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PLAY: The Tempest
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Prospero
CONTEXT:
PROSPERO
Being once perfected how to grant suits,
How to deny them, who t’advance and who
To trash for overtopping, new created
The creatures that were mine, I say, or changed ’em,
Or else new formed ’em; having both the key
Of officer and office, set all hearts i’th’ state
To what tune pleased his ear, that now he was
The ivy which had hid my princely trunk
And sucked my verdure out on’t. Thou attend’st not!
MIRANDA
O, good sir, I do.

DUTCH:
Eens goed verstaand, hoe men verzoeken gunt,
Hoe weigert, wien bevord’ring dient, wiens groei,
Te welig, knotting eischt, herschiep hij zich
De wezens, eens de mijne, ‘k zeg, vervormde
Of schiep ze op nieuw; daar hij den sleutel had
Van ambtenaar en ambt, zoo stemde hij
Elk hart op zulk een toon als hem geviel;
Hij werd het klimop, dat mijn vorstenstam
Omwond, mijn sappen zoog.
Dat ik al wat der wereld was, verzuimde,
Mij wijdde aan de eenzaamheid, mijn geest verrijkte


MORE:
Trash=Put down (Trash=to rein in a dog (OED)), keep in check
Overtopping=Being over-ambitious
O’erprized=Overrated
Closeness=Solitude, recluseness
Verdure=reshness, life and vigour
Retired=Withdrawn
Compleat:
Trash=Lompige waar, ondeugend goed
Trash (bad fruit)=Slegte vrucht

Topics: ambition, status, learning/education, understanding, duty

PLAY: The Merry Wives of Windsor
ACT/SCENE:
SPEAKER: Bardolph
CONTEXT:
BARDOLPH
Why, sir, for my part I say the gentleman had drunk
himself out of his five sentences.
SIR HUGH EVANS
It is his five senses: fie, what the ignorance is!
BARDOLPH
And being fap, sir, was, as they say, cashiered; and
so conclusions passed the careers.
SLENDER
Ay, you spake in Latin then too; but ’tis no
matter: I’ll ne’er be drunk whilst I live again,
but in honest, civil, godly company, for this trick:
if I be drunk, I’ll be drunk with those that have
the fear of God, and not with drunken knaves.
SIR HUGH EVANS
So Got udge me, that is a virtuous mind.
FALSTAFF
You hear all these matters denied, gentlemen; you hear
it.

DUTCH:
En toen hij vetjens was, Sir, werd hij, om zoo te zeggen,
gecasseerd; en zoo gingen zijn conclusa’s de spiegaten
uit.

MORE:
Sentences=Bardolph means the five senses
Latin=Meaning a different language (he doesn’t understand the terms used)
Fap=Drunk
Cashiered=Dismissed from service (punning on cash-sheared, i.e. robbed)
Passed the careers=Got out of hand (careering)
For this trick=Because of this trick
God udge me=Judge me
Compleat:
Cashiered=Afgedankt, de zak gekreegen, ontslagen
Career=Een loop, renperk, wedloop
Trick=Een looze trek, greep, gril

Topics: language, communication, understanding, intellect

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Antipholus of Syracuse
CONTEXT:
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
Sweet mistress—what your name is else I know not,
Nor by what wonder you do hit of mine,—
Less in your knowledge and your grace you show not
Than our earth’s wonder, more than earth divine.
Teach me, dear creature, how to think and speak.
Lay open to my earthy gross conceit,
Smothered in errors, feeble, shallow, weak,
The folded meaning of your words’ deceit.
Against my soul’s pure truth why labour you
To make it wander in an unknown field?
Are you a god? would you create me new?
Transform me, then, and to your power I’ll yield.
But if that I am I, then well I know
Your weeping sister is no wife of mine,
Nor to her bed no homage do I owe.
Far more, far more, to you do I decline.
O, train me not, sweet mermaid, with thy note
To drown me in thy sister’s flood of tears.
Sing, Siren, for thyself, and I will dote.
Spread o’er the silver waves thy golden hairs,
And as a bed I’ll take them and there lie,
And in that glorious supposition think
He gains by death that hath such means to die.
Let Love, being light, be drownèd if she sink.

DUTCH:
Zijt ge een godin, die mij vervormen wil?
Vervorm mij dan! ik geef mij in uw hand.

MORE:
Hit=Guess, discover
Gross conceit=Weak intellect
Folded=Concealed
Compleat:
To hit (succeed, happen)=Aankomen, gelukken, ontmoeten; (agree) over eens worden
I can’t hit of his name=Ik an niet op zyn naam komen
To conceit=Zich verbeelden, achten
Conceit=Waan, bevatting, opvatting, meening

Topics: understanding, error, intellect, learning/education, respect

PLAY: Titus Andronicus
ACT/SCENE: 2.3
SPEAKER: Tamora
CONTEXT:
LAVINIA
O, let me teach thee! for my father’s sake,
That gave thee life, when well he might have slain thee,
Be not obdurate, open thy deaf ears.
TAMORA
Hadst thou in person ne’er offended me,
Even for his sake am I pitiless.
Remember, boys, I poured forth tears in vain,
To save your brother from the sacrifice;
But fierce Andronicus would not relent;
Therefore, away with her, and use her as you will,
The worse to her, the better loved of me.

DUTCH:
Die u liet leven, toen hij u kon dooden,
Wees thans niet doof, maar leen mijn beden ‘t oor.

MORE:
Obdurate=Resistant
Compleat:
Obdurate=Verhard, hardnekkig, verstokt

Topics: life, revenge, understanding, punishment

PLAY: Twelfth Night
ACT/SCENE: 1.3
SPEAKER: Sir Andrew
CONTEXT:
SIR TOBY BELCH
O knight, thou lackest a cup of canary. When did I see
thee so put down?
SIR ANDREW
Never in your life, I think, unless you see canary put
me down. Methinks sometimes I have no more wit than a
Christian or an ordinary man has. But I am a great eater
of beef, and I believe that does harm to my wit.
SIR TOBY BELCH
No question.
SIR ANDREW
An I thought that, I’d forswear it. I’ll ride home
tomorrow,
Sir Toby.
SIR TOBY BELCH
Pourquoi, my dear knight?
SIR ANDREW
What is “pourquoi”? Do, or not do? I would I had
bestowed that time in the tongues that I have in
fencing, dancing, and bear-baiting. O, had I but
followed the arts!

DUTCH:
Ik ben een groot liefhebber van rundvleesch, en
ik denk wel eens, of dit ook kwaad kan doen aan mijn
geest.

MORE:
Canary=Sweet wine originally from the Canary Islands
Put down=Defeated in argument
Christian=Ordinary man
Eater of beef=It was held at the time that beef dulled the wits
Tongues=Languages
Compleat:
Canary=Kanarische sek
The gift of tongues=De gaave der taale
To speak several tongues=Verscheiden taalen spreeken

Burgersdijk notes:
Liefhebber van rundvleesch. Jonker Andries heeft misschien wel eens gehoord, dat beefwitted „dom”
beteekent.

Topics: excess, learning/education, language, understanding

PLAY: King Lear
ACT/SCENE: 4.5
SPEAKER: King Lear
CONTEXT:
None does offend—none, I say, none. I’ll able ’em.
Take that of me, my friend, who have the power
To seal th’ accuser’s lips. Get thee glass eyes,
And like a scurvy politician seem
To see the things thou dost not.

DUTCH:
Koop u glazen oogen;
Veins als een staatsman laag, eat ge alles ziet
Wat gij niet ziet./
Voorzie je van een bril en doe dan als
een huichelaar alsof je dingen ziet
die je niet ziet.

