Double Translation: FQ 1.1.3.1-5

The English humanist Roger Ascham (1515-1568) prescribed for the learning of Latin his famous "double translation" method, whereby students would translate selected passages from Latin to English and then back into Latin. The idea was to inculcate a sense of idiomatic propriety in both languages, at a time when composition might have to be done in either. Of course, few write in Latin anymore, but I recalled the double translation method recently when thinking about this insane project of mine. I thought it might be nearly impossible to accomplish the same sort of feat when translating between Japanese and Early Modern English (not to mention Spenser's weird archaizing), given the range of generally incompatible knowledge that would be required to pull it off. The two languages--in grammar, morphology, and semantic structure--are just so different... how to acquire a sensitive enough instinct in both? I must admit: I may be reading and translating the Japanese, but I certainly couldn't say whether or not what I'm reading is beautiful. I just don't know what the criteria are, and they do not seem to be as transferable from English as they would be among Western languages. And so, with a resounding "Alas!" I move on to the third stanza (of 55). Five lines today!

Here is the full third stanza in Spenserian, followed by the first five lines in Japanese:

Vpon a great aduenture he was bond,
That greatest Gloriana to him gaue,
That greatest Glorious Queene of Faerie lond,
To winne him worship, and her grace to haue,
Which of all earthly things he most did craue;
And euer as he rode, his hart did earne
To proue his puissance in battell braue
Vpon his foe, and his new force to learne;
Vpon his foe, a Dragon horrible and stearne.

騎士は、あのいとも偉大なグロリアーナ、
妖精の国のあのいとも偉大な栄光の女王から
命じられた大冒険に赴くところで、
これによって名誉をかち取り、女王の愛顧を得ること、
これがこの世で、この騎士の何よりの願いであった。

kishi wa, ano itomo idaina Guroriaana (Gloriana),
yousei no kuni no ano itomo idaina eikou no joou kara
meijirareta daibouken ni omomuku tokorode,
kore ni yotte meiyo o kachitori, joou no aiko o eru (uru) koto,
kore ga kono yo de, kono kishi no nani yori no negai de atta.

騎士は、あのいとも偉大なグロリアーナ、
kishi wa, ano itomo idaina Guroriaana (Gloriana),

This phrase begins with our old standby 騎士 kishi (knight) and the topic particle. The phrase あのいとも偉大なグロリアーナ ano itomo idaina Guroriaana means "that extremely great Gloriana" which, I suppose, is an attempt to translate the superlative. Helpfully (?), the text provides a note on Gloriana:

エリザベス女王を指す。赤十字の騎士は妖精の女王の便命を受けて竜退治に出かける。

This says (umm): "Indicates Queen Elizabeth. The Redcrosse Knight, receiving a mission from the Faerie Queene, set out to do some dragon slaying." 便命 does not appear in my dictionary, but is comprised of the kanji for "convenient" and "fate" which sound like "mission" to me. 竜退治 is also a hell of a compound I can't find, but is something like "dragon-expel-subdue" so we can draw our own conclusions. The verb 受ける ukeru means "to receive." We use it in aikido, too. To be an "uke" means to "receive" a throw. To practice "ukemi" means to practice being thrown.

妖精の国のあのいとも偉大な栄光の女王から
yousei no kuni no ano itomo idaina eikou no joou kara

Easy. We know most of those words already: 妖精の国 is "Faerie land" (cute), we just saw the "extremely great" construction, here paired with 栄光 eikou "glorious" queen. So, with line one, we get: "The knight from that extremely great glorious queen of Faerie land, that extremely great Gloriana."

命じられた大冒険に赴くところで、
meijirareta daibouken ni omomuku tokorode,

命じられた meijirareta is the passive past tense form of the verb "to command" so "...was commanded." 大冒険 daibouken is my favorite word of this stanza; it means "great adventure." There's a white trashy theme park in New Jersey called Great Adventure, where I spent many fine summer days in my youth. I wonder if Japanese travel guides refer to it as 大冒険. Here, it is an indirect object (dative of purpose?). 赴くomomuku is a simple little verb that means "to go" or "to proceed" and ところで tokorode is a funny choice here--it means, even in casual conversation, "by the way" or "incidentally." So, this line reads "incidentally was commanded to proceed on a great adventure" or something like that. The main verb has yet to appear!

これによって名誉をかち取り、女王の愛顧を得ること、
kore ni yotte meiyo o kachitori, joou no aiko o eru (uru) koto,

For by means of this (kore ni yotte) honor (meiyo) to take victory? (kachitori), the fact of obtaining (eru koto) the queen's favor (joou no aiko). かち取り is tricky, because かち could be a number of things, but 取り is definitely "to take." The kanji 取 is comprised of 又 and 耳. The second one means ear ("mimi"), and I read in one of my kanji books that 又 was originally a knife or sword so 取, the common verb "to take," is, visually, a knife cutting off an ear. 得ること is a nominalized verb. 得る is either eru or uru. How do you decide which one to use? F* if I know.

これがこの世で、この騎士の何よりの願いであった。
kore ga kono yo de, kono kishi no nani yori no negai de atta.

This looks hard. The second clause is "by means of/in the location of the greatest desire (願いで negai de) of this knight... was." あった (atta) is the past tense of the common verb aru which is something like "to be" or "to exist." It's usually used with inanimate objects, though, so it must not be referring to the knight. The first clause seems to be along the lines of "as for this, by means of this era" or, more likely, "in this world" so maybe the whole thing is "this was in this world... where the desires of this knight were concerned... the greatest." These purpose clauses are trick-ay!

I'll have to put the whole thing together again:

騎士は、あのいとも偉大なグロリアーナ、
妖精の国のあのいとも偉大な栄光の女王から
命じられた大冒険に赴くところで、
これによって名誉をかち取り、女王の愛顧を得ること、
これがこの世で、この騎士の何よりの願いであった。

As for the knight, from that extremely great glorious queen of Faerie Land,
that extremely great Gloriana
he was commanded to proceed on a great adventure by the by,
because this winning of honor, the obtaining of the favor of the queen--
these were in this world, among the desires of this knight the greatest.

Here, again, are the original lines. You be the judge:

Vpon a great aduenture he was bond,
That greatest Gloriana to him gaue,
That greatest Glorious Queene of Faerie lond,
To winne him worship, and her grace to haue,
Which of all earthly things he most did craue;