# Dracula-to-English Translation, Anyone? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 20, 2005, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dracula-to-english-translation-anyone/285805 "2005-01-20T22:25:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dracula-to-english-translation-anyone/285805/41 "2014-08-09T04:48:52Z")
> [@Balance](#): > > You mean examples from the novel, or of modern sayings that use the mood in question? The last sentence you quoted is an example of the mood itself, if I’m not mistaken. Either one. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dracula-to-english-translation-anyone/285805/42 "2014-08-09T06:55:55Z")
> [@Julius\_Henry](#): > > **fash masel’** : worry myself I’m pretty sure this is just “fuss myself”. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dracula-to-english-translation-anyone/285805/43 "2014-08-09T09:55:32Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Either one. A quick glance through the text turns up: > [@Jonathan Harker's journal](#): > > Whilst I live on here there is but one thing to hope for, that I may not go mad, if, indeed, I be not mad already. If I be sane, then surely it is maddening to think that of all the foul things that lurk in this hateful place the Count is the least dreadful to me… > [@](#): > > "If it be that I had not dreamt, the Count must have carried me here. " > [@Van Helsing](#): > > If he be not at the place whither he is bound, he can only change himself at noon or at exact sunrise or sunset. I think these fit the bill. I noticed several more from Van Helsing, and there are probably more from Harker, but the ones I quoed is representative. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dracula-to-english-translation-anyone/285805/44 "2014-08-09T10:21:59Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I checked my copies of Leonard Wold’s _The Annotated Dracula_ (1973, 1976) and _The Essential Dracula_ (1993). Both contain the same “translation” of the speech, which is more literal than Klinger’s: ASIDE: I found Klinger’s annotations to be pretty much uninteresting. I gotta get the older ones. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dracula-to-english-translation-anyone/285805/45 "2014-08-09T13:18:32Z")
> [@Julius\_Henry](#): > > **fash masel’** : worry myself I’ve read Daft Wullie and/or Rob Anybody use this phrase. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dracula-to-english-translation-anyone/285805/46 "2014-08-09T13:56:16Z")
It is also used in R.L. Stevenson’s _Kidnapped_. Going from memory, the phrase was something like 'we were glad to get it (food) and never fashed ourselves with kitchen". Meaning we were glad to get food, and didn’t worry about fancy ways of cooking or condiments. If I be not mistaken. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dracula-to-english-translation-anyone/285805/47 "2014-08-09T14:39:06Z")
> [@Balance](#): > > I think these fit the bill. I noticed several more from Van Helsing, and there are probably more from Harker, but the ones I quoted is representative. Very informative. Thank you! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2014, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dracula-to-english-translation-anyone/285805/48 "2014-08-09T15:00:29Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > I’ve read Daft Wullie and/or Rob Anybody use this phrase. The first time I remember seeing it was in the ‘70s, in _ **Asterix in Britain** _: "Dinna fash yersel’, laddie, we’ll dee wi’ our boots on!" About a year later, I asked a Scottish acquaintance what it meant. He shrugged and said “‘Don’t get uptight!’” ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2014, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dracula-to-english-translation-anyone/285805/49 "2014-08-11T08:43:25Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > The first time I remember seeing it was in the ‘70s, in _ **Asterix in Britain** _: "Dinna fash yersel’, laddie, we’ll dee wi’ our boots on!" > > About a year later, I asked a Scottish acquaintance what it meant. He shrugged and said “‘Don’t get uptight!’” Again, it’s just “fuss yourself”. “Don’t fuss yourself, lad, we’ll die with our boots on.” It’s an accent, not another language. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2014, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dracula-to-english-translation-anyone/285805/50 "2014-08-11T12:36:45Z")
> [@Balance](#): > > You mean examples from the novel, or of modern sayings that use the mood in question? The last sentence you quoted is an example of the mood itself, if I’m not mistaken. Well, I’d like the modern sayings or idioms. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2014, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dracula-to-english-translation-anyone/285805/51 "2014-08-11T17:21:00Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Well, I’d like the modern sayings or idioms. Offhand, only a couple come to mind: “Truth be told…” “Far be it from me…” Not precisely modern, but still in use. The present subjunctive mood does get more use in modern speech than one might think, though. It’s mostly the “be” constructions that seem archaic. A lot of declarative content clauses (“that” clauses) are present subjunctive. Ex: “I ask that you hold your questions until the end.” The clause beginning with “that” is in the present subjunctive mood, indicating a desired state or action. