# Beobachtung der Ehe (Paul Rée, 19th century)



## Aallokko

Hi.

Paul Rée writes in his book _Der Ursprung der moralischen Empfindungen:_


> Wenn ein Mädchen fällt, das heisst einem Manne sich hingiebt, ohne diesen mit der Ehe bezahlen zu lassen, so sind die übrigen Weiber dabei interessirt, das Mädchen aus ihrer Gesellschaft auszustossen. Denn thäten sie dies nicht, so würden wohl *alle Mädchen* fallen, die Männer aber nur selten heirathen, – nur selten die Sorge für ein Weib und seine Kinder auf Lebenszeit übernehmen. Theils dieser Versorgung wegen, theils weil die Stellung des Weibes durch Aufhören *der Ehe* von ihrem Ansehen verlieren würde, liegt *den* *Weibern* an *der strengen Beobachtung derselben*, weshalb sie, wie gesagt, unkeusche Mädchen, als diesem Interesse zuwider handelnd, ausstossen, mit möglichst viel Schande bewerfen.


Man kann z. B. das Gesetz oder die Regeln beobachten, aber kann man auch die Ehe beobachten, sodass "man soll die Ehe beobachten" würde so etwas bedeuten wie "man soll keine ausserehelichen Beziehungen haben"?

I read also an English translation by Robin Small:


> Partly for the sake of this care, and partly because the position of woman would lose respect with the abolition of marriage, a rigorous observation is imposed on women, so that they exclude the unchaste girls who have acted against this interest and cast as much shame as possible on them.


As *derselben *can be fem. sing. gen. (*der Ehe*) or neut. plur. gen. (*der Mädchen* or *der Weiber*), the English translator interpreted *derselben* to refer to *den Weibern*, which to me doesn't make very much sense (*alle Mädchen* would make more sense to me as a referent, but I don't know if it's a possible option as it's so far removed from the pronoun).

The English translation also seems a bit inaccurate at this crucial point. Shouldn't it be translated as "a rigorous observation of it/them is _important to women_"?


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## bearded

Hi
In my view ''liegt den Weibern an der strengen Beobachtung derselben'' means ''women have an interest/a concern in rigorously observing marriage (i.e. marriage rules)''. And yes, for me ''derselben'' refers to Ehe.



> The English translation also seems a bit inaccurate at this crucial point.


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## manfy

bearded said:


> Hi
> In my view ''liegt den Weibern an der strengen Beobachtung derselben'' means ''women have an interest/a concern in rigorously observing marriage (i.e. marriage rules)''. And yes, for me ''derselben'' refers to Ehe.


Yes, that is one grammatically valid reading.
Buuut...based on male life experience I'd say that keeping a watchful eye on potential opponents (i.e. the unchaste, sinful girls searching *f*or *u*nlawful *c*arnal *k*nowledge) is a much more common way for wives and wives-to-be to defend their vested interest in that relationship... 

And yes, the translation is a bit very much inaccurate.


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## berndf

bearded said:


> In my view ''liegt den Weibern an der strengen Beobachtung derselben'' means ''women have an interest/a concern in rigorously observing marriage (i.e. marriage rules)''.


Hmm. In English one does indeed _observes_ _rules_ but in German one _beachtet_ _Regeln_; one does not _Regeln be*ob*achten_. That does not really make sense.


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## Aallokko

berndf said:


> Hmm. In English one does indeed _observes_ _rules_ but in German one _beachtet_ _Regeln_; one does not _Regeln be*ob*achten_. That does not really make sense.


I took those examples from DWDS:


> etw. beachten
> Beispiele:
> eine Verordnung, Vorschrift, Regel, Ordnung, ein Verbot, die Etikette, die (Umgangs)formen beobachten
> die schuldige Achtung, Höflichkeit, den nötigen Anstand gegen jmdn. beobachten


Well, at least I took that example ("die Regeln beobachten") from DWDS. I don't know where I took "das Gesetz beobachten".


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## Aallokko

bearded said:


> In my view ''liegt den Weibern an der strengen Beobachtung derselben'' means ''women have an interest/a concern in rigorously observing marriage (i.e. marriage rules)''. And yes, for me ''derselben'' refers to Ehe.


