English Translation
For lack of strength, he’s not worthy of you.
This sentence hurts my brain. If we want to say “for lack of strength”, then shouldn’t it be something like “wegen fehlender Kraft”? It seems like “Mangels Kraft” is missing anything that would match the “for” in English.
Also, why “deiner” here? Is this a fixed expression? Or is this some weird feature of genitive case? I would expect “Er ist dir nicht würdig”, but even Google Translate tells me that’s wrong.
My attempt here would have been “Wegen fehlender Kraft, hat er dich nicht verdient”. Is my sentence at least roughly equivalent to clozemaster’s? What would sound better to a native speaker?
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First of all, the (second part of the) German sentence is quite theatralic or pompous.
“Mangels” ist short for “Weil es an … mangelt”, so “for the lack of …” is a good translation. It is a common expression.
Mangel (noun) = lack, shortage but also rotary iron (?)
mangeln (verb) = to lack but also to iron
It is indeed “jemandes nicht würdig sein.”
In what situation might the sentence fit?
Lets imagine, the school bully is about to punch the smallest boy around.
Now a rather bookish peacekeeper might say this to flatter the bully, save the boy and put the whole situation in a quasi knightly context.
A more literal translation for the second part would be " … he is beneath your dignity."
So, your proposal " … hat er Dich nicht verdient" is nearer to “… he does not deserve you”
It is more modern, but the aspect of dignity is lost.
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