The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #142072 Message #3278785
Posted By: Artful Codger
23-Dec-11 - 02:02 AM
Thread Name: Carol: Heil'ge Nacht, ich gruesse dich
Subject: RE: Carol: Heil'ge Nacht, ich gruesse dich
I don't quite follow your translation, but you've got a good point in linking the confusing bit to the purpose for which "I was chosen".
Do you mean this?: "Holy Night, I greet you, you who gave birth that day to one whom (oh joy!) I was chosen by God to behold!" If so, I would revise the middle bit to: ...who gave birth to the Day, whom... Either interpretation hinges on the auxilliary verb (hat) of the first dependent clause being elided--quite possible. The feminine correlative clinches that, unlike in my first translation, the night/God is being addressed, not the day/Christ. But that just doesn't fit with all the "ray/radiance/gleam" business; or maybe I'm just too literal-minded to get it.
You're probably right about verse 3, too: is "leuchte" subjunctive mood?