When I read the text as it stands, *der Ehe* seems to me like a natural referent for *derselben*, and then I would interpret "Beobachtung der Ehe" just like you did: observing the marriage rules, ie. don't commit adultery etc. This seems to me like a natural reading. But if "Beobachtung der Ehe" is not a correct expression, then I guess the referent for the pronoun must be *alle Mädchen* or *den Weibern*.


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## bearded

I of course know the difference between beachten and beobachten in current modern German, but it should be considered that the OP text goes back to the 19th century.. Besides, would you in the modern sense observe someone ''streng''?
I think that the adverb is more suitable for rules, which can be observed ''strictly''.
Cf. also (DWDS):
beobachten:


> [gehoben] ... = etw. beachten


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## manfy

Aallokko said:


> [...], then I guess the referent for the pronoun must be *alle Mädchen* or *den Weibern*.


You can happily rule out _den Weibern_ as antecedent of _derselben _because Rée uses _Weiber _in the sense of _Ehefrauen _and not women in general. (besides, _Weiber _is the grammatical agent/subject in that sub-clause and that would need a reflexive pronoun for Weiber to be a valid reference, I think.)

Come to think of it, I may have seen/read some old literature before where _beobachten _was used in the sense of _beachten_, so this reading may not be out of the question (for late 19th century writing!).



> Theils dieser Versorgung wegen, theils weil die Stellung des Weibes durch Aufhören *der Ehe* von ihrem Ansehen verlieren würde, liegt *den* *Weibern* an *der strengen Beobachtung derselben*, weshalb sie, wie gesagt, unkeusche Mädchen, als diesem Interesse zuwider handelnd, ausstossen, mit möglichst viel Schande bewerfen.


If 'Beobachtung derselben' really refers to the observance of marriage vows, I might render this as:


> Partly for the sake of this care, and partly because a woman would lose respectability if her marriage were to end, married women have a vested interest in the strict observance thereof (= their marriage vows), which is why they ostracize unchaste girls who act against this interest and cast as much shame on them as possible.


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## bearded

Manfy:


> interest in the strict observance thereof (= their marriage vows)


I'm glad to see that you admit this possibility.


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## Aallokko

Rée says that if unmarried women (or any women, for that matter) have sex with unmarried men, unmarried men would stay unmarried, because they don't have to get married anymore in order to gain access to sex.

In Rée's mind, so it seems, keeping the institution of marriage in high regard means not only the observance of marriage vows (don't cheat on your spouse), it means strict sexual morality that forbids all sexual relations outside of marriage.

Maybe I should point out that later in the same chapter Rée writes:


> Ja, aus Furcht dass die Unkeuschheit der Frauen auf die Mädchen übergehen und so die Zahl der Ehebündnisse verringert werden möchte, *bewacht* man die Mädchen gerade da am strengsten, wo die Unkeuschheit der Frauen am grössten ist (wie es in Frankreich der Fall ist).


*Bewachten Bewachen *instead of *beobachten *(and here also *streng*).

In France married women (Frauen) cheat on their spouses all the time, because France is a Catholic country and in Catholic countries marriage is completely indissoluble ("völlig unlösbar"). In France women can have sex with anyone they want to, as long as they are married. But unmarried women can't have sex at all, not even with unmarried men, because premarital sex would destroy the institution of marriage.

It's in women's interest to hold the institution of marriage in honor, therefore Beobachtung der Ehe = holding the institution of marriage in honor, and this honouring means also not having sex before marriage.

This is how I explain this "Beobachtung der Ehe" to myself.


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## manfy

I used "observance of marriage vows" only because "observance of marriage" sounds strange in English. Marriage vows represent more than just "don't cheat"; marriage vows do represent the concept of marriage to me.


Aallokko said:


> Maybe I should point out that later in the same chapter Rée writes:
> 
> 
> 
> Ja, aus Furcht dass die Unkeuschheit der Frauen auf die Mädchen übergehen und so die Zahl der Ehebündnisse verringert werden möchte, bewacht man die Mädchen gerade da am strengsten, wo die Unkeuschheit der Frauen am grössten ist (wie es in Frankreich der Fall ist).
> 
> 
> 
> *Bewachten *instead of *beobachten *(and here also *streng*).
Click to expand...

In light of this, Ree really may have referred to _den Mädchen_ in the OP. It's semantically sensible, thus grammatically possible.
German grammar does not dictate that only the closest preceding noun phrase can be the antecedent of a pronoun. You can choose any matching antecedent that makes most sense within the given context.


