In "Come, Thou Redeemer", who rendered "Come, testify ..."?
  • Hugh
    Posts: 198
    Advent incoming.

    I'm sure it's on the web somewhere, but I'm lazy, so need to pick brains. Which great translator rendered the second line of Ambrose's magnificent "Veni, Redemptor Gentium" as "Come, testify thy virgin birth"? To me that's so much stronger than J.M. Neale's "And manifest thy virgin birth. " &c. and, FWIW, even echoes faithfully the Latin's accented "st" of "Ostende partum Virginis".

    That being said, take nothing from him: John Mason Neale was one of the greats.
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,093
    Google Books search of 19th century sources indicates that (Come, testify) is actually Neale's translation.

    I would have thought "And manifest" the more literal. "Ostende partum Virginis" doesn't have "come" (nor "and", but it's a more neutral connector) and ostendere is more typically a verb about showing/exposing/revealing et cet., which "testify" in current typical English usage doesn't usually mean at the initial or primary level (which is about telling), only secondary (as an effect of telling).
    Thanked by 1Hugh
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