Now I Am Become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds — J. Robert Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer famously quoted this from The Bhagavad Geeta in the context of the nuclear bomb. The way this sentence is structured feels weird to me. “Now I am Death” or “Now I have become Death” sound much more natural in English to me.

Was he trying to simulate some formulation in Sanskrit that is not available in the English language?

  • masterspace@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    where you’d use “be” instead of “have” for the present tense, if the main verb denotes a change of state (such as “become”).

    But in that example isn’t the “am” replacing the “have”?

    I have become death

    I am become death

    • mick@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Yes. The conjugates for “to be” are: I am, You are, He/she is, etc.

    • pianoplant@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      If you think about it the fact that modern English uses “Have” in this context (primarily describing something you own) is actually weirder than “Am” (something you are)

      • Buddahriffic@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        It’s almost like a different word, a hononym. To have and to have done something in the past. Neither being nor possessing really works for the “have done”. Being works for become because become has being as a part of its meaning as well as a transition from some previous thing that was before.

        Though both are used similarly. I have ran. I am running. I will run. I guess have is still the odd one out since will is future tense for am. Though was also works. I was running. But was is more specific than have, it feels like “I was running” is a part of a narrative that includes a specific time, while “I have ran” doesn’t require anything else. It’s like you possess the previous action of running, so maybe it is apt. Language is funny.