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## bearded

(Marginally noted): the verb is 'bewachen'. 'Bewachten' is preterite tense.


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## JClaudeK

Aallokko said:


> I took those examples from DWDS:
> 
> Well, at least I took that example ("die Regeln beobachten") from DWDS. I don't know where I took "das Gesetz beobachten".


"eine Regel/ ein Gesetz usw. be*ob*achten" is perfectly correct:



> *Duden: beobachten*
> 
> 3. (eine Vorschrift, Abmachung o. Ä.) beachten, einhalten
> _  Gebrauch            gehoben_
> Beispiel
> die Gesetze beobachten






Aallokko said:


> When I read the text as it stands, *der Ehe* seems to me like a natural referent for *derselben*, and then I would interpret "Beobachtung der Ehe" just like you did: observing the marriage rules, ie. don't commit adultery etc. This seems to me like a natural reading.


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## JClaudeK

Aallokko said:


> *Bewachten *instead of *beobachten *(and here also *streng*).
> 
> 
> bearded said:
> 
> 
> 
> the verb is 'bewachen'. 'Bewachten' is preterite tense.
Click to expand...

(die Regeln der Ehe) *beobachten* *≠* (die Mädchen) *bewachen *(*=* to survey/ to keep under surveillance)


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## manfy

JClaudeK said:


> "eine Regel/ ein Gesetz usw. be*ob*achten" is perfectly correct:



I consider that Duden entry a typical dictionary entry, ie. a usage that does exist because it used to exist and thus still may be found in (older) literature here and there.
I think any user of modern German is well advised to steer clear of actively using that word in the above-mentioned sense in any form of modern German!


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## Hutschi

berndf said:


> Hmm. In English one does indeed _observes_ _rules_ but in German one _beachtet_ _Regeln_; one does not _Regeln be*ob*achten_. That does not really make sense.


Can this be a kind of language change? See manfy #15, too.
The book is 19th century.

"Weib" was not pejorative yet.
"Beobachten" had other meanings too (in standard language) than today.

„BEOBACHTEN“, Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob Grimm und Wilhelm Grimm, digitalisierte Fassung im Wörterbuchnetz des Trier Center for Digital Humanities, Version 01/21, <Wörterbuchnetz>, abgerufen am 04.12.2022.
Referenz zur gedruckten Ausgabe
Anfang des Artikels: Bd. 1, Sp. 1478, Z. 8
Originalausgabe: I. Band, Lfg 7. belege — bestrafen. Erscheinungsjahr: 1853, Bearbeiter: J. Grimm
Links zu diesem Artikel
www.woerterbuchnetz.de/DWB/beobachten
www.woerterbuchnetz.de/DWB?lemid=B03939

Example in _Grimm_:


> regeln, den anstand, sein amt, seine pflicht, schuldigkeit beobachten, wahrnehmen, erfüllen. stillschweigen beobachten, bewahren;


Die Regeln der Ehe erfüllen/bewahren/beachten.
The article describes more. The spelling is partly different to the modern one.


PS: Grimm is a good resource for meanings in the 19th century. (The only disadvantage for learners: it uses old spelling and old style German.)


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## Hutschi

PS: Wörterbuchnetz
„REGEL, f.“, Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob Grimm und Wilhelm Grimm, digitalisierte Fassung im Wörterbuchnetz des Trier Center for Digital Humanities, Version 01/21, <Wörterbuchnetz>, abgerufen am 04.12.2022.

Links zu diesem Artikel
www.woerterbuchnetz.de/DWB/regel
www.woerterbuchnetz.de/DWB?lemid=R02550



> Regel: Richtschnur, Vorschrift, *Gewohnheit *



(Hervorhebung von mir)


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## Sowka

I agree. I'm quite sure that I have read "beobachten" in contexts that clearly meant "beachten, befolgen" in older texts.

I'm also familiar with the expression: "Obacht geben" from my childhood.


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## manfy

Sowka said:


> I'm also familiar with the expression: "Obacht geben" from my childhood.


 Good point!
"Obacht geben", a phrase that is still being used actively in Bavaria (at least in dialect and dialectal Umgangssprache), combines the meaning of 'beachten' and 'auf etwas aufpassen' (in the more active sense of 'to keep a keen eye on something').
And that actually works and makes sense in connection with one's marriage.

