jim wrote:What is the definition of Schrein? Dictionaries translate it as shrine, but I've seen it translated as cry. This is the context:
daß deine ganze Hand an mir geschehe
und ich an dir mit meinem ganzen Schrein.
I would appreciate help from any native German speakers. Thanks!
These are two different words.
The normative spelling for
Schrein in the sense of "crying" is
Schreien. However, in colloquial speech, the word is often pronounced in one syllable (/ˈʃraɪ̯n/) rather than two (/ˈʃraɪ̯ən/). The non-normative spelling
Schrein reflects this alternative pronunciation.
The context doesn't show this (since the word is in the dative case here), but
Schrein "shrine" and
Schrei(e)n "crying" have different genders. The first is masculine whereas the second--like all gerunds--is neuter. That is:
der Schrein "the shrine"
das Schrein "the crying"
Since all German infinitives can also function as gerunds, they won't be listed separately in dictionaries. You have to know to look under the entry for the corresponding verb (in this case,
schreien).
"Richmond is a real scholar; Owen just learns languages because he can't bear not to know what other people are saying."--Margaret Lattimore on her two sons