#511: Thy Strong Word
Feb. 25th, 2020 10:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lutheranhymnsThis is the other version of the "8/2 but with triplets" tune from here. We get some amazing redundancy in verse 2 with "breathed thine own life-breathing breath." As opposed to, uh, the other kind.
The first four verses are written in the middle of the staff, with a couple more tacked on at the end. Usually this is just because they ran out of room and wanted to save space. Interestingly (I mean, by my standards), here the first four all have the same chorus, which is mostly but not entirely trailing alleluias. Verse 5 is similar but a little different, and then verse 6 is very different. So only putting the first four with the music allows them to write that refrain only once, and then do the different versions.
This is a "second person problems" song with all the thees and thys. I forget if I've touched on it here (I think I probably have, although maybe not tagged), but generally, the pattern goes something like this:
I have a book
The book belongs to me
This is my book
The book is mine
You have a book
The book belongs to you
This is your book
This book is yours
(Second person intimate/close friend, back in the day)
Thou have a book (it's probably "hast," but let's not worry about verbs right now)
The book belongs to thee
This is thy book
The book is thine
So if the word that means "belonging to you" goes before the noun, it should usually be "thy." As in, "thy strong word." But then how do we get "thine own life-breathing breath" or "thine ordered seasons"?
Well, the other old-timey thing some writers kept doing was to add an "n" if the next sound would be a vowel, the same way we have "a book" but "an apple." So "thy" becomes "thine" for "thine own..." It also works with "my," as in "mine eyes have seen the glory."
The first four verses are written in the middle of the staff, with a couple more tacked on at the end. Usually this is just because they ran out of room and wanted to save space. Interestingly (I mean, by my standards), here the first four all have the same chorus, which is mostly but not entirely trailing alleluias. Verse 5 is similar but a little different, and then verse 6 is very different. So only putting the first four with the music allows them to write that refrain only once, and then do the different versions.
This is a "second person problems" song with all the thees and thys. I forget if I've touched on it here (I think I probably have, although maybe not tagged), but generally, the pattern goes something like this:
I have a book
The book belongs to me
This is my book
The book is mine
You have a book
The book belongs to you
This is your book
This book is yours
(Second person intimate/close friend, back in the day)
Thou have a book (it's probably "hast," but let's not worry about verbs right now)
The book belongs to thee
This is thy book
The book is thine
So if the word that means "belonging to you" goes before the noun, it should usually be "thy." As in, "thy strong word." But then how do we get "thine own life-breathing breath" or "thine ordered seasons"?
Well, the other old-timey thing some writers kept doing was to add an "n" if the next sound would be a vowel, the same way we have "a book" but "an apple." So "thy" becomes "thine" for "thine own..." It also works with "my," as in "mine eyes have seen the glory."