Unfortunately, the modern noun _Beobachtung _has largely lost that meaning; it is usually understood as passive observation without the connotation of observance or the connotation of actively interfering when necessary (at least not the way the phrase 'Obacht geben' does.)


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## berndf

_Acht/Obacht geben_ is yet another meaning, which is not _observe_ (in either of the two meanings) but _watch out/take care, be careful. _


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## JClaudeK

manfy said:


> I consider that Duden entry a typical dictionary entry, ie. a usage that does exist because it used to exist and thus still may be found in (older) literature here and there.


Damit bin ich einverstanden.
Aber wir _haben_ es hier ja mit "älterer Literatur" zu tun: Ursprung der moralischen Empfindungen. Paul Rée *1877*
und dort findet man diese Kollokation nicht nur _da und dort_.




Sowka said:


> I'm quite sure that I have read "beobachten" in contexts that clearly meant "beachten, befolgen" in older texts.




Hier ein paar Beispiele:


> Solange wie diese zwei Regeln beobachtet werden, kann die Regierung ihren Verpflichtungen voll nachkommen, ohne eine abhängige Bevölkerung oder eine beherrschende Demokratie zu schaffen.  _Archiv der Gegenwart, Bd. 25, 10.01.1955_
> Bei der Zusammensetzung der Silben wurden ursprünglich, übrigens nicht gerade peinlich, einige Regeln beobachtet, die eine allzu rasche Wiederkehr ähnlich klingender Elemente verhindern sollten,     _ Ebbinghaus, Hermann: Über das Gedächtnis. Leipzig, 1885._
> Es ist bekannt, mit welcher Strenge das klassische Theater der Franzosen diese Regeln beobachtete, und mit welcher Genialität die altenglische Dramatik sie vernachläßigte.                    _Gottschall, Rudolph: Poetik. Die Dichtkunst und ihre Technik [v]om Standpunkte der Neuzeit. Breslau, 1858._
> Duldung und Schutz allen solchen, die sich unter die Gesetze stellen, die unsere Gesetze beobachten und die sich anständig aufführen.  _Vossische Zeitung (Morgen-Ausgabe), 01.03.1904_
> Die geistige Erziehung, ob eine häusliche oder Schulerziehung bleibt sich ganz gleich, muß folgende Gesetze beobachten, wenn sie von gutem Erfolge sein soll:   _Keil, Ernst (Hrsg.): Die Gartenlaube. Jg. 3 (1855)._


Belege für: Regel beobachten
Belege für: Gesetz beobachten


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## Aallokko

manfy said:


> You can happily rule out _den Weibern_ as antecedent of _derselben _because Rée uses _Weiber _in the sense of _Ehefrauen _and not women in general.


I think elsewhere in this chapter Rée usually uses _Weiber _when he means women in general and _Frauen _when he means wifes.

In this case, doesn't the first sentence imply that _Weiber _here means women in general?


> Wenn ein Mädchen fällt, das heisst einem Manne sich hingiebt, ohne diesen mit der Ehe bezahlen zu lassen, so sind *die übrigen Weiber* dabei interessirt, das Mädchen aus ihrer Gesellschaft auszustossen.


If a girl falls, other women have an interest in shunning the fallen girl from their company. So _Weiber _would be the set of all women and _Mädchen _a subset of _Weiber_.

I think "weil die Stellung des Weibes durch Aufhören der Ehe von ihrem Ansehen verlieren würde" sounds strange, if _Weib_ means wife: the status of wife would lose respect if marriage ceased to exist. If marriage ceased to exist (aufhören), there would be no wifes at all. There would still be women, but their "Stellung" would have lost some of its "Ansehen".


manfy said:


> (besides, _Weiber _is the grammatical agent/subject in that sub-clause and that would need a reflexive pronoun for Weiber to be a valid reference, I think.)


"- - liegt den Weibern an der strengen Beobachtung sich selbst"?


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## manfy

Aallokko said:


> I think elsewhere in this chapter Rée usually uses _Weiber _when he means women in general and _Frauen _when he means wifes.
> 
> In this case, doesn't the first sentence imply that _Weiber _here means women in general?


Yes, in general _Weib _can mean _Frau _or _Ehefrau_. But in the context of the OP, the author contrasts _Weib _with _Mädchen_, and considering that the subject is about sex, he surely doesn't mean 'female child' with _Mädchen. _It can only refer to unmarried (young) women - which also implies that _Weiber _would refer to married women.
In different context the intended meaning of those words can change, of course.


