German language question - declension of people's names?

[Cunctator]

My choir is in final rehearsals for this week’s performances of Bach’s *St John Passion * and I’m curious about the German usage in one of the choruses. It’s the part where Pilate offers to release Jesus in line with the Jewish Passover custom and the crowd instead demands the release of Barabbas. After Pilate makes the offer the crowd (choir) responds:

Nicht diesen, diesen nicht, sondern Barrabam!

I don’t know a lot of German, but I thought that the declension of nouns didn’t extend to proper nouns like people’s names. Is the Barrabam form (which I assume is an accusative) some sort of 18th century German usage? Or does it have something to do with the Hebrew origin of the name?

[DarrenS]

I remember learning that this is done (though, less and less in modern-day German).

This page agrees.

Names have only their genitive case different from the nominative. The pattern is similar to masculine nouns but with the important difference that the -s (but never -es) genitive ending occurs with all names irrespective of gender (Antons, Annas). After a sibilant, it may be replaced by an apostrophe (Franz’); the formation with -ens (Franzens) is archaic. Where the person is well-known enough, the article is often used to avoid the genitive marker (das Leben des Franz von Assissi).

[Yeah]

@Cunctator

My choir is in final rehearsals for this week’s performances of Bach’s *St John Passion * and I’m curious about the German usage in one of the choruses. It’s the part where Pilate offers to release Jesus in line with the Jewish Passover custom and the crowd instead demands the release of Barabbas. After Pilate makes the offer the crowd (choir) responds:

Nicht diesen, diesen nicht, sondern Barrabam!

I don’t know a lot of German, but I thought that the declension of nouns didn’t extend to proper nouns like people’s names. Is the Barrabam form (which I assume is an accusative) some sort of 18th century German usage? Or does it have something to do with the Hebrew origin of the name?

It’s not German. Latin maybe?

[kellner]

It is an old-fashioned convention to preserve latin declensions in proper nouns, including words from other languages that came from latin sources. It is rarely done today, but it survives in many phrases. e.g. the German equivalent of A.D. is nach Christi Geburt / after Christ’s birth.

[Cunctator]

@kellner

It is an old-fashioned convention to preserve latin declensions in proper nouns, including words from other languages that came from latin sources.

That’s very helpful. Thanks kellner.

[MartinL]

I second kellner.

I can also confirm your assumption regarding the accusative.
When the Romans latinized non-Roman names, they applied a declension which best matched the ending of the name in their opinion. So “Barrabas” is treated as if ending in -a (the s is ignored): Barrabas, Barrabae, Barrabae, Barrabam, Barrabas, Barraba

[Johanna]

In Aramaic bar abba means ‘son of a father’. In a patronymic system, failure to specify the father’s name implies it’s unknown, so I’ve heard the name interpreted as a roundabout acknowledgement of bastardy.

[Polycarp]

@kellner

It is an old-fashioned convention to preserve latin declensions in proper nouns, including words from other languages that came from latin sources. It is rarely done today, but it survives in many phrases. e.g. the German equivalent of A.D. is nach Christi Geburt / after Christ’s birth.

Let me add to this the 18th/early 19th Century German custom of adopting Latinate or Greek forms and treating them as if Latin/Greek nouns adopted into German and declined in the same way as if still Latin or Greek. As an example, hymn composer Johann Neumann is regularly found listed by the Grecianized form of his name, Johannes Neander. The “Barabbas” reference here may well have been dealt with in that way.

[Hari_Seldon]

Another thing to keep in mind is that proper nouns are pluralized by adding s. My wife and I are die Seldens. This is true despite the fact that well under 1% of German nouns are pluralized with an s. Stephen Pinker makes a big point of this in his Words and Rules. And I checked it with a German speaking colleague who left Germany in 1938 and he agreed.