G+ LoME Archive
Post c62W4RsvjDF
#resta, Poetry, Björn Fromén, Tamas Ferencz, translations

Tamas Ferencz Oct 28, 2013 (14:26)

Here's a translation of the traditional song She Moved Through The Fair. It is difficult to convey the beautifully laconic nature of the original, but I hope I've succeeded at least here and there.

Meldanya eque
Emya úva valya
Ar atya úva nattira
An elye penya
Ta nillo oantes
Ar quente sin
Lauv’ anda, melda
Veryanwengwanna sí
 
Ta nillo oantes
Méne ter i mangwa mangwe [1]
Meliénen tirnenyes
Avanta sinna-tanna sisse-tasse
Mardanna tá méne
Yas’ él er síle
Ar alquali mi undóme
Langaner i nende
 
Queni ta quenter
La veru veryane
Cé nassesse naicer
Úquétime.
Reantes yas arménes
Lé mangwa yo norolle yo mangwe [2]
Ar ta náne i tella
Meldanya cennenye.

Óle nin noa
Melmenya túle
Minnane ta milya
Talurya né quilde
Ta arni túle
Ar quente sin
Lauv’ anda, melda
Veryanwengwanna sí.

[1] * mangwe 'trading place, fair' (MBAKH)
[2] *mangwa 'article, goods' (MBAKH)

----------------------

My love said to me
My mother won't mind
And me Father won't slight you
For your lack of kind
Then she stepped away from me
And this she did say
It will not be long, love
Till our wedding day.
She stepped away from me
And she moved through the Fair
And fondly I watched her
Move here and move there
She went her way homeward
With one star awake
As the swans in the evening
Move over the lake.
The people were saying
No two e'er were wed
But one has a sorrow
That never was said
And she smiled as she passed me
With her goods and her gear
And that was the last
That I saw of my dear.
I dreamed it last night
That my true love came in
So softly she entered
Her feet made no din
She came close beside me
And this she did say
It will not be long, love
Till our wedding day.
Loreena Mckennitt- She Moved Through The Fair
From the album Elemental

Björn Fromén Oct 30, 2013 (16:27)

*mangwa, *mangwe : Very good coinages, but I think the meanings should be switched. -me is a suffix denoting action, activity; -ma typically appears in names of instruments or things acted on. So *mangwe 'trading, fair', *mangwa 'thing traded', 'article' (as yulme 'drinking, carousal', yulma 'drinking-vessel, cup' [WJ, p.416]).

Tamas Ferencz Oct 30, 2013 (16:38)

I was secretly hoping no one would notice that because it means I need to rewrite the whole thing to get the rhymes right :)

Tamas Ferencz Oct 30, 2013 (16:41)

Done!

Tamas Ferencz Oct 30, 2013 (16:45)

As these things usually go, I have just realized as I was revising the translation, that we already have an attested word for 'fair' i.e. resta from parmaresta 'book-fair'. Still, I think *mangwa and *mangwe are not without value, especially if we consider S bach.

Tamas Ferencz Oct 30, 2013 (16:51)

Incidentally, I see that the entry of resta in HKF's Quettaparma goes like this:

resta noun "sown field, acre" (VT46:11 cf. RED-). The word parma-restalyanna, probably meaning *”(up)on your book-fair”, seems to use +#resta in the sense of “fair” (as held in a field?) Carl F. Hostetter however suggests that +#resta “fair” may be related to ré “day” (VT49:39-40); if so this word is wholly distinct from resta “sown field”.

If resta is indeed related to ré then I disagree with Helge's conclusion there, because resta 'acre_ as related to ré seems entirely like a calque to the English notion of acre which was said to be the area of field that a single man with a horse can till or sow in a day. The meaning of 'fair' can be entirely a secondary development from that.