Aallokko said:


> "- - liegt den Weibern an der strengen Beobachtung sich selbst"?


"Beobachtung" needs genitive here, ie. "an der Beobachtung ihrer selbst" (in old German maybe also "derer selbst", but that would add an additional level of ambiguity).
Either way, I feel that in "es liegt *den Weibern* an der Beobachtung *derselben*" the pronoun _derselben _cannot refer back to 'den Weibern' that are mentioned in that clause. It can only refer to another noun phrase outside that clause.


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## Hutschi

manfy said:


> Yes, in general _Weib _can mean _Frau _or _Ehefrau_. But in the context of the OP, the author contrasts _Weib _with _Mädchen_, and considering that the subject is about sex, he surely doesn't mean 'female child' with _Mädchen. _It can only refer to unmarried (young) women - which also implies that _Weiber _would refer to married women.
> In different context the intended meaning of those words can change, of course.
> 
> "Beobachtung" needs genitive here, ie. "an der Beobachtung ihrer selbst" (in old German maybe also "derer selbst", but that would add an additional level of ambiguity).
> Either way, I feel that in "es liegt *den Weibern* an der Beobachtung *derselben*" the pronoun _derselben _cannot refer back to 'den Weibern' that are mentioned in that clause. It can only refer to another noun phrase outside that clause.


I think it refers back via men.
"es liegt *den Weibern* an der Beobachtung *derselben durch Männer".*

And I think the contrast is wife/woman vs. virgin. (edit: Wrong in the given context, a virgin is not unchaste/unkeusch, see #25-27)

But it is not clear to me. Manfy may be right. It is very similar.


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## anahiseri

Sorry if I am repeating what others said. I haven't read all the messages.

theils dieser Versorgung wegen,..... liegt *den* *Weibern* an *der strengen Beobachtung derselben*,
I think what has to be respected (observed, beobachtet) is the rule that forbids sex for unmarried women.
But I admit I don't fully understand the text


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## manfy

anahiseri said:


> theils dieser Versorgung wegen,..... liegt *den* *Weibern* an *der strengen Beobachtung derselben*,
> I think what has to be respected (observed, beobachtet) is the rule that forbids sex for unmarried women.
> But I admit I don't fully understand the text


So you're also voting for "die Ehe" as the direct antecedent of "derselben". Yes, that works. If you see the Ehe as a moral concept that is made up of a set of rules, one of which is that sex outside marriage is not allowed, your interpretation seems logical.
I think an implied circumstance cannot be used as an antecedent of a pronoun, but you are allowed to extend the meaning of the antecedent the way you did.

One interesting part that provides us with clues about the intent of the writer is the 'Konsekutivsatz' that's introduced with 'weshalb':


> ...liegt den Weibern an der strengen Beobachtung* derselben*, *weshalb *sie ... unkeusche Mädchen ... ausstossen, ...


This clause only makes coherent sense (in 21st century thinking) if this ostracizing of sinful girls protects some interests of the women doing the ostracizing. By shaming those girls, and in extension that behaviour, married women are protecting their marriage, and therefore their respectability and the (financial) upkeep for themselves and their children, which is what the author explicitly mentioned as the primary motivation of wives for setting and enforcing that moral rule (of the 19th century).

If _derselben _referred to _die Mädchen_, it would be more sensible to continue with "*damit sie*  unkeusche Mädchen ausstossen können..."


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## Hutschi

anahiseri said:


> Sorry if I am repeating what others said. I haven't read all the messages.
> 
> theils dieser Versorgung wegen,..... liegt *den* *Weibern* an *der strengen Beobachtung derselben*,
> I think what has to be respected (observed, beobachtet) is the rule that forbids sex for unmarried women.
> But I admit I don't fully understand the text





> Theils dieser Versorgung wegen, theils weil die *Stellung des Weibes* durch Aufhören der Ehe von ihrem Ansehen verlieren würde, liegt den Weibern an der strengen Beobachtung derselben, weshalb sie, wie gesagt, *unkeusche Mädchen*, als diesem Interesse zuwider handelnd, ausstossen, mit möglichst viel Schande bewerfen.



Indeed, this gives contrast
Weib=wife (Ehefrau)
unkeusche Mädchen = young unchaste women/unchaste girls
Mädchen is here young women.



Hutschi said:


> And I think the contrast is wife/woman vs. virgin.



