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Blighty

• Message 1.Β 

  Posted by Miranda (U2203130) on Monday, 14th November 2005

  In 'All Quiet on the Western Front', the translator of my edition (Brian Murdoch) has the novel's protagonist, Paul Baumer, speaking of "Blighty". Since Baumer was a German, he would presumably not have used this particular word. What might a German have said instead? And what unspoken associations/meanings would the German equivalent(s) have carried?
  
  "Blighty", it seems to me is quite an interesting word, as, literally translated, it means, I suppose, "the UK", but it is restricted in use to the armed services and is/was employed almost exclusively when away from home, I suppose. As well as referring specifically to the geographical country, it carries the accessory meanings of "back home" and "somewhere safe, which is not here [in the trenches, for instance]"
  
  I realise you all know this! I'm just trying to explain what I'm driving at!

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• Message 2

  , in reply to message 1.

  Posted by Mark (U2073932) on Monday, 14th November 2005

  Blighty of course was also part of an expresssion used by british troops. If they were wounded, not mortally but enough to be sent home then they would have said to have received "a blighty one". The Germans talking about home, would have probably said something like - heimkommen - literally to come home. Or to be homesick -- Heimweh haben. Heimat basically means home, or mother country. Apologies for my appaling german.
  Hope this helps.
  

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• Message 3

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  Posted by jberie (U1767537) on Monday, 14th November 2005

  I didn't know any of that. Thanks!

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• Message 4

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  Posted by TonyG (U1830405) on Monday, 14th November 2005

  It's a long time since I read All Quiet. I must admit I had not remembered that they used Blighty in the translation. I'm afraid I have no idea what the German equivalent was. I don’t think I've ever come across it in any of the books I've read. Although Heimat crtainly does mean home, I suspectit would be a more colloquial expression much as Blighty is soldier's talk in English. If they did have a word for it, I would imagine it had exactly the same connotations - a wound serious enough to warrant being sent home, but not disabling or crippling.

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• Message 5

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  Posted by (( sean )) Free Nordmann (U2053581) on Monday, 14th November 2005

  by the way 'blighty' like alot of soldier's slang comes from Hindi/Punjabi meaning something like 'home village'...cheers

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• Message 6

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  Posted by Miranda (U2203130) on Tuesday, 15th November 2005

  Thank you everyone for your interesting replies!
  
  Just to briefly answer TonyG, Brian Murdoch's translation was published in 1996 I think so you probably read an earlier translation if you haven't read the book for a long time. There are one or two other apparent anachronisms of this type that I noticed, and I mentioned the translator in the original post for this reason, because I assume it's a matter of the translator's choice.

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• Message 7

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  Posted by Turnwrest (U2188092) on Tuesday, 15th November 2005

  One translator I know reckons that a translation into "modern English" is good for no more than a decade before needing at least thorough revision. OK, she works mainly on biblical texts and Sumerian/ Akkadian cuneiform, but I suspect something similar may be true even for C20th European languages.

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