English words of "The Internationale".

[E. Wayles Browne]

"We have been nought, we shall be all"
(Theresa Alt, oral tradition: she learned it singing with fellow
members of Democratic Socialists of America).

Pete Seeger and Bob Reiser, _Carry it on! A history in song and picture
of the working men and women of America_, Simon and Schuster, New York 1986,
p. 95 gives the original French, written by Euge`ne Pottier, 1871:
Le monde va changer de base,
Nous ne sommes rien, soyons tout.

and many versions in other languages:
United States:
The earth shall rise on new foundations.
We have been nought, we shall be all.

England:
We'll change forthwith the old conditions
And spurn the dust to win the prize.

Spanish:
El mundo va a cambiar de base.
Los nada de hoy todo han de ser.

Italian:
La plebe sempre all'opra china
Senza ideale in cui sperar.
(this seems to be a highly free version)

German:
Ein Nichts zu sein, tragt es nicht la"nger,
Alles zu werden, stro"mt zu Hauf!

Danish:
Snart Verdens Grundvold sig forrykker,
fra Intet da vi bliver Alt!

Swedish:
Fra*n mo"rkret stiga vi mot ljuset,
fr*an intet allt vi vilja bli.

Dutch:
De wereld steunt op nieuwe krachten
Begeerte heeft ons aangeraakt. (a loose version again.)

Polish:
Ruszymy z posad bryle s'wiata,
Dzis' niczem, jutro wszystkiem my.

And finally Russian:

My nash, my novyj mir postroim:
Kto byl nichem, tot stanet vsem!
>
>On Sun, 25 Feb 1996, Loren A. Billings wrote:
>
>> Would anyone out there know a standard English translation of the
>> following line from the anthem "Internatsional"?
>>
>>     Kto byl nikem tot stanet vsem.
>>
>> (Yes, I'm aware of the irreverent spoof of it: Kto byl nikem tot stal
>>nichem.>
>> Thanks again,  --Loren Billings (billings at mailer.fsu.edu)

Theresa adds that there was a lengthy discussion of versions of
the Internationale on the dsanet list some years ago, containing
some spoofs as well. You can
still find it on the Economic Democracy Information Network gopher
at garnet.berkeley.edu at ports 1250, 1251, or 1252.


Wayles Browne, Assoc. Prof. of Linguistics
Department of Linguistics
Morrill Hall, Cornell University
Ithaca, New York 14853, U.S.A.
tel. 607-255-0712 (o), 607-273-3009 (h)
fax 607-255-2044 (write FOR W. BROWNE)
e-mail ewb2 at cornell.edu (1989 to 1993 was: jn5j at cornella.bitnet //
jn5j at cornella.cit.cornell.edu)