MORE:
Schmidt:
Scurvy=despicable
Able=Vouch for, warrant
Compleat:
Scurvy=ondeugend schobbejak

Topics: insult, appearance, perception, intellect, understanding

PLAY: Hamlet
ACT/SCENE: 4.5
SPEAKER: Gentleman
CONTEXT:
Her speech is nothing,
Yet the unshaped use of it doth move
The hearers to collection. They aim at it,
And botch the words up fit to their own thoughts,
Which, as her winks and nods and gestures yield them,
Indeed would make one think there might be thought,
Though nothing sure, yet much unhappily.
HORATIO
‘Twere good she were spoken with, for she may strew
Dangerous conjectures in ill-breeding minds.

DUTCH:
Maar toch, haar warreltaal wekt bij de hoorders
Vermoedens ; en als die met hun gedachten
De woorden, die zij met cen wenk of knik
En vreemd gebaar verzelt, gaan samenkopp’len,

MORE:
Spurns enviously=Kicks spitefully
Collection=Inference
To botch up=Piece together unskilfully
Botcher=One who mends and patches old clothes
Compleat:
Botcher=Een lapper, knoeijer, boetelaar, broddelaar

Topics: language, perception, understanding, good and bad

PLAY: King Henry V
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: King Henry
CONTEXT:
Yea, strike the Dauphin blind to look on us.
And tell the pleasant prince this mock of his
Hath turned his balls to gun-stones, and his soul
Shall stand sore chargèd for the wasteful vengeance
That shall fly with them; for many a thousand widows
Shall this his mock mock out of their dear husbands,
Mock mothers from their sons, mock castles down,
And some are yet ungotten and unborn
That shall have cause to curse the Dauphin’s scorn.
But this lies all within the will of God,
To whom I do appeal, and in whose name
Tell you the Dauphin I am coming on,
To venge me as I may and to put forth
My rightful hand in a well-hallowed cause.
So get you hence in peace. And tell the Dauphin
His jest will savour but of shallow wit
When thousands weep more than did laugh at it.
—Convey them with safe conduct.—Fare you well.

DUTCH:
Gaat thans in vrede heen, en zegt den prins,
Dat niemand meer zijn scherts een scherts zal achten,
Als duizenden dra weenen, die nu lachten. —
Bezorgt hun vrijgeleide. — Vaart gij wel!

MORE:
Balls=Tennis balls
Gunstones=Cannonballs
Hallowed=Consecrated
Rightful=Lawful, legitimate
Savour=Have a particular smell; be of a particular nature (metaphorically)

Compleat:
Hallowed=Geheiligd, gewyd
Rightfull=Rechtmaatig, gerechtig
Savour=(smell) ruiken; (taste) smaaken

Topics: revenge, intellect, value, understanding

PLAY: Twelfth Night
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Fool
CONTEXT:
FOOL
Why, sir, her name’s a word, and to dally with that
word might make my sister wanton. But, indeed, words are
very rascals since bonds disgraced them.
VIOLA
Thy reason, man?
FOOL
Troth, sir, I can yield you none without words, and
words are grown so false, I am loath to prove reason
with them.
VIOLA
I warrant thou art a merry fellow and carest for
nothing.
FOOL
Not so, sir, I do care for something. But in my
conscience, sir, I do not care for you. If that be to
care for nothing, sir, I would it would make you invisible.
VIOLA
Art not thou the Lady Olivia’s fool?
FOOL
No, indeed, sir; the Lady Olivia has no folly. She will
keep no fool, sir, till she be married, and fools are
as like husbands as pilchards are to herrings; the
husband’s the bigger: I am indeed not her fool, but her
corrupter of words.

DUTCH:
Ik ben eigenlijk niet haar nar,
maar haar woordverdraaier.

MORE:
Wanton=Equivocal
Bonds=Contracts
Disgraced=Replaced (and that being necessary, dishonoured)
Compleat:
To grow wanton with too much prosperity=In voorspoed weeldrig worden
Bond=Verbinding, obligatie
Disgrace (discredit, dishonour or reproach)=Smaadheid, schande, hoon

Burgersdijk notes:
Woorden zijn zoo valsch geworden enz. Het spelen met woorden, het spitsvondig verdraaien van hunne beteekenis in de gesprekken, in welk opzicht de een den ander zocht te overtreffen om het laatste woord te hebben, was in Sh.’s tijd zeer in zwang; niet minder het versmaden van de gewone en eenvoudige wijze van spreken, en het bezigen van gezochte, bloemrijke, vaak duistere uitdrukkingen, met andere woorden het Euphuisme, naar Lilly’s twee boeken, waarin Euphues de held is, zoo genoemd; het gesprek van Viola met jonker Tobias kan er een klein voorbeeld van geven.

Topics: reason, language, evidence, clarity/precision, understanding

PLAY: King Henry IV Part 2
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Falstaff
CONTEXT:
Mylord, I was born about three of the clock in the afternoon, with a white head and something a round belly. For my voice, I have lost it with halloing and singing of anthems. To approve my youth further, I will not. The truth is, I am only old in judgement and understanding. And he that will caper with me for a thousand marks, let him lend me the money, and have at him. For the box of the ear that the Prince gave you, he gave it like a rude prince, and you took it like a sensible lord. I have checked him for it, and the young lion repents.
Marry, not in ashes and sackcloth, but in new silk and old sack.

DUTCH:
Verder mijn jeugd bewijzen wil ik niet; de waarheid is, dat ik alleen oud ben in verstand en doorzicht, en wie met mij om een duizend mark luchtsprongen wil maken, moge mij het geld leenen en dan toezien.

MORE:

Schmidt:
Sack=The generic name of Spanish and Canary wines
Caper=A leap, a spring, in dancing or mirth
Sack-cloth=Coarse cloth worn in mourning and mortification:
Checked=Rebuked

Compleat:
Sack=Sek, een soort van sterke wyn
Caper=Een Kaper, als mede een Sprong
Check=Berispen, beteugelen, intoomen, verwyten
Sack-cloth=Zak-doek. Sack-cloth and ashes=Zak en assche

Topics: fashion/trends, age/experience, understanding, wisdom

PLAY: Troilus and Cressida
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Pandarus
CONTEXT:
SERVANT
Who shall I command, sir?
PANDARUS
Friend, we understand not one another: I am too
courtly and thou art too cunning. At whose request
do these men play?
SERVANT
That’s to ‘t indeed, sir: marry, sir, at the request
of Paris my lord, who’s there in person; with him,
the mortal Venus, the heart-blood of beauty, love’s
invisible soul,—
PANDARUS
Who, my cousin Cressida?
SERVANT
No, sir, Helen: could you not find out that by her
attributes?

DUTCH:
Vriend, wij verstaan elkander niet; ik ben te hoffelijk
en gij te gevat. Wie heeft die menschen hier besteld?

MORE:
Courtly=Elegant, polite
Cunning=Crafty
Venus=Goddess of Beauty (but the servant means Helen)
Compleat:
Courtly=Lugtig, gallant, hoflyk
Cunning=Loosheid, Listigheid

Topics: civility, order/society, language, communication, understanding

PLAY: Antony and Cleopatra
ACT/SCENE: 2.6
SPEAKER: Pompey
CONTEXT:
CAESAR
Since I saw you last
There’s a change upon you.
POMPEY
Well, I know not
What counts harsh Fortune casts upon my face,
But in my bosom shall she never come
To make my heart her vassal.
LEPIDUS
Well met here.
POMPEY
I hope so, Lepidus. Thus we are agreed.
I crave our composition may be written
And sealed between us.
CAESAR
That’s the next to do.
POMPEY
We’ll feast each other ere we part, and let’s
Draw lots who shall begin.
ANTONY
That will I, Pompey.
POMPEY
No, Antony, take the lot. But, first or last,
Your fine Egyptian cookery shall have
The fame. I have heard that Julius Caesar
Grew fat with feasting there.

DUTCH:
Dit hoop ik, Lepidus. — Wij zijn verzoend.
Doch thans zij ons verdrag op schrift gebracht
En onderteekend.

