاه 'hazrat-e pâdshâh', "his majesty, the king") and similarly formal situations. in sufi literature, god is sometimes referred to as حضرت دوست 'hazrat-e dust', which i would translate as "[our] exalted companion/beloved", which i always thought was very poetic and beautiful. however, an arab friend of mine who is learning persian took it more literally and translated it as "mr. friend", which i still laugh about.

[arktos62]

I remember Bjorn from ABBA was asked why, on Fernando, he used "Since many years I haven't seen a rifle in your hand." He said someone whose first language was English had checked it and let it pass. Mr God only knows why.

[progbear]

What about, “I was in the Seventh Heaven when I kissed the teacher”? Same deal?

[gorkabear]

OMG, are those incorrect?

[arktos62]

Possibly, but what can you expect from someone who writes something as preposterous as "I was sick and tired of everything when I called you last night from Glasgow"? Pah!