死が二人を分かつまで shi ga futari wo wakatsu made Til Death Do Us Part
死が二人を分かつまで (shi ga futari wo wakatsu made), until death parts the two, is the marriage vow's till death us do part, from the Church of England's prayer book of 1662, in the modern word order. No book to 1946 in the National Diet Library prints it in Japanese; a Kobe wedding chapel prints it today.
Abstract
死が二人を分かつまで, until death parts the two, is the marriage vow's till death us do part, from the Church of England's prayer book of 1662, in the modern word order. No book to 1946 in the National Diet Library prints it in Japanese; the wording is in use today, as a Kobe wedding chapel's printed vow shows. Whose translation it first was is not settled.
Overview
The sense. The vow, 死が二人を分かつまで, which no book to 1946 in the Library prints and which a Japanese wedding chapel prints today in these words.
The words. 分かつ wakatsu: 一つのものを離して二つ以上にする。別々にする, to separate one thing into two or more, the formal verb where speech says 分ける [1]; 二人 futari, the two, with no us, which Japanese leaves to context; まで, until.
The text in English. Till death do us part and 死が二人を分かつまで are the same clause in the modern word order.
The historical record
1662. The vow. The Church of England's marriage service in the 1662 prayer book: to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part, according to God's holy ordinance; the woman's vow adds and to obey [2]. The old word order, till death us do part, is what modern speech turns into till death do us part. In Japanese the clause is in no book to 1946 in the National Diet Library [3]; two Anglican books of 1927 and 1931 on marriage quote Genesis and Paul on the two becoming one flesh and do not print the vow [4][5]. The wording is in use today: a Kobe chapel prints its vow as 今日より良い時も悪い時も、富める時も貧しい時も、病める時も健やかなる時も、愛し慈しみ、そして、死が二人を分かつまで貞操を守ることをここに誓います, beside the English until death do us part [6]. Whose translation the wording first was, the Anglican prayer book's or another's, is not settled.
Today. What a rendering must keep is the formal 分かつ, not 分ける.
A reading
The vow is the 1662 prayer book's, in its modern English word order, and the Japanese is the wording a Japanese wedding chapel uses today. Whose translation it first was is the question the record leaves open; the 1927 and 1931 Anglican books on marriage do not print the vow.
References
- 「分つ」, at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/分つ-422703
- The Book of Common Prayer, 1662, the marriage service. https://pemberley.com/janeinfo/compraym.html
- National Diet Library Digital Collections, next-generation full-text search on 死が二人を分かつまで, 0 books to 1946. https://lab.ndl.go.jp/dl/
- 稲垣陽一郎, 天路を指して, 聖公会出版社, 1927, scan 23. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/1034467/1/23
- 稲垣陽一郎, さくらめんと, 1931, scan 180. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/1224210/1/180
- 元町夢工場, wedding chapel blog, the Japanese vow formula. https://morgan.tagaya.co.jp/blog/blog-5655/