MORE:
CITED IN US LAW: Re. the definition of “composition”: In re. Adler, 103 F. 444 (W.D. Tenn. 1900)

Counts=Accounts, shows
Harsh=Cruel
Vassal=Servant
Composition=Agreement
Take the lot=Draw the straw
Compleat:
Count=Rekenen, achten
Harsh=Schor, ruuw, wrang, streng
Vassal=Leenman, onderdaan
Composition=Bylegging; t’Zamenstelling, toestelling, afmaaking, t’zamenmengsel, vermenging
To draw lots=Loten trekken, looten

Topics: cited in law, contract, understanding, fate/destiny

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 2.3
SPEAKER: Lafew
CONTEXT:
LAFEW
I did think thee, for two ordinaries, to be a pretty wise fellow: thou didst make tolerable vent of thy travel; it might pass: yet the scarfs and the bannerets about thee did manifoldly dissuade me from believing thee a vessel of too great a burthen.
I have now found thee; when I lose thee again, I care not; yet art thou good for nothing but taking up, and that thou’rt scarce worth.
PAROLLES
Hadst thou not the privilege of antiquity upon thee
LAFEW
Do not plunge thyself too far in anger, lest thou
hasten thy trial; which if—Lord have mercy on thee
for a hen! So, my good window of lattice, fare thee
well: thy casement I need not open, for I look
through thee. Give me thy hand.
PAROLLES
My lord, you give me most egregious indignity.

DUTCH:
Ik hield u, nadat ik een paar maal met u aan een open tafel gezeten had, voor een redelijk verstandigen knaap; gij maaktet tamelijk veel ophef van uw reizen;
dit kon er mee door; maar die wimpels en vlaggen aan u weerhielden mij telkens, u voor een schip met al te
groote lading te houden.

MORE:
Proverb: As good (better) lost as (than) found

Ordinaries=Mealtimes
Tolerable vent=Reasonable account
Banneret=Little flag
Taking up=Contradict
Window of lattice=Transparent like a latticed window (punning on Lettice, used for ruffs and caps)
Casement=Part of a window that opens on a hinge
Egregious=Extraordinary, enormous
Indignity=Contemptuous injury, insult
Compleat:
Ordinary=Drooggastery, Gaarkeuken, Ordinaris
Vent=Lugt, togt, gerucht
To eat ant an ordinary=In een ordinaris eten
Take up=Berispen; bestraffen
Lattice=Een houten traali
Casement=Een kykvernstertje, een glaze venster dat men open doet
Egregious=Treffelyk, braaf, heerlyk
Indignity=Smaad

Topics: proverbs and idioms, wisdom, appearance, discovery, understanding

PLAY: The Tempest
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Miranda
CONTEXT:
MIRANDA
Abhorrèd slave,
Which any print of goodness wilt not take,
Being capable of all ill! I pitied thee,
Took pains to make thee speak, taught thee each hour
One thing or other. When thou didst not, savage,
Know thine own meaning, but wouldst gabble like
A thing most brutish, I endowed thy purposes
With words that made them known. But thy vile race,
Though thou didst learn, had that in ’t which good natures
Could not abide to be with. Therefore wast thou
Deservedly confined into this rock,
Who hadst deserved more than a prison.
CALIBAN
You taught me language, and my profit on ’t
Is I know how to curse. The red plague rid you
For learning me your language!

DUTCH:
Deernis had ik;
En schonk u met veel zorg de spraak, ik leerde
U ieder uur iets nieuws; toen gij, een wilde,
Uzelven niet begreept, en klanken uitstiet
Gelijk het stomste vee, gaf ik u woorden,
Zoodat ge u uiten kondt;

MORE:
Schmidt:
Print=Imprint
Take=To receive as a thing in any way given or communicated
Gabble=Caliban is speaking in another language (incomprehensible to Miranda)
Purpose=That which a person or thing means to say or express, sense, meaning, purport: “I endowed thy –s with words,”
Rid=Destroy
Compleat:
Imprint=Inddrukken, inprenten
To imprint a thing in one’s mind=Iemand iets in het geheugen prenten
Gabble=Gekakel, gesnater
To gabble=Snappen, kakelen, koeteren
To gabble French=Fransch koeteren

Topics: language, learning/education, understanding, status, pity, order/society

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Countess
CONTEXT:
CLOWN
Truly, madam, if God have lent a man any manners, he may easily put it off at court: he that cannot make a leg, put off’s cap, kiss his hand, and say nothing, has neither leg, hands, lip, nor cap; and indeed such a fellow, to say precisely, were not for the court. But for me, I have an answer will serve all men.
COUNTESS
Marry, that’s a bountiful answer that fits all questions.
CLOWN
It is like a barber’s chair that fits all buttocks, the pin-buttock, the quatch-buttock, the brawnbuttock, or any buttock.

DUTCH:
COUNTESS
Nu voorwaar, dat is een rijk antwoord, dat voor alle vragen passend is.
CLOWN
Het is als een scheerdersstoel, die voor alle achterstevens passend is, voor de spitse, voor de platte, voor de ronde, kortom voor alle achterstevens.

MORE:
Proverb: As common a a barber’s chair

Make a leg=A bow, an obeisance made by drawing one leg backward
Lent=To bestow on, to endow with, to adorn, to arm with
Put off=Doff
Bountiful=Of rich contents, full of meaning
Quatch=Squat
Compleat:
To make a leg=Buigen
To put off one’s hat=Zyn hoed afneemen
Bountiful=Milddaadig, goedertieren

Topics: reply, reason, understanding, loyalty, proverbs and idioms

PLAY: The Merry Wives of Windsor
ACT/SCENE:
SPEAKER: Sir Hugh Evans
CONTEXT:
SHALLOW
Nay, but understand me.
SLENDER
So I do, sir.
SIR HUGH EVANS
Give ear to his motions, Master Slender: I will
description the matter to you, if you be capacity of
it.
SLENDER
Nay, I will do as my cousin Shallow says: I pray
you, pardon me; he’s a justice of peace in his
country, simple though I stand here.

DUTCH:
Geef sijn foorstel het oor, heer Slapperman. Ik sal u
de saak peschrijfelijk zijn, als gij ontfankelijkheid sijt
daarfoor.

MORE:
Give ear=Listen
Motions=Proposals
Capacity of it=If you can understand (my explanation)
Simple though=As sure as
Compleat:
To give ear=Toeluysteren, een oor leenen
To motion=Voorstellen, een voorslag doen
Capacity=Bevattelykheyd, begryp, bequaamheid, vatbaarheyd, vermoogen

Topics: understanding, perception

PLAY: King Henry IV Part 2
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Shallow
CONTEXT:
By cock and pie, sir, you shall not away tonight. What, Davy, I say!
FALSTAFF
You must excuse me, Master Robert Shallow.
SHALLOW
I will not excuse you. You shall not be excused. Excuses shall not be admitted. There is no excuse shall serve. You shall not be excused. Why, Davy!

DUTCH:
Ik wil u niet ontschuldigen; gij zult niet ontschuldigd
worden; ontschuldigingen worden niet aangenomen; geen
ontschuldiging helpt u; gij zult niet ontschuldigd worden.
Kom toch, David!

MORE:

Schmidt:
Cock and pie=Mild oaath meaning God and the book
Cock=Corruption or rather disguise of the name of God

Topics: still in use, identity, understanding, independence

PLAY: The Merry Wives of Windsor
ACT/SCENE:
SPEAKER: Slender
CONTEXT:
PAGE
By cock and pie, you shall not choose, sir! come, come.
SLENDER
Nay, pray you, lead the way.
PAGE
Come on, sir.
SLENDER
Mistress Anne, yourself shall go first.
ANNE PAGE
Not I, sir; pray you, keep on.
SLENDER
I’ll rather be unmannerly than troublesome.
You do yourself wrong, indeed, la!

DUTCH:
Voorwaar niet; ik zal niet voorgaan, voorwaar niet;
die onbeleefdheid doe ik u niet aan.

