I WILL YOU READ

The verb will in English is probably one of the most amazing in the entire language in my opinion, not just because I will it to be that way. It has absolutely so many uses and derivations within English.

For example, it can be used to express want. In the sentence above, I said ‘I will it to be that way’ where I could easily have said ‘I want it to be that way.’ Yet in this example, will seems out of place to a native English ear and seems archaic or quite rude. In English, there is a strange dichotomy between will and want, which have similar meanings, but very different usages.

It wasn’t always this way. In Old English, the verb willan (will) was used where we would use want. For example, here’s a sentence from the medieval romance Apollonios of Tyre.

Forðam gif hit gewurðan maeg, ic wille me bedihlian on eowrum eðle.
And so if it may come about, I want to hide myself in your country.

So then, this begs the question of when want came on the scene. It comes from the Old English verb wanian (lessen, diminish, wane) which had the original sense to lack and be in want of. Later it came to be used in the place of will. I would like to suggest that willan and wanian come from the same root in Proto-Indo-European meaning ‘to lack’ or ‘to be in want of.’ Similarly we might attribute the case of the verb wish which comes from Old English wiscan. This is no more than will plus the verb suffix –sc which acts as an intensifier signifying repeated action (cf. Latin –sco and Greek –σκω). When you wish for something, you want it multiple times after all.

And so, to return to our discussion of will and want, when did this distinction between the two arise? Probably, most likely when the verb will started to be used to express the future, the difference arose as people looked for a way to avoid confusion. And so the verb want mostly replaced will when it came to expressing volition.

Anna Vissi - To parelthon mou

Μ΄αρεσεί παρά πολύ αυτό το τραγουδί. Η Βίσση είναι απολυτή θεά στο βίδεο! Το ποστάρω εδώ με τη δική μου αγγλική μετάφραση. Υπάρχουν μερικοί στίχοι με ομοιοκαταληξία και άλλοι χωρίς ομοιοκαταληξία γιατί δεν είμαι ποιητής, αλλά φοιτητής. Απολαύστε το!

I really love this song! Vissi is a total diva in the video! I’ve posted it here with my own English translation. Some of the lines are in rhyme and others aren’t. I’m not a poet, after all, but a student.

Το πάρελθον μου της Άννας Βίσσης (My Past by Anna Vissi)
Με γεματές μπαταρίες
ξεκινάω απ’το μηδέν
Οι παλιές μου ιστορίες
είναι στάχτες που δεν καιν’

Να πετάξω θέλω μόνο
Και να πιάσω ούρανο
Για τα δυο σου μάτια λιώνω
Παραδίνομαι εν ψύχρω

Το πάρελθον μου απόψε διαγράφω
Και πετάω και φεύγω ψηλά
Τώρα ζω αναπνέω υπάρχω
Και γεννιέμαι μαζί σου ξάνα

Με γεματές μπαταρίες
Με γκάζια δύνατα
Λογική και θεωρίες
Δεν αντέχει η καρδιά

Έλα, πάμε ν’αναβούμε
Σε σύννεφο λευκό
Αγκαλιά να ονειρευτούμε
Σ’ένα σώμα εμείς οι δυο

Το πάρελθον μου απόψε διαγράφω
Και πετάω και φεύγω ψηλά
Τώρα ζω αναπνέω υπάρχω
Και γεννιέμαι μαζί σου ξάνα

Το πάρελθον μου απόψε διαγράφω
Το πάρον μόναχα μ’αφορά
Σ’αγαπώ τρελά και υπογράφω
Λέω ναι στα καινουριά φιλιά

Άκου την καρδιά πως χτυπάει δυνατά
Λες και το κορμί θα το σπάσει
Άκου την καρδιά σαν τρελή πως χτυπά
Θέλει να εκραγεί να φωνάξει

Το πάρελθον μου απόψε διαγράφω
Και πετάω και φτάνω ψηλά
Τώρα ζω αναπνέω υπάρχω
Και γεννιέμαι μαζί σου ξάνα

Το πάρελθον μου απόψε διαγράφω
Το πάρον μόναχα μ’αφορά
Σ’αγαπώ τρελά και υπογράφω
Λέω ναι στα καινουριά φιλιά

In English/Στα αγγλικά
With full batteries,
I accelerate from nothing
My old stories
Are ashes that aren’t burning

I only want to fly
To touch the sky
I yearn for your eyes
I turn myself over in cold blood.

Tonight I’m crossing out my past
And flying where I’ve never been
Now I live, breath, exist
And I’m born with you again.

With full batteries
And the pedal to the metal
For logic and theories
The heart doesn’t settle.

Let’s go rise up
in a white cloud
And dream of embraces
The two of us in one

Tonight I'm crossing out my past
And flying where I’ve never been
Now I live, breath, exist
And I’m born with you again.

Tonight I’m crossing out my past
The present alone concerns me
I love you and I’ll sign
I’ll say yes to new kisses

Listen to how the heart's thumping
As though it’s going to burst
Listen to the heart beat crazy
Ready to explode and shout:

Tonight I’m crossing out my past
And flying where I’ve never been
Now I live, breath, exist
And I’m born with you again.

Tonight I’m crossing out my past
The present alone concerns me
I’m crazy in love with you and I’ll sign
I’ll say yes to new kisses