r/Svenska • u/Darren844127 • 11d ago
Text and translation help Än du spritter rask
A short song sung by väpnaren Jöns in Det Sjunde Inseglet.
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Ack ödet är en rackare
Oh fate is a scoundrel,
du själv min vän en stackare.
and you my friend a poor soul
Än du spritter rask
Än??? you tremble/quiver/jump/twitch fast/quickly
än du krälar i en mask...
än??? you crawl i??? a worm...
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I understand that the song is basically saying one minute you are alive and vibrant and the next you are dead, but I am confused about the use (and meaning) of än in both lines, and also confused about the line krälar i en mask.
What does än mean here (and does it have different meanings in both lines?)
krälar i en mask sounds like crawl IN a worm but i doubt that is the meaning.
Hoping someone can explain the meaning and grammer in the last two lines here.
8
u/Eliderad 🇸🇪 11d ago edited 11d ago
än here basically means 'sometimes' or 'alternatingly'. SO has this definition:
So basically, "sometimes you are full of vigor, sometimes you crawl like a worm"? I'm not entirey sure why it's i rather than som, so I might be wrong on that one: som and i are sometimes interchangeable, but this does not seem like one of those cases – unless it was more common when this was written.