MORE:
Proverb: Better be unmannerly than troublesome

Cock and pie=Oath: Cock=God, Pie=Service book
Shall not choose=Must (you have no choice)
Compleat:
There is no choice=Men heeft ‘er geen keur, daar is geen verschiet

Topics: understanding, civility, proverbs and idioms

PLAY: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Helena
CONTEXT:
HERMIA
I understand not what you mean by this.
HELENA
Ay, do. Persever, counterfeit sad looks,
Make mouths upon me when I turn my back,
Wink each at other, hold the sweet jest up—
This sport, well carried, shall be chronicled.
If you have any pity, grace, or manners,
You would not make me such an argument.
But fare ye well. ‘Tis partly my own fault,
Which death or absence soon shall remedy.
LYSANDER
Stay, gentle Helena. Hear my excuse.
My love, my life, my soul, fair Helena!
HELENA
Oh, excellent!
HERMIA
Sweet, do not scorn her so.
DEMETRIUS
If she cannot entreat, I can compel.
LYSANDER
Thou canst compel no more than she entreat.
Thy threats have no more strength than her weak prayers.
Helen, I love thee. By my life, I do.
I swear by that which I will lose for thee
To prove him false that says I love thee not.
DEMETRIUS
I say I love thee more than he can do.
LYSANDER
If thou say so, withdraw and prove it too.
DEMETRIUS
Quick, come.

DUTCH:
Uw dwang verkrijgt niet meer dan hare heê;
Wat dreigt ge? ‘t Is zoo krachtloos als haar smeeken;
Ik min u, Helena, zoo waar ik leef;
En ‘k zweer, ik waag dat leven, kwam er een,
Die lastren dorst, dat ik u niet bemin.

MORE:
Sad=Serious
Make mouths open=Pull faces, grimace
Sweet jest=Joke
Argument=Subject (of the joke)
Hold the sweet jest up=Keep the joke going
Persever=Persevere
Chronicled=Recorded
Entreat=Succeed by entreating
Compleat:
Sad=Droevig
To make a mouth=Een scheeve mond trekken, een toot zetten
Hy stak my de guyg na (also guych, guich)
To jest=Boerten, schertsen, jokken, gekscheeren
Argument=Bewys, bewysreden, dringreden; kort begrip der zaak die te bewyzen staat; inhoud
Persevere=Volharden, volstandig blyven
To chronicle=In eenen kronyk aanschryven
To entreat=Bidden, ernstig verzoeken

Topics: understanding, communication

PLAY: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Helena
CONTEXT:
HERMIA
I understand not what you mean by this.
HELENA
Ay, do. Persever, counterfeit sad looks,
Make mouths upon me when I turn my back,
Wink each at other, hold the sweet jest up—
This sport, well carried, shall be chronicled.
If you have any pity, grace, or manners,
You would not make me such an argument.
But fare ye well. ‘Tis partly my own fault,
Which death or absence soon shall remedy.
LYSANDER
Stay, gentle Helena. Hear my excuse.
My love, my life, my soul, fair Helena!
HELENA
Oh, excellent!
HERMIA
Sweet, do not scorn her so.
DEMETRIUS
If she cannot entreat, I can compel.
LYSANDER
Thou canst compel no more than she entreat.
Thy threats have no more strength than her weak prayers.
Helen, I love thee. By my life, I do.
I swear by that which I will lose for thee
To prove him false that says I love thee not.
DEMETRIUS
I say I love thee more than he can do.
LYSANDER
If thou say so, withdraw and prove it too.
DEMETRIUS
Quick, come.

DUTCH:
Wist gij wat goed, wat zacht is, wat betaamt,
Dan hadt gij zulk een schande mij bespaard.

MORE:
Sad=Serious
Make mouths open=Pull faces, grimace
Sweet jest=Joke
Argument=Subject (of the joke)
Hold the sweet jest up=Keep the joke going
Persever=Persevere
Chronicled=Recorded
Entreat=Succeed by entreating
Compleat:
Sad=Droevig
To make a mouth=Een scheeve mond trekken, een toot zetten
Hy stak my de guyg na (also guych, guich)
To jest=Boerten, schertsen, jokken, gekscheeren
Argument=Bewys, bewysreden, dringreden; kort begrip der zaak die te bewyzen staat; inhoud
Persevere=Volharden, volstandig blyven
To chronicle=In eenen kronyk aanschryven
To entreat=Bidden, ernstig verzoeken

Topics: understanding, communication

PLAY: The Merry Wives of Windsor
ACT/SCENE:
SPEAKER: Mistress Quickly
CONTEXT:
FALSTAFF
Why, I will.
MISTRESS QUICKLY
Nay, but do so, then: and, look you, he may come and
go between you both; and in any case have a
nay-word, that you may know one another’s mind, and
the boy never need to understand any thing; for
’tis not good that children should know any
wickedness: old folks, you know, have discretion,
as they say, and know the world.
FALSTAFF
Fare thee well: commend me to them both: there’s
my purse; I am yet thy debtor. Boy, go along with
this woman.
This news distracts me!
PISTOL
This punk is one of Cupid’s carriers:
Clap on more sails; pursue; up with your fights:
Give fire: she is my prize, or ocean whelm them all!

DUTCH:
Neen, maar doe het zeker; en zie, dan kan hij tusschen
u beiden heen en weer gaan; en in allen gevalle
moet gij een afgesproken woord hebben, waardoor gij
elkander begrijpt, zonder dat de jongen er iets van kan
maken;

MORE:
Nay-word=Password
Distracts=Bewilders
Punk=Whore
Carriers=Messengers
Compleat:
Distracted=Gestoord; ontsteld
Punk (ugly whore)=Ee lelijke hoer
Letter carrier=Briefdraager

Topics: communication|ssecrecy|understanding

PLAY: Richard III
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Richard, Duke of Gloucester
CONTEXT:
RICHARD
So wise so young, they say, do never live long.
PRINCE
What say you, uncle?
RICHARD
I say, without characters fame lives long.
Thus, like the formal Vice, Iniquity,
I moralize two meanings in one word.
PRINCE
That Julius Caesar was a famous man.
With what his valour did enrich his wit,
His wit set down to make his valour live.
Death makes no conquest of this conqueror,
For now he lives in fame, though not in life.
I’ll tell you what, my cousin Buckingham—

DUTCH:
k Zeg, roem wordt, ongeboekt, toch immer oud .
(Ter zijde) Ik spreek, als Boosheid in mysteriespelen,
Een woord gebruikend, tweederlei moraal.

MORE:
Proverb: Too soon wise to live long
Proverb: Sharp frosts bite forward springs
Proverb: Those that God loves does not live long
Proverb: Soon ripe soon rotten
Proverb: Too soon wise to be long old

Justice and Iniquity (also Sin or Vice) were common characters in medieval morality plays, with personifications of vices and virtues seeking to gain control of the ‘everyman’ main character.
Justice (personified as female)=equal distribution of right, conformity to the laws and the principles of equity, either as a quality or as a rule of acting.
See also
“Sparing justice feeds iniquity” (The Rape of Lucrece)
“Which is the wiser here? Justice or Iniquity?” (Measure for Measure, 2.1)

Vice (wickedness, buffoon, comic character).
Characters=Written records
Moralize=Interpret to mean two things (i.e. the survival of life and fame (reputation))
Formal=Customary
Wit=Intellect
Compleat:
Vice=Ondeugd
To moralize=Een zédelyke uitlegging of toepassing op iets maaken
Formal=Gestaltig, vormelyk, naauwgezet, gemaakt
Wit (understanding)=Vinding, schranderheid, verstand

Topics: proverbs and idioms, justice, understanding

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: King
CONTEXT:
BERTRAM
His good remembrance, sir,
Lies richer in your thoughts than on his tomb;
So in approof lives not his epitaph
As in your royal speech.
KING
Would I were with him! He would always say—
Methinks I hear him now: his plausive words
He scatterd not in ears, but grafted them,
To grow there and to bear ;—” Let me not live,”
Thus his good melancholy oft began,
On the catastrophe and heel of pastime.
When it was out,—” Let me not live,” quoth he,
“After my flame lacks oil, to be the snuff
Of younger spirits, whose apprehensive senses
All but new things disdain; whose judgments are
Mere fathers of their garments; whose constancies
Expire before their fashions. This he wished;
I after him do after him wish too,
Since I nor wax nor honey can bring home,
I quickly were dissolved from my hive,
To give some labourers room.

