Saturday, January 19, 2013

"'God created Adam master and lord of (all) living creatures, but Eve spoilt all'".

     Martin Luther, Table talk, as translated by William Hazlitt, who began with the 1566 Colloquia oder Tischreden of Johannes Aurifaber, but supplemented that with the editions of others.
     Alternatively,
God created Adam master and lord of (all) living creatures, but Eve spoiled it all, or 
God created Adam lord of (all) living creatures, but Eve spoiled it all, etc.
     But that is not what Luther said precisely (WA TR 2847b (WA TR 3, 26)).  What he said was,
Deus fecit Adam dominum omnium creatorum, ut dominaretur omnibus animantibus, sed cum Eua persuaderet, ut esset dominus supra Deum, do verterbet ers.
Or, as translated on p. 197 of Luther on women: a sourcebook,
God made Adam the lord of all creatures so that he might rule all living things.  But when Eve persuaded him that he was a lord above God, he thereby spoiled it all.
     Granted, he continues, "'We have that to thank you women for'", etc.  But the translation by Hazlitt does not match the text as reproduced later in the Weimarer Ausgabe, which sports "ers", not "Eua".

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