「ことを したもんじゃ」 translation

[nonezumi]

Hello,

Please help me with translation for the second sentence.
Kindly correct me if I am wrong.

よくばりじいさんは こいぬを ころしてしまいました。
Greedy old man killed puppy.

「なんと かわいそうなことを したもんじゃ。」
"How sad it is, (he) should not did such thing"

Thank you very much!

 

[Dapi]

I'm guessing is it from japanese fairy tale that called、"Hanasaka Jiisann"？

maybe it is more like this?

なんとかわいそうなことをしたもんじゃ。
"what a poor thing he has done" or " what a mean thing he has done"

hehe i'm sorry if it's sound wierd...

is this the dialog from the good old man? or the greedy one?

 

[nonezumi]

Yes, it is Hanasaka Jiisann fairy tale.

Actually, I can not say for sure, which person is speaking.

All I have is sentences like below.

よくばりじいさんは こいぬを ころしてしまいました。
「なんと かわいそうなことを したもんじゃ。」

It could be good character regret about awful things done by bad character.
Or maybe it is bad charter lies. For example if he telling "Awful things were happened" to good character.

Thank you very much!

 

[Dapi]

yes it's a bit confusing, it could also be that the greedy one is regreting what he has done...?.:?

 

[Glenn]

Should be ころしてしまいました, by the way.

 

[Elizabeth]

「なんと かわいそうなことを したもんじゃ。」
"How sad it is, (he) should not did such thing"

I think "should not" is closer to もんじゃない。


Maybe the English translation would help...;-)

Hanasaka Jiisan - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

There was a kind-hearted old man, Hanasaka-jiisan, who grew cherry blossoms. The old man and his wife had a white puppy. One day, their dog barked, "Koko-hore-wan-wan," (meaning "Dig here! Bark bark!") while digging in a field. The old man was happy. However, the old couple's neighbors were jealous of this. So they stole the white puppy away, and ordered him to search for treasure. They beat him, then he went to search for treasure. But they only found rubbish. So, then they killed the dog. The old man was crushed with grief. The neighbor's gave the old man and his wife the dog's ashes. Then, the dog appeared in the old man's dream. The dog said, "Please scatter my ashes on the dead cherry blossom tree!" The old man followed the dog's directions. Then, the dead cherry blossom tree came into full bloom. The old man and his wife received great praise from a feudal lord passing by.

 

[nonezumi]

Thank you very much for your suggestions and corrections.
After spending some time, for now, maybe I can translate

「なんと かわいそうなことを したもんじゃ。」

as

"How pitiful it is, how he could do such thing".

 

[Glenn]

It isn't もんじゃない, though; it's もんじゃ, i.e., ものだ abbreviated to もんだ with the "old man copula" じゃ being used.

 

[nonezumi]

It isn't もんじゃない, though; it's もんじゃ, i.e., ものだ abbreviated to もんだ with the "old man copula" じゃ being used.

Thank you very much! Actually, I was also unclear about じゃ。 I met it in the sentence below:

「こんなに みごとな はなを みるのは はじめてじ ゃ。」

If i can treat じゃ as old man copula, maybe i can translate it as:

"It's for the first time I see so splendid flowers."

 

[Elizabeth]

It isn't もんじゃない, though; it's もんじゃ, i.e., ものだ abbreviated to もんだ with the "old man copula" じゃ being used.

Yes, it was just an offhand comment that the original translation "shouldn't do that" (as a prohibition) sounds more like もんじゃない. I'm not saying もんじゃない would have been appropriate in that sentence.

 

[Glenn]

Thank you very much! Actually, I was also unclear about じゃ。 I met it in the sentence below:
「こんなに みごとな はなを みるのは はじめてじ ゃ。」
If i can treat じゃ as old man copula, maybe i can translate it as:
"It's for the first time I see so splendid flowers."

You got it! By the way, I just sort of stuck that name on it for brevity. It's not that it's really used by old men, but in anime and manga old people (I probably should have said "people" in the first place) speak like that for comedic effect.

 

[Glenn]

Yes, it was just an offhand comment that the original translation "shouldn't do that" (as a prohibition) sounds more like もんじゃない. I'm not saying もんじゃない would have been appropriate in that sentence.

Ah, I completely missed that in the first post.

 

[nonezumi]

By the way, I just sort of stuck that name on it for brevity. It's not that it's really used by old men, but in anime and manga old people (I probably should have said "people" in the first place) speak like that for comedic effect.

Thank you very much for your kind explanations. I also did some research, and find out, that sometimes じゃ explained as copula used my old man, sometimes by dialect (Kansai and Okayama)

 

[Glenn]

Yeah, and in 時代劇 (じだいげき) too, but not just by old people.

 

[nonezumi]

Yeah, and in 時代劇 (じだいげき) too, but not just by old people.

Thank you very much for your kind addition!