DUTCH:
O, dat ik bij hem waar! Hij zeide steeds:
Mij is ‘t, als hoor ik hem; hij strooide niet
Zijn gulden taal in ‘t oor, maar entte er die,
Zoodat ze er vruchten droeg,

MORE:
Approof=Testimony
Plausive=Pleasing, specious, plausible
Catastrophe, Heel=Both meaning end
Scattered not but grafted=Not thrown carelessly but carefully planted
Snuff=The burning wick of a candle, as darkening the flame or remaining after it.
Apprehensive=Imaginative
Compleat:
Plausible=Op een schoonschynende wyze
To snuff out a candle=Een kaars uitsnuiten
Apprehensive (sensible of)=Een ding gewaar worden

Topics: fashion/trends, language, reason, understanding, memory, legacy

PLAY: Antony and Cleopatra
ACT/SCENE: 1.5
SPEAKER: Cleopatra
CONTEXT:
CHARMIAN
By your most gracious pardon,
I sing but after you.
CLEOPATRA
My salad days,
When I was green in judgment, cold in blood,
To say as I said then.
But, come, away.
Get me ink and paper.
He shall have every day a several greeting,
Or I’ll unpeople Egypt.

DUTCH:
Uit groene jeugd,
Toen ‘t oordeel nog een kind was; — foei! koelbloedig
Mij dit thans na te zeggen! — Doch kom mede;
Breng mij papier en inkt;
Mijn groet zal hem geworden dag op dag,
Al moest ik gansch Egypte er voor ontvolken!

MORE:
Salad=Raw, cold (fig. unreflective)
Green=Immature
Blood=Feeling
Compleat:
Salad=Salaade, sla
Green=Versch
Blood=Disposition, temper

Topics: wisdom, age/experience, understanding

PLAY: Julius Caesar
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Brutus
CONTEXT:
CASSIUS
Then, Brutus, I have much mistook your passion,
By means whereof this breast of mine hath buried
Thoughts of great value, worthy cogitations.
Tell me, good Brutus, can you see your face?
BRUTUS
No, Cassius, for the eye sees not itself
But by reflection, by some other things.
CASSIUS
‘Tis just.
And it is very much lamented, Brutus,
That you have no such mirrors as will turn
Your hidden worthiness into your eye
That you might see your shadow . I have heard
Where many of the best respect in Rome,
Except immortal Caesar, speaking of Brutus
And groaning underneath this age’s yoke,
Have wished that noble Brutus had his eyes.

DUTCH:
Neen, Cassius; ‘t oog ontwaart zichzelve niet,
Niet dan teruggekaatst, door and’re dingen

MORE:
Proverb: The eye sees not itself but by reflection
Also registered in the Oxford Dictionary of English Proverbs: “How wel or ill I haue done in it, I am ignorant: (the eye that sees round about it selfe, sees not into it selfe).”
Cassius replies later:
“And since you know you cannot see yourself
So well as by reflection, I, your glass,
Will modestly discover to yourself
That of yourself which you yet know not of.”

Buried=Concealed
Worthy=Important
Cogitations=Thoughts
Just=True
Turn=Reflect
Shadow=Reflection, form
Respect=Reputation
Had his eyes=Could see clearly
Compleat:
Buried=Begraven, bedelven
Worthy=Waardig, eerwaardig, voortreffelyk, uytmuntend, deftig
Cogitation=Een gedacht, overdenking
Just (righteous)=Een rechtvaardige
Just=Effen, juist, net
Shadow=Een schaduw, schim

Topics: understanding, error, wisdom, value

PLAY: Antony and Cleopatra
ACT/SCENE: 2.5
SPEAKER: Cleopatra
CONTEXT:
CLEOPATRA
That time—Oh, times!—
I laughed him out of patience, and that night
I laughed him into patience. And next morn,
Ere the ninth hour, I drunk him to his bed,
Then put my tires and mantles on him, whilst
I wore his sword Philippan.
Oh, from Italy!
Ram thou thy fruitful tidings in mine ears,
That long time have been barren.
MESSENGER
Madam, madam—
CLEOPATRA
Antonio’s dead! If thou say so, villain,
Thou kill’st thy mistress. But well and free,
If thou so yield him, there is gold, and here
My bluest veins to kiss —a hand that kings
Have lipped, and trembled kissing.
MESSENGER
First, madam, he is well.
CLEOPATRA
Why, there’s more gold. But, sirrah, mark, we use
To say the dead are well. Bring it to that,
The gold I give thee will I melt and pour
Down thy ill-uttering throat.

DUTCH:
Stort gij uw vruchtb’re tijding in mijn ooren,
Sinds lange dorstig, dor !

MORE:
Tires=Clothes
Philippan=The sword used by Antony to defeat Brutus and Cassius at Philippi (see “Julius Caesar”)
Yield=Grant
Villain=Of low social status, here also trouble-maker
Compleat:
To tire=Optooijen, de kap zetten
Yield=Overgeeven, toegeeven, geeven
Villain=Een staafachtige dienaar; Fielt, schelm, snoode boef

Topics: news, communication, perception, understanding

PLAY: King Lear
ACT/SCENE: 4.6
SPEAKER: King Lear
CONTEXT:
What, art mad? A man may see how this world goes with no eyes. Look with thine ears. See how yon justice rails upon yon simple thief. Hark in thine ear: change places and, handy-dandy, which is the justice, which is the thief? Thou hast seen a farmer’s dog bark at a beggar?

DUTCH:
Zie hoe die
rechter daar to keer gaat tegen dien onnoozelen dief./
Zie je hoe die rechter daar zo’n armzalige dief ervanlangs
geeft? Ik fluister het je in: verwissel ze van plaats, en rara,
in welke hand zit de rechter, in welke de dief?

MORE:
Schmidt:
Handy-dandy=Game involving sleight of hand by which something imperceptibly is changed from one hand into the other.
Simple=Humble, ordinary or weak-witted
Compleat:
Simple=De zwakken; Eenvoudig, onbeschadigende
Handy-dandy=Handje klap

Topics: law, justice, corruption, understanding, intellect

PLAY: Titus Andronicus
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Titus Andronicus
CONTEXT:
TITUS ANDRONICUS
How now! has sorrow made thee dote already?
Why, Marcus, no man should be mad but I.
What violent hands can she lay on her life?
Ah, wherefore dost thou urge the name of hands;
To bid AEneas tell the tale twice o’er,
How Troy was burnt and he made miserable?
O, handle not the theme, to talk of hands,
Lest we remember still that we have none.
Fie, fie, how franticly I square my talk,
As if we should forget we had no hands,
If Marcus did not name the word of hands!
Come, let’s fall to; and, gentle girl, eat this:
Here is no drink! Hark, Marcus, what she says;
I can interpret all her martyred signs;
She says she drinks no other drink but tears,
Brewed with her sorrow, meshed upon her cheeks:
Speechless complainer, I will learn thy thought;
In thy dumb action will I be as perfect
As begging hermits in their holy prayers:
Thou shalt not sigh, nor hold thy stumps to heaven,
Nor wink, nor nod, nor kneel, nor make a sign,
But I of these will wrest an alphabet
And by still practise learn to know thy meaning.

DUTCH:
Gij stomme klaagster, ‘k wil uw taal verstaan.
Mij zullen uw gebaren zoo vertrouwd
Als bedelkluiz’naars hun gebeden zijn.