This was wrong in the given context.


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## anahiseri

New grammatical explanation that is in line with my interpretation 
*an* *der strengen Beobachtung DERSELBEN *refers to the observation of *dieser VERSORGUNG*, in the meaning of _Regelung_, rule, here the rule that unmarried women should not have sex. _Regelung_ is not a very common synonym of _Versorgung, _but it is mentioned in several dictionaries. And it is the most logical antecedent to _derselben._


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## manfy

Interesting! A very similar thought occured to me this morning.


> Theils dieser *Versorgung* wegen, theils weil *die Stellung des Weibes* durch Aufhören der Ehe von ihrem Ansehen verlieren würde, liegt den Weibern an der strengen Beobachtung* derselben*,


I noticed that _Versorgung _and _Stellung des Weibes_ are grammatically the next best choice after _die Ehe_.
But after thinking about it for a while, I threw it out for reasons of grammatical logic.
If you list 2 things at an equal level of importance, you cannot use a pronoun to refer arbitrarily to one of them. No reader would be able to figure out which one the writer is referring to if he or she doesn't provide a specific clue.
I'm not saying that you're wrong but in my book _Versorgung _and _die Stellung des Weibes_ are not viable options.

-------------------
Afterthought: Since _derselben _can also refer to plural, _derselben _might actually refer to both _die Stellung des Weibes_ and _Versorgung_. Now that is grammatically sound and justifiable in terms of thought process of the writer.
But that would also show that Ree had a rather low opinion of women of his time; he paints them as rather materialistic.


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## anahiseri

manfy said:


> If you list 2 things at an equal level of importance, you cannot use a pronoun to refer arbitrarily to one of them.



Theils dieser *Versorgung* wegen, theils weil *die Stellung des Weibes* durch Aufhören der Ehe von ihrem Ansehen verlieren würde, liegt den Weibern an der strengen Beobachtung* derselben*,
_derselben _can refer to _Versorgung, _and this _Versorgung, _ this rule, is what has to be observed; 
grammatically, the same holds for _Stellung des Weibes,_ but it makes no sense to say that the position of the woman  has to be observed. Neither _Stellung_ nor _Ehe_ can be the precedent of _derselben _either, for the simple reason that it makes no sense.


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## JClaudeK

anahiseri said:


> Neither _Stellung_ nor _Ehe_ can be the precedent of _derselben _either, for the simple reason that it makes no sense.


I don't agree.

For me, *only* "Ehe" as precedent


> _Theils dieser Versorgung wegen, theils weil die Stellung des Weibes durch Aufhören der Ehe von ihrem Ansehen verlieren würde, liegt den Weibern an der strengen Beobachtung derselben,_





> *⇒ *den Frauen liegt an der *strengen Be(ob)achtung*/ Einhaltung (der Vorschriften***) *der Ehe*, weil ihre Stellung (= die Stellung der Frauen) sonst _von ihrem Ansehen verlieren würde_


makes sens.

***zu denen damals auch die Verpflichtung des Mannes gehörte,  den Unterhalt / _die Versorgung _seiner Frau zu gewährleisten.


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## anahiseri

Well, if we kow which is the precedent, we can substitute:


> _Theils dieser Versorgung wegen,   .  .  .  .  .  liegt den Weibern an der strengen Beobachtung DER EHE,_





> _Theils dieser Versorgung wegen,   .  .  .  .  .  liegt den Weibern an der strengen Beobachtung _DER VERSORGUNG


_Theils dieser Versorgung wegen,   .  .  .  .  .  liegt den Weibern an der strengen Beobachtung _DER STELLUNG DER FRAU

None sounds quite right to me, mine neither.


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## anahiseri

JClaudeK said:


> I don't agree.
> 
> For me, *only* "Ehe" as precedent
> 
> den Frauen liegt an der *strengen Be(ob)achtung*/ Einhaltung (der Vorschriften***) *der Ehe*,
> ***zu denen damals auch die Verpflichtung des Mannes gehörte,  den Unterhalt / _die Versorgung _seiner Frau zu gewährleisten.


I think I'll settle with JClaudeK's finally. Grammatically, *Versorgung *is the precedent, but not, as I thought, in the  meaning of rule, but referring to *die Sorge für ein Weib und seine Kinder* , that is, maintenance, alimentation . . . .. 
*Sorge - Versorgung - derselben  *that's it!


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