# 世はすべてこともなし



## lammn

What is the meaning of 世はすべてこともなし?
I saw this in one of the episode title of an anime.

Does it mean "there is nothing (big?) in this world?"
When I tried to search the meaning through the web, it almost always points to the sale of a certain book.  -_-

Thanks for any help!


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## Taro Ultra

I think the phrase "世はすべてこともなし" is not so easy, and somehow classical.

世は In this world
すべて～なし＝まったく～ない not at all
こともなし there are no disaster. Peaceful and quite.

"The world is so peaceful and quite. There are no disater at all."

In this case, こと means a bad accident or disaster.


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## re-on

I guess the anime EVA.
"世はすべてこともなし" is cited from a poem by Robert Browning, Pippa's Song.

The year's at the spring,
And day's at the morn;
Morning's at seven;
The hill-side's dew-pearl'd;
The lark's on the wing;
The snail's on the thorn;
God's in His heaven--
All's right with the world! 

"世はすべてこともなし" is Japanese translation of "All's right with the world".
This is known as excellent and beautiful translation.


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## lammn

Thanks to both of you, Taro Ultra and Re-on!



re-on said:


> I guess the anime EVA.


Nah, I read it from the anime 彩雲国物語. 



re-on said:


> "世はすべてこともなし" is cited from a poem by Robert Browning, Pippa's Song.
> 
> The year's at the spring,
> And day's at the morn;
> Morning's at seven;
> The hill-side's dew-pearl'd;
> The lark's on the wing;
> The snail's on the thorn;
> God's in His heaven--
> All's right with the world!
> 
> "世はすべてこともなし" is Japanese translation of "All's right with the world".
> This is known as excellent and beautiful translation.


 
Now I know the source of this phrase.
Thank you very much, Re-on!

Is 異 the kanji for こと?
Do people often quote the prevous line 神は天にあり together with 世はすべてこともなし as well?


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## Flaminius

lammn said:


> Is 異 the kanji for こと?


The kanji is 事 perhaps with the implication that it is a 変事 or 難事.



> Do people often quote the prevous line 神は天にあり together with 世はすべてこともなし as well?


神は天にあり is seldom quoted as 世はすべてこともなし has come to be understood as a set phrase by itself.  I didn't know the source of the quote, either.  Thanks from me too, *re-on*.  Welcome to the WR forums!


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## lammn

Flaminius said:


> The kanji is 事 perhaps with the implication that it is a 変事 or 難事.


 
Oh, really?
But this link uses the kanji 異 at the bottom of the page.  



Flaminius said:


> 神は天にあり is seldom quoted as 世はすべてこともなし has come to be understood as a set phrase by itself.


I see. Thank you Flam!


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## Flaminius

But, *lammn*, note that the first quote, presumably meticulously copied from a trusted source, uses hiragana (in fact, this is the standard rendition of _koto_ nowadays). Then the poster continues with a more relaxed style. He uses a hypercorrect 事 and throws in a bastardised よかたよかた (without っ) before ending up with saying 異もなし. This is either a careless IME conversion or an intentional "uglification" on a par with っ omission above.

Edit:
A more objective way to prove one's point than being a caviler to someone's writing style is, of course, to look the word up.  

大辞林 dixit s.v. *こと* 【事】:
*(ウ)*重大事。大変な事態。 
「もし彼に知られたら―だ」「一朝―ある時は」「―なきを得る」


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## Taro Ultra

I support Flaminius-san.

世はすべて異もなし is mistranslation in Kanji.
It should be 世はすべて事もなし.

異 is normally used in a adjective-verb sytle as '異なる(kotonaru)', meaning of 'different'.

異 is not so often used as nown with pronunciation 'koto'.

I only use as 彼とは意見を異にする。 (Iken wo koto-nisuru)
meaning, 'My opinion is different from him.'
Or I use with pronunciation 'i' , like
彼の意見に異を唱える。 (Iken ni i-wo-tonaeru)
meaning, 'I have a different opinion from him.'


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## lammn

Okay, thanks to both of you!


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