MORE:
Dote=Become irrational
Square=Judge, adjust
Signs=Gestures
Mashed or meshed=Brewed
Perfect=Expert, complete
Wrest=Force
Still=Continued
Compleat:
To dote=Suffen, dutten, mymeren
To mash=Mengel, een mengsel maaken, vergruizen
Perfect=Volmaakt, volkomen, voltoid, voleind
To wrest=Verdraaijen, wringen
Still=Altijd

Topics: madness, regret, sorrow, understanding, communication

PLAY: Measure for Measure
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: Mariana
CONTEXT:
DUKE VINCENTIO
Against all sense you do importune her:
Should she kneel down in mercy of this fact,
Her brother’s ghost his paved bed would break,
And take her hence in horror.
MARIANA
Isabel,
Sweet Isabel, do yet but kneel by me;
Hold up your hands, say nothing; I’ll speak all.
They say, best men are moulded out of faults;
And, for the most, become much more the better
For being a little bad: so may my husband.
O Isabel, will you not lend a knee?

DUTCH:
De beste mannen, zegt men, worden zoo
Door feilen, ja, te beter, waren ze eerst
Een weinig slecht; misschien zoo ook mijn gade.

MORE:
Against all sense=It makes no sense
Importune=Urge, impel
Paved bed=Grave
Compleat:
Importune=Lastig vallen, zeer dringen, gestadig aanhouden, overdringen, aandringen

Topics: adversity, error, understanding

PLAY: Julius Caesar
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Cassius
CONTEXT:
BRUTUS
What a blunt fellow is this grown to be!
He was quick mettle when he went to school.
CASSIUS
So is he now in execution
Of any bold or noble enterprise,
However he puts on this tardy form.
This rudeness is a sauce to his good wit,
Which gives men stomach to digest his words
With better appetite.
BRUTUS
And so it is. For this time I will leave you.
Tomorrow, if you please to speak with me,
I will come home to you; or, if you will,
Come home to me, and I will wait for you.
CASSIUS
I will do so. Till then, think of the world.

DUTCH:
Die ruwheid is een toekruid bij zijn geest;
‘t Versterkt de maag der hoorders, om zijn taal
Met beter eetlust te verteren.

MORE:
Blunt=Dull in understanding
Quick mettle=Quick-witted; keen
However=Although
Tardy form=Sluggish appearance
Wit=Intelligence
Rudeness=Roughness, coarseness
Compleat:
To blunt=Stomp maaken, verstompen
A blunt fellow=Een ongeschikte vent, een plompe boer
Full of mettle=Vol vuurs, moedig
Tardy=Slof, traag, langzaam
Wit (understanding)=Vinding, schranderheid, verstand
Rudeness=Ruuwheyd, onbehouwenheyd, plompheyd

Burgersdijk notes:
Denk midd’lerwijl aan ‘s werelds eischen. Er staat eigenlijk: “Denk middelerwijl aan de wereld”,
aan de wereld en hoe het er toegaat; overweeg den toestand .

Topics: intellect, language, understanding, communication

PLAY: Antony and Cleopatra
ACT/SCENE: 1.3
SPEAKER: Cleopatra
CONTEXT:
CLEOPATRA
Though age from folly could not give me freedom,
It does from childishness. Can Fulvia die?
ANTONY
She’s dead, my Queen.
Look here, and at thy sovereign leisure read
The garboils she awaked, at the last, best,
See when and where she died.
CLEOPATRA
O most false love!
Where be the sacred vials thou shouldst fill
With sorrowful water? Now I see, I see,
In Fulvia’s death how mine received shall be.

DUTCH:
Voor dwaasheid moog’ mijn leeftijd mij niet hoeden,
Voor kindschheid doet hij ‘t wel. /
Hoewel mijn leeftijd mij niet vrijwaarde van dwaasheid, deed zij dat wel van kinderachtigheid.

MORE:

Leisure=When you have time
Vials=Bottles filled with tears
Received=Treated
Compleat:
Leisure=Ledigen tyd
Vial=Een fles, schaal, fiool
Receive=Ontvangen

Topics: wisdom, age/experience, understanding

PLAY: Hamlet
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Hamlet
CONTEXT:
Suit the action to the word, the word to the action, with this special observance that you o’erstep not the modesty of nature. For anything so overdone is from the purpose of playing, whose end, both at the first and now, was and is to hold, as ’twere, the mirror up to nature, to show virtue her own feature, scorn her own image, and the very age and body of the time his form and pressure. Now this overdone or come tardy off, though it make the unskillful laugh, cannot but make the judicious grieve, the censure of the which one must in your allowance o’erweigh a whole theatre of others.

DUTCH:

Wordt dit overdreven, of geschiedt het lamzalig, a
laat het den onkundige lachen, het kan slechts den deskundige verdriet doen, /
Nu dit overdreven of te slap er uitgekomen, kan, ofschoon het alle onkundigen aan het lachen zal maken, niet anders dan ergernis bezorgen aan de lieden van oordeel,

MORE:
CITED IN US LAW:
Shaw v. Eastbome Productions, Ine., 919 F.2d 1353, 1360 (9th Cir. 1990)(Alarcon, J.).

Topics: cited in law, intellect, understanding, value

PLAY: Hamlet
ACT/SCENE: 5.2
SPEAKER: Hamlet
CONTEXT:
Thus has he—and many more of the same bevy that I know the drossy age dotes on—only got the tune of the time and outward habit of encounter, a kind of yeasty collection, which carries them through and through the most fond and winnowed opinions; and do but blow them to their trial, the bubbles are out.

DUTCH:
Zoo heeft hij, – en velen van denzelfden zwerm, waar, zooals ik zie, deze beuzelachtige eeuw op verzot is, – zich alleen den modetoon en den uiterlijken vorm van den omgang eigen gemaakt, een soort van gistend mengsel, dat hen door de meest dwaze en de meest verfijnde denkbeelden heen sleept; doch blaas er slechts op om het to onderzoeken, en het schuim slaat veer.

MORE:
Schmidt:
Bevy=Troop, flock
Drossy=Futile, frivolous
Fond=Slight, trifling, trivial, not worth considering, nugatory
Tune=Note, air, melody (tone)
Winnowed=Sifted, tried. Winnowed opinions: probably truisms
Onions:
Outward habit of encounter= Style or manner of address, behaviour
Yeasty (yesty)=Foamy, frothy (superficial knowledge)

Burgersdijk notes:
Door de meest dwaze en de meest verfijnde denkbeelden. In ‘t Engelsch: through the most fond and winnowed opinions. Op deze wijze zijn fond en winnowed natuurlijk tegen elkaar overgesteld. Maar men heeft ook vermoed,
dat voor fond gelezen moet worden fand, d. i. fann’d, zoodat er sprake zou zijn van ,gezifte en gebuilde” denkbeelden of beoordeelingen, d. i . die van de menschen der fijnste qualiteit, met andere woorden die der fijne wereld, die der hovelingen. De gissing geeft een uitmuntenden zin en is waarschijnlijk juist.
De quarto van 1604 heeft niet fond, maar prophane.

Topics: vanity, learning/education, understanding

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 2.3
SPEAKER: Lafew
CONTEXT:
LAFEW
I did think thee, for two ordinaries, to be a pretty wise fellow: thou didst make tolerable vent of thy travel; it might pass: yet the scarfs and the bannerets about thee did manifoldly dissuade me from believing thee a vessel of too great a burthen.
I have now found thee; when I lose thee again, I care not; yet art thou good for nothing but taking up, and that thou’rt scarce worth.
PAROLLES
Hadst thou not the privilege of antiquity upon thee
LAFEW
Do not plunge thyself too far in anger, lest thou
hasten thy trial; which if—Lord have mercy on thee
for a hen! So, my good window of lattice, fare thee
well: thy casement I need not open, for I look
through thee. Give me thy hand.
PAROLLES
My lord, you give me most egregious indignity.

DUTCH:
En daarmee, mijn good tralievenster, vaarwel! ik behoef uw luik niet te openen, want ik zie u door en door. Geef mij de hand.

