Is “sehn” just a casual contraction of “sehen” meaning basically the same thing?
English Translation
Hit the road and don’t you come back no more!
Looks like it’s an actual verb conjugation in Plattdeutsch: Plattdeutsch-Hochdeutsches Wörterbuch für Ostfriesland
Though it’s entirely possible that it’s also a fairly commonly used contraction of “sehen” even in Hochdeutsch: dict.cc | seh'n | English Dictionary - I’ve definitely heard it in song lyrics when the singer is trying to hit a certain number of syllables in a verse. Example: Euch zum Geleit by Schandmaul:
Es ist schön, euch alle hier zu seh’n,
durch dieses Ereignis geeint.
Ich weiß, ihr wolltet diesen Weg nicht geh’n,
ich sehe, dass der ein oder andere weint.
Practically noone pronounces it as two syllables.
“Sehn/seh’n” ([ze:n]) is how everyone pronounces it, even in formal contexts. So it’s just explicitly written how it’s pronounced. Especially for song lyrics it makes sense in order to show the metrics.
In the spoken language, sure, but the original question was related to how it’s written. I’m not sure how common “sehn” or “seh’n” is in the written language compared to “sehen”.
So the answer to cazort’s question is “yes”, it’s a contraction of “sehen” that means the same.
It’s not common in written language, and it’s officially wrong, but it can be used as a stylistic means, or in song lyrics as we can see.
As for the difference between “seh’n” and “sehn” - “seh’n” is more “correct” or “formal” as it marks the omission with the apostrophe, and it has more of a quoting character than “sehn”, i.e. the writer does not adopt the level of speech.
PS: Re: Schandmaul: I see you have good taste
I would link the video of me singing Schandmaul songs, but I’m too horribly embarrassed by it