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What does せり mean in 「ワレ奇襲【きしゅう】ニ成功【せいこう】セリ」?
We succeeded in our surprise attack.
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/トラトラトラ
I get the following vocabulary:
我【われ】 we
奇襲【きしゅう】 surprise attack
に particle
成功 【せいこう】 success
but I don't understand what the セリ does at the end.
「成功せ」 -- 未然形 of the classical サ変 verb 「成功す」
(「せ」 -- 未然形 of the classical サ変 verb 「す」, which corresponds to 「する」 in modern Japanese)
「り」 -- classical auxiliary, 完了の助動詞 「り」
「ワレ奇襲ニ成功セリ」 means 「私は奇襲に成功した。」 lit. "I have succeeded in a surprise attack."
