lightsecondJul 29, 2023

Why is “Now I Am Become Death” phrased so awkwardly in English?

https://programming.dev/post/1039053

Why is “Now I Am Become Death” phrased so awkwardly in English? - programming.dev

> Now I Am Become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds > — J. Robert Oppenheimer Oppenheimer famously quoted this from The Bhagwat 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?

Show threadfloofloofJul 29, 2023

There’s a discussion here:

…stackexchange.com/…/is-it-acceptable-to-use-is-b…

Is it acceptable to use "is become" instead of "has become"?

In the King James version of the Bible there is a verse like this: The Lord is my strength, and my fortress, and my song. And He is become my salvation. Is it still feasible to use "is become"

English Language & Usage Stack Exchange
Show threadtwistedtxbJul 29, 2023

For the lazy:

The use of “is become” here relates to verbs of motion/transition; verbs of motion would take be while other verbs would take have. There is no such grammatical distinction in English perfect forms anymore.

English began with this distinction, as did sibling languages like German.

Show threadSavirius
See also the Christmas carol “Joy to the world, the Lord is come.”
Jul 29, 2023 at 3:08pmWeb
Show threadSadSadSatelliteJul 29, 2023
Lord is come. Rock is push. Flag is win.
Show threadongofongoJul 29, 2023
Lord is Baba.
Show threadTrizza TethisJul 29, 2023
And Baba, as always, is You.
Show threadfloofloofJul 29, 2023
French and other languages still have the distinction, while English has switched to using “has” everywhere.