MORE:
Proverb: As good (better) lost as (than) found

Ordinaries=Mealtimes
Tolerable vent=Reasonable account
Banneret=Little flag
Taking up=Contradict
Window of lattice=Transparent like a latticed window (punning on Lettice, used for ruffs and caps)
Casement=Part of a window that opens on a hinge
Egregious=Extraordinary, enormous
Indignity=Contemptuous injury, insult
Compleat:
Ordinary=Drooggastery, Gaarkeuken, Ordinaris
Vent=Lugt, togt, gerucht
To eat ant an ordinary=In een ordinaris eten
Take up=Berispen; bestraffen
Lattice=Een houten traali
Casement=Een kykvernstertje, een glaze venster dat men open doet
Egregious=Treffelyk, braaf, heerlyk
Indignity=Smaad

Topics: proverbs and idioms, wisdom, appearance, discovery, understanding

PLAY: Hamlet
ACT/SCENE: 4.5
SPEAKER: Gentleman
CONTEXT:
Her speech is nothing,
Yet the unshaped use of it doth move
The hearers to collection. They aim at it,
And botch the words up fit to their own thoughts,
Which, as her winks and nods and gestures yield them,
Indeed would make one think there might be thought,
Though nothing sure, yet much unhappily.
HORATIO
‘Twere good she were spoken with, for she may strew
Dangerous conjectures in ill-breeding minds.

DUTCH:
t Waar’ goed haar eens to spreken ; licht’lijk strooit
Zij argwaan in een geest, die boosheid broedt .

MORE:
Spurns enviously=Kicks spitefully
Collection=Inference
To botch up=Piece together unskilfully
Botcher=One who mends and patches old clothes
Compleat:
Botcher=Een lapper, knoeijer, boetelaar, broddelaar

Topics: language, perception, understanding, good and bad

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 2.3
SPEAKER: Lafew
CONTEXT:
LAFEW
They say miracles are past; and we have our
philosophical persons, to make modern and familiar, things supernatural and causeless. Hence is it that
we make trifles of terrors, ensconcing ourselves
into seeming knowledge, when we should submit
ourselves to an unknown fear.
PAROLLES
Why, ’tis the rarest argument of wonder that hath
shot out in our latter times.

DUTCH:
Men zegt, dat de tijd der wonderen voorbij is; en wij hebben onder ons wijsgeerige koppen genoeg, die bovennatuurlijke en onverklaarbare dingen tot alledaagsche en gewone zaken maken.

MORE:
Modern=Common, everyday
Causeless=Without explanation
Supernatural=Not produced according to the laws of nature, miraculous:
Ensconcing=Sheltering
Unknown fear=Recognition of the inexplicable
Compleat:
Causeless=Zonder oorzaak
Seeming=Schynende
A man of great seeming piety=Een man van eene groote uitwendige vroomheid
Trifle=Kleinigheid

Topics: learning/education, caution, understanding, justification

PLAY: Julius Caesar
ACT/SCENE: 1.2
SPEAKER: Brutus
CONTEXT:
BRUTUS
What a blunt fellow is this grown to be!
He was quick mettle when he went to school.
CASSIUS
So is he now in execution
Of any bold or noble enterprise,
However he puts on this tardy form.
This rudeness is a sauce to his good wit,
Which gives men stomach to digest his words
With better appetite.
BRUTUS
And so it is. For this time I will leave you.
Tomorrow, if you please to speak with me,
I will come home to you; or, if you will,
Come home to me, and I will wait for you.
CASSIUS
I will do so. Till then, think of the world.

DUTCH:
Wat is uit hem een plompe borst gegroeid!
Toen hij ter school ging, was hij geest en vuur.

MORE:
Blunt=Dull in understanding
Quick mettle=Quick-witted; keen
However=Although
Tardy form=Sluggish appearance
Wit=Intelligence
Rudeness=Roughness, coarseness
Compleat:
To blunt=Stomp maaken, verstompen
A blunt fellow=Een ongeschikte vent, een plompe boer
Full of mettle=Vol vuurs, moedig
Tardy=Slof, traag, langzaam
Wit (understanding)=Vinding, schranderheid, verstand
Rudeness=Ruuwheyd, onbehouwenheyd, plompheyd

Burgersdijk notes:
Denk midd’lerwijl aan ‘s werelds eischen. Er staat eigenlijk: “Denk middelerwijl aan de wereld”,
aan de wereld en hoe het er toegaat; overweeg den toestand .

Topics: understanding, intellect, wisdom

PLAY: King Henry IV Part 2
ACT/SCENE: 4.1
SPEAKER: Westmoreland
CONTEXT:
With your fair honours. You, Lord Archbishop,
Whose see is by a civil peace maintained,
Whose beard the silver hand of peace hath touched,
Whose learning and good letters peace hath tutored,
Whose white investments figure innocence,
The dove and very blessèd spirit of peace,
Wherefore do you so ill translate yourself
Out of the speech of peace, that bears such grace,
Into the harsh and boist’rous tongue of war,
Turning your books to graves, your ink to blood,
Your pens to lances, and your tongue divine
To a trumpet and a point of war?

DUTCH:
Waarom vertaalt gij thans zoo slecht uzelf,
Uit zulk een liefdevolle spraak des vredes
In deze woeste, ruwe taal des krijgs,
Verkeert ge uw inkt en schrift in bloed en graven,
Uw pen in oorlogslans, uw priestermond
In schrille krijgsklaroen en strijdsignaal?

MORE:

Civil=Grave, decent
Graves=This could be glaives (polearm weapon) or greaves (armour for the legs)
Figure=Symbolise, represent
Investments=Vestments
Good letters=Learning

Compleat:
Boisterous=Onstuimig, stormachtig, windig
Investment=Omcingeling, insluiting

Topics: learning/education, language, understanding

PLAY: King Henry IV Part 1
ACT/SCENE: 2.4
SPEAKER: Prince Hal
CONTEXT:
Ungracious boy, henceforth ne’er look on me. Thou art violently carried away from grace. There is a devil haunts thee in the likeness of an old fat man. A tun of man is thy companion. Why dost thou converse with that trunk of humors, that bolting-hutch of beastliness, that swollen parcel of dropsies, that huge bombard of sack, that stuffed cloakbag of guts, that roasted Manningtree ox with the pudding in his belly, that reverend Vice, that gray iniquity, that father ruffian, that vanity in years? Wherein is he good, but to taste sack and drink it? Wherein neat and cleanly but to carve a capon and eat it? Wherein cunning but in craft? Wherein crafty but in villany? Wherein villanous but in all things? Wherein worthy but in nothing?
FALSTAFF
I would your grace would take me with you: whom
means your grace

DUTCH:
Gij laat u met geweld wegsleuren van de genade; er is een duivel, die om u waart in de gedaante van een vetten ouden man; een ton van een man is uw kameraad. Waarom verkeert gij met die kist vol grillen, dien builtrog van dierlijkheid, die opgeblazen baal waterzucht, dat buikig stiikvat sek, dat volgepropte darmenvalies, dien gebraden kermisos met den beuling in ‘t lijf, die eerwaardige ondeugd, die grijze verdorvenheid, dien vader losbol, die ijdelheid op jaren?

MORE:
Schmidt:
Ungracious=impious, wicked
Vanity= worthlessness
Take me with you=Explain your meaning
Burgersdijk notes:
In de Oud-Engelsche spelen trad als komische persoon de Ondeugd, Vice, dikwijls op; hij was met een houten zwaard gewapend.
Dien gebraden kermis-os. In’t Engelsch staat: Dien gebraden Manningtree-ox. Manningtree was een plaats in het weide- en veerijke graafschap Essex, waar op de jaarmarkt steeds een geheele os met de ingewanden in ‘t lijf werd gebraden. Bij die gelegenheid werden er dan ook volksschouwspelen, zoogenaamde Moraliteiten , gegeven, waarin doorgaans de allegorische personen Ondeugd, Goddeloosheid of Verdorvenheid, en IJdelheid, Vice, Iniquity en Vanity, optraden. Van daar dat de Prins Falstaff eerst met den os en dan met die allegorische personen vergelijkt.

