Glossary entry (derived from question below)
English term or phrase:
bearing witness [...]
English answer:
A silent reminder [...]
Added to glossary by
Yvonne Gallagher
Nov 12, 2022 03:00
1 yr ago
40 viewers *
English term
21 books translated
Native in: Russian 
Works in: English to Russian, Russian to English, Spanish to Russian, and 1 more.
bearing witness to the forces, pioneers and villains
English
Other
General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters
Hello everyone,
The TV series Abandoned Engineering, Season 6, Episode 9, talks about four different things/places/structures:
1. Countess Elizabeth Báthory's castle:
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Elizabeth_Báthory...
2. The White Alice Communications System
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=White_Alice_Commu...
3. Korean Workers' Party Headquarters, Cheorwon:
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Korean_Workers'_P...
4. Airplane factory Zechstein
https://www.battlefieldsww2.com/zechstein-rabstejn-janska.ht...
The episode ends with the following words by the narrator:
"Abandoned, disintegrating, reclaimed by nature, structures once at the cutting edge bearing witness to the forces, pioneers and villains that define the world today. Emblems of a shared past still standing in our present."
https://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/bear-...
1. to show signs that prove that something happened or was true
This landscape bears silent witness to one of the greatest tragedies in history.
2. to speak or write about what you have seen, especially as evidence that something is true
"...structures once at the cutting edge bearing witness to the forces, pioneers and villains that define the world today" doesn't make much sense to me - I don't understand how those abandoned structures can show signs of "the forces, pioneers and villains that define the world today."
The problem for me is with the words "that define the world today" - in what way, for example, Countess Elizabeth Báthory (alleged villian) or the casle she lived in can define the world today?
If it were "... structures once at the cutting edge bearing witness to the forces, pioneers and villains that define the world in the past" that would make some sense to me.
My own interpretation is as follows: those structures are now silent witnesses (figuratively) of what is happening in the modern world (the forces, pioneers and villains), i.e. they (structures) stand there and see/watch what is happening in the world today.
Is that correct?
I asked this question on another forum and two native speakers there shared their opinions, but as lentulax says "So I have to give up - I can't make any real sense out of the sentence."
https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/bearing-witness-to-t...
So I'd like to hear more opinions.
Thank you.
The TV series Abandoned Engineering, Season 6, Episode 9, talks about four different things/places/structures:
1. Countess Elizabeth Báthory's castle:
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Elizabeth_Báthory...
2. The White Alice Communications System
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=White_Alice_Commu...
3. Korean Workers' Party Headquarters, Cheorwon:
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Korean_Workers'_P...
4. Airplane factory Zechstein
https://www.battlefieldsww2.com/zechstein-rabstejn-janska.ht...
The episode ends with the following words by the narrator:
"Abandoned, disintegrating, reclaimed by nature, structures once at the cutting edge bearing witness to the forces, pioneers and villains that define the world today. Emblems of a shared past still standing in our present."
https://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/bear-...
1. to show signs that prove that something happened or was true
This landscape bears silent witness to one of the greatest tragedies in history.
2. to speak or write about what you have seen, especially as evidence that something is true
"...structures once at the cutting edge bearing witness to the forces, pioneers and villains that define the world today" doesn't make much sense to me - I don't understand how those abandoned structures can show signs of "the forces, pioneers and villains that define the world today."
The problem for me is with the words "that define the world today" - in what way, for example, Countess Elizabeth Báthory (alleged villian) or the casle she lived in can define the world today?
If it were "... structures once at the cutting edge bearing witness to the forces, pioneers and villains that define the world in the past" that would make some sense to me.
My own interpretation is as follows: those structures are now silent witnesses (figuratively) of what is happening in the modern world (the forces, pioneers and villains), i.e. they (structures) stand there and see/watch what is happening in the world today.
Is that correct?
I asked this question on another forum and two native speakers there shared their opinions, but as lentulax says "So I have to give up - I can't make any real sense out of the sentence."
https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/bearing-witness-to-t...
So I'd like to hear more opinions.
Thank you.
Change log
Nov 13, 2022 10:34: Yvonne Gallagher Created KOG entry
Nov 13, 2022 10:35: Yvonne Gallagher changed "Edited KOG entry" from "<a href="/profile/1300525">Yvonne Gallagher's</a> old entry - "bearing witness to the forces, pioneers and villains"" to ""A silent reminder of what was once cutting edge""
Responses
+2
7 hrs
Yvonne Gallagher
Ireland
Ireland
Native in English
&
English
Specializes in field
Ireland
right word, right place. everytime
Native in: English (Variants: US, Canadian, Irish, UK) 
Works in: French to English, Spanish to English, English, and 1 more.
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659
Selected
A silent reminder of what was once cutting edge
These buildings that were once at the cutting edge are now abandoned and are being reclaimed by nature.
Now in in a ruinous condition, what remains of them is a reminder of what helped form the world of our ancestors, and are also passive witnesses to how much things have changed
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Note added at 7 hrs (2022-11-12 10:20:28 GMT)
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Of course the non-animate buildings are passive witnesses. We, looking at them, can come to our own conclusions.about "the forces pioneers and villains that define today's world" and compare, contrast them with those of the past
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Note added at 1 day 7 hrs (2022-11-13 10:33:20 GMT) Post-grading
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Glad to have helped
Now in in a ruinous condition, what remains of them is a reminder of what helped form the world of our ancestors, and are also passive witnesses to how much things have changed
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 7 hrs (2022-11-12 10:20:28 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
Of course the non-animate buildings are passive witnesses. We, looking at them, can come to our own conclusions.about "the forces pioneers and villains that define today's world" and compare, contrast them with those of the past
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 day 7 hrs (2022-11-13 10:33:20 GMT) Post-grading
--------------------------------------------------
Glad to have helped
Note from asker:
| Thank you, Yvonne. |
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Many thanks to everyone.
Thank you, Yvonne."
+2
5 hrs
FPC
Works in field
[my interpretation in the explanatoion below]
"Bear witness" doesn't normally mean be a passive bystander (witness) of something but show or actively produce a testimony.
So, in this case I suppose, the dilapidated places today, albeit in a ruined state, are there to be a visible sign, testimony of those "forces, pioneers and villains" whose action yesterday brought about, influenced, helped shape the world of today.
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Note added at 8 hrs (2022-11-12 11:31:00 GMT)
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I pick up on Yvonne's comment to clarify that obviously in figurative speech the monuments and places 'bear witness'. They don't speak or testify as humans would do, but they are and carry signs that make us infer those events. When I said they're not passive, I meant they were not merely there when things happened (they were 'passive witnesses, always figuratively) but through the epochs they reached us so that we can now see in them the signs of those past periods and the forces that acted upon the world.
So, in this case I suppose, the dilapidated places today, albeit in a ruined state, are there to be a visible sign, testimony of those "forces, pioneers and villains" whose action yesterday brought about, influenced, helped shape the world of today.
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 8 hrs (2022-11-12 11:31:00 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
I pick up on Yvonne's comment to clarify that obviously in figurative speech the monuments and places 'bear witness'. They don't speak or testify as humans would do, but they are and carry signs that make us infer those events. When I said they're not passive, I meant they were not merely there when things happened (they were 'passive witnesses, always figuratively) but through the epochs they reached us so that we can now see in them the signs of those past periods and the forces that acted upon the world.
Note from asker:
| Thank you, FPC. |
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Anastasia Kalantzi
12 hrs
|
| agree |
Daryo
: yes, "being the witness of" is not about the ruins themselves but about the "forces, pioneers and villains" that caused the buildings to turn into ruins.
1 day 5 hrs
|
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