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2014, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dracula-to-english-translation-anyone/285805/52 "2014-08-11T17:32:08Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Again, it’s just “fuss yourself”. > > “Don’t fuss yourself, lad, we’ll die with our boots on.” > > It’s an accent, not another language. No, it’s a dialect, not an accent. But who’s picking nits? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2014, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dracula-to-english-translation-anyone/285805/53 "2014-08-11T18:56:44Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > No, it’s a dialect, not an accent. But who’s picking nits? 😃 I went to the Wikipedia, on the belief that “accent” probably wasn’t a meaningful linguistic term, and hence was interchangeable. Instead it said: “A dialect is distinguished by its vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation (phonology, including prosody). Where a distinction can be made only in terms of pronunciation (including prosody, or just prosody itself), the term accent is appropriate, not dialect.” I didn’t have to correct the grammar to be understood, nor were any of the words foreign, once the accent was accounted for. So it does seem that, at least based on the example passage, we were just discussing an accent. So…I nit your nit nit. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2014, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dracula-to-english-translation-anyone/285805/54 "2014-08-11T19:20:04Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > I didn’t have to correct the grammar to be understood, nor were any of the words foreign, once the accent was accounted for. So it does seem that, at least based on the example passage, we were just discussing an accent. Except that you substituted a different, though similar-looking, word. “[Fash](http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/english/fash)” is a word unto itself, so you’re looking at a change in vocabulary, not pronunciation. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2014, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dracula-to-english-translation-anyone/285805/55 "2014-08-11T21:49:43Z")
> [@Balance](#): > > Except that you substituted a different, though similar-looking, word. “[Fash](http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/english/fash)” is a word unto itself, so you’re looking at a change in vocabulary, not pronunciation. Interesting. Though I do notice that the etymology of “fuss” is basically unknown (or goes back to Anglo-Irish) and that the verb definition for both words is: Fuss: “excessive activity, worry, bother, or talk about something” Fash: “To worry; to bother, annoy.” So basically…they have the same meaning, come from the same region, and once accents are accounted for, sound the same. I’m not convinced that they’re different words. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2014, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dracula-to-english-translation-anyone/285805/56 "2014-08-11T22:31:43Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > So basically…they have the same meaning, come from the same region, and once accents are accounted for, sound the same. I’m not convinced that they’re different words. In Russian, the word “баба” means “grandmother” or “old woman”. Same with Macedonian and Polish, which are related languages. It would be transliterated as “baba”. In Japanese, there is the word 婆. In katakana, it is rendered as ばば. Rōmaji transliteration–you guessed it–“baba”. It means “old woman”. Two words that have the same meaning, come from the same part of the world, sound alike, and look alike when transliterated. Are they the same word? No, they are false cognates. I would guess that “fash” and “fuss” are more closely related than that, mind you, but that doesn’t mean they’re the same word. Most likely, they share a common root word, probably from French, and it’s possible that one developed from the other–if so, “fash” has the better claim to being the “original” version, as it appeared in print over 150 years before “fuss”. ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2014, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dracula-to-english-translation-anyone/285805/57 "2014-08-12T10:07:43Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > So basically…they have the same meaning, come from the same region, and once accents are accounted for, sound the same. I’m not convinced that they’re different words. I’m not sure what you mean by “once accents are accounted for”. If you mean that “fash” as spoken in one accent _might_ sound similar to “fuss” as spoken in another, then I don’t think we can take that as useful evidence. By that reasoning, “pin”, “pen”, “pan” and “pun” would all be one word. It’s also worth pointing out that – in terms of dialect – Scotland, Ireland, and the north of England don’t constitute a single region. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dracula-to-english-translation-anyone/285805.md?page=2)