Topics: insult, offence, value, order/society, understanding

PLAY: The Comedy of Errors
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Antipholus of Syracuse
CONTEXT:
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
Plead you to me, fair dame? I know you not.
In Ephesus I am but two hours old,
As strange unto your town as to your talk,
Who, every word by all my wit being scanned,
Want wit in all one word to understand.
LUCIANA
Fie, brother, how the world is changed with you!
When were you wont to use my sister thus?
She sent for you by Dromio home to dinner.
ANTIPHOLUS OF SYRACUSE
By Dromio?
DROMIO OF SYRACUSE
By me?
ADRIANA
By thee; and this thou didst return from him:
That he did buffet thee and, in his blows,
Denied my house for his, me for his wife.

DUTCH:
Geldt mij dit, schoone vrouw? Ik ken u niet.
Twee uren pas ben ik in Ephesus ,
En vreemder dan de stad is mij uw taal;
Want, hoe ik napluis, wat ik heb gehoord,
‘k Versta van alles, wat gij zegt, geen woord.

MORE:
But two hours old=I have only been here for two hours
Scanned=Considered (with every ounce of my intellect)
Buffet=Attack
Compleat:
To scan=Onderzoeken, uitpluizen
To be a stranger to=Geen kennis van hebben
To buffet=Met vuisten slaan

Topics: language, civility, understanding

PLAY: Cymbeline
ACT/SCENE: 3.2
SPEAKER: Imogen
CONTEXT:
IMOGEN
Why, one that rode to’s execution, man,
Could never go so slow: I have heard of riding wagers,
Where horses have been nimbler than the sands
That run i’ the clock’s behalf. But this is foolery:
Go bid my woman feign a sickness; say
She’ll home to her father: and provide me presently
A riding-suit, no costlier than would fit
A franklin’s housewife.
PISANIO
Madam, you’re best consider.
IMOGEN
I see before me, man: nor here, nor here,
Nor what ensues, but have a fog in them,
That I cannot look through. Away, I prithee;
Do as I bid thee: there’s no more to say,
Accessible is none but Milford way.

DUTCH:
Wat zegt ge? een man, die ter gerechtsplaats reed,
Kon zoo niet kruipen; ‘k weet van weddingschappen,
Waarbij het paard de vlugheid van het zand
In ‘t uurglas overtrof.

MORE:
One that rode=A person riding
Sands that run in the clock’s behalf=Sands in an hourglass
Presently=Immediately
Franklin=Yeoman, minor landowner
You’re best=You had better
Compleat:
Presently=Terstond, opstaandevoet
Frank-ferm=Land of leengoederen die ontheft zyn van het leen recht
Frank-tenement=Vrij bezit
Frank-law=’t Voorrecht van de gemeene wet des lands

Topics: caution, plans/intentions, understanding

PLAY: Richard III
ACT/SCENE: 3.1
SPEAKER: Buckingham
CONTEXT:
BUCKINGHAM
You are too senseless-obstinate, my lord,
Too ceremonious and traditional.
Weigh it but with the grossness of this age,
You break not sanctuary in seizing him.
The benefit thereof is always granted
To those whose dealings have deserved the place
And those who have the wit to claim the place.
This prince hath neither claimed it nor deserved it
And therefore, in mine opinion, cannot have it.
Then taking him from thence that is not there,
You break no privilege nor charter there.
Oft have I heard of sanctuary men,
But sanctuary children, ne’er till now.

DUTCH:
Gij klemt, Mylord, u to kleingeestig vast
Aan vormen, aan wat de oudheid heilig noemde ;
Maar toets het met de strengheid onzes tijds,
En ‘t is geen heiligschennis hem to grijpen

MORE:
Senseless-obstinate=Unreasonably stubborn
Ceremonious=Standing on ceremony
Weigh it but with=Consider only in the context of
Grossness=Crudeness
Charter=Grant of rights
Compleat:
Senseless=Gevoeleloos, ongevoelig, zinneloos
Obstinate=Hardnekkig, halstarrig, styfkoppig, wrevelmoedig
Weigh=Weegen, overweegen
To weigh all things by pleasures and sorrows=Van alles oordeelen door het vermaak of de droefheid
Gross=Grof, plomp, onbebouwen
Charter=Handvest, voorrecht

Burgersdijk notes:
De weldaad van een vrijplaats wordt verleend enz. De hier door Buckingham aangevoerde gronden werden in den raad inderdaad door hem aangevoerd, toen de Protector beide prinsen onder zijne hoede wilde nemen. De koningin, die aan de vertoogen van den kardinaal niet wilde toegeven, deed het eindelijk, toen de kardinaal vertrok en de overige edelen bleven ; zij vreesde toen, dat er geweld zou gepleegd worden. De ontmoeting der broeders had in het bisschoppelijk paleis van St. Paul plaats; daarna werden zij in alle static naar den Tower gebracht en er gehuisvest, om dezen niet weder te verlaten.

Topics: fashion/trends, judgment, understanding, time

PLAY: Antony and Cleopatra
ACT/SCENE: 2.2
SPEAKER: Caesar
CONTEXT:
CAESAR
I wrote to you
When rioting in Alexandria. You
Did pocket up my letters and with taunts
Did gibe my missive out of audience.
ANTONY
Sir,
He fell upon me ere admitted, then.
Three kings I had newly feasted, and did want
Of what I was i’ th’ morning. But next day
I told him of myself, which was as much
As to have asked him pardon. Let this fellow
Be nothing of our strife. If we contend,
Out of our question wipe him.
CAESAR
You have broken
The article of your oath, which you shall never
Have tongue to charge me with.

DUTCH:
Terwijl Alexandrië
U brassen zag , zond ik u brieven; gij
Staakt ze ongelezen bij u, hebt mijn bode
Met hoon gehoor geweigerd.

MORE:
Proverb: To pocket up an injury (a wrong)

Gibe=Mock
Missive=Messsenger
Pocket up=To put away out of sight, conceal or leave unheeded; (metaphor) Disregard
Fell upon=Burst in on
Newly=Recently
Feasted=Entertained with dinner
Strife=Quarrel, dispute
Article=Terms
Compleat:
To gibe=Boerten, gekscheeren
To pocket=Zakken, in de zak steeken
To fall upon=Op vallen, op aan vallen
Newly=Nieuwlyks, onlangs
To feast=Gastmaal houden, vergasten, onthaalen
Strife=Twist, tweedragt, krakkeel, pooging
Article=Een lid, artykel, verdeelpunt
To surrender upon articles=Zich by verdrag overgeeven

Topics: proverbs and idioms, news, understanding, dispute

PLAY: The Tempest
ACT/SCENE: 2.1
SPEAKER: Gonzalo
CONTEXT:
SEBASTIAN
Look he’s winding up the watch of his wit. By and by it will strike.
GONZALO
(to ALONSO) Sir—
SEBASTIAN
One. Tell.
GONZALO
When every grief is entertained that’s offered,
comes to th’entertainer –
SEBASTIAN
A dollar.
GONZALO
Dolour comes to him, indeed. You have spoken truer than you purposed.

DUTCH:
Ja juist, de tering; gij hebt het beter geraden, dan
gijzelf wel dacht.

MORE:
A visitor is ‘One who visits from charitable motives or with a view of doing good’ (OED)
Dollar=’The English name for the German thaler, a large silver coin’ (OED).
Dolour=Sorrow, grief (wordplay on ‘dollar’)
Tell=Count
Entertain=To conceive, to harbour, to feel, to keep (When everyone who feels grief embraces every grief that comes their way)
Compleat:
Entertain (receive or believe) a principle, an opinion, etc.=Een stelling, een gevoelen aanneemen, koesteren’ gelooven of voorstaan
Dolor=Droefheid, smerte
Dolorous=Pynlyk, droevig
To visit (to go about to see whether things be as they should)=Bezoeken, nazien, onderzoeken
To visit (to affect, to try)=Bezoeken, beproeven

Topics: language, truth, understanding

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