My best guess: It may go back to Luther's German, which is "An den WASSERN zu Babel," not the "An den Flüssen Babels" of Eberfelder or the "An den Strömen Babels" of Schlachter. (See http://scripturetext.com/psalms/137-1.htm and click the Mult tab.)
If so, there would be a source, presumably in English, accessible (or ancestral) to Lord Byron and Christina Rossetti, Stephen Vincent Benét and Robert Schenkkan, and reggae singers and classical composers. Anybody know of it?
Or is it just that it's easier to sing AH than IH, and the songs influence the prose and poetry?
2007-06-25
16:53:25
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1 answers
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asked by
georgetslc
7