Wow, it's actually really similar when you put it like that!
Yes, isn't it! I guess the Yule time brings out our basic, Germanic emotions...
Uriel wrote:
Quote:
'Round yon virgin, mother and child
This seems strange, as if there were three of them!
Uriel also wrote:
Quote:
Hmm -- Helvetes ... Helvetica ... isn't that Switzerland?
Yes, and "Confoederatio Helvetica" does look rather unsettling with Norwegian eyes, just like the sign "Gods Expedition" (= Cargo Handling Office) at Hell (!) (= luck) railways station outside Trondheim in Norway does in Anglophone eyes!
Deborah wrote:
Quote:
Hvílir barn vært og rótt. = (there) rests (a) child wary? and red
Maybe vært means "wrinkled" -- it is newborn, after all.
No, I looked it up and it means "sound". The translator I used didn't recognize rótt, however.
"Sound" makes sense, as I saw it used for reffering to sleep when I googled it. But I would never have guessed that, as "vært" means "been" in Norwegian! "rótt" might be the neutral conjugation of raud = red, but I'm not sure, as I would expect "raudt".
I have just fallen in love with this line from the Frisian version:
nim oer de ieuwen yn dreamen ús mei,
= take over the ages in dreams us with (you)
= take us over the ages with you in dreams.....ah!
It reminds me of a poem by the Welsh coal miner poet Idris Davies, which isn't to be found on the Internet, but goes something like:
When I was six or seven
and Christmas time to Rhymney came
....
I chose the star that glittered most
above the hills of Rhymney town
to be the star of Bethlehem
that shone on Jesus Christ
...
And Rhymney shared with Bethlehem
a star on Christmas night
This naïvistic belief in how Christmas Night and the Star of Bethlehem can transcend time and place reminds me of how much of our Christmas lore that is inspired by the ideas of St. Francis of Assisi: The whole Nativity scene and the realization that the Crusades were pointless, as the possession of Jerusalem or Bethlehem had no deaper, religious meaning, because Bethlehem can be anywhere, through the good grace of that star.
If we had followed that first friar from Assisi and realized that the Holy Land is no holier than our back yards, there would perhaps have been a little bit more peace in the world...
(End of today's sermon!) _________________ Wer fremde Sprachen nicht kennt, weiß nichts von seiner eigenen. = Those who don't know foreign languages, know nothing of their own. (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)
Uriel wrote:
Quote:
'Round yon virgin, mother and child
This seems strange, as if there were three of them!
That was always my thought as a child, too!
Actually, now that I look at it, it may actually be supposed to read: Round yon virgin mother and child. But the pause between virgin and mother sounds like a comma, even though it may simply be that the line is supposed to "wrap around":
Uriel wrote:
Quote:
'Round yon virgin, mother and child
This seems strange, as if there were three of them!
That was always my thought as a child, too!
Actually, now that I look at it, it may actually be supposed to read: Round yon virgin mother and child. But the pause between virgin and mother sounds like a comma, even though it may simply be that the line is supposed to "wrap around":
Round yon virgin
Mother and child
Finally you've got it! ... Round yon viiiiirgin-mother and child... The pause isn't supposed to be between virgin and mother, but after the -vir- in virgin (a very quick pause). _________________ Toe ek jonk was, het ek al die antwoorde geken. Nou verstaan ek nie eens die vrae nie.
Location: San Francisco, Noord-Kalifornië, Noord-Amerika
Posted: Sun Dec 10, 2006 1:42 am Post subject:
André in Zuid-Afrika wrote:
Finally you've got it! ... Round yon viiiiirgin-mother and child... The pause isn't supposed to be between virgin and mother, but after the -vir- in virgin (a very quick pause).
I think the confusion results from "mother" falling on count 1 of a measure of 6/8, whereas "virgin" falls on count 4 of the previous measure, so that we hear "mother" grouped with "child" (which is in the same measure), rather than with "virgin".
Aha, mystery solved! _________________ Wer fremde Sprachen nicht kennt, weiß nichts von seiner eigenen. = Those who don't know foreign languages, know nothing of their own. (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)
Thought I'd just mention that we've just set a new record.... 16 users (including guests) online tonight, the biggest number ever! _________________ Toe ek jonk was, het ek al die antwoorde geken. Nou verstaan ek nie eens die vrae nie.
Thought I'd just mention that we've just set a new record.... 16 users (including guests) online tonight, the biggest number ever!
19 now! Where are all these guests coming from?
Hm, if they would just register and talk to us... _________________ Toe ek jonk was, het ek al die antwoorde geken. Nou verstaan ek nie eens die vrae nie.
Location: San Francisco, Noord-Kalifornië, Noord-Amerika
Posted: Sat Feb 17, 2007 5:12 am Post subject:
Now is everyone's chance to catch up to me -- or pass me by. My computer at home hasn't been working for the past couple of days and I've only been using the one at work. Now there's a 3-day holiday coming up, so unless I get my computer up and running, I'll be going a whole 3 days without posting (or being able to read other people's posts ).
Congratulations to everyone I've missed saying it to!
Deborah wrote:
Now is everyone's chance to catch up to me -- or pass me by. My computer at home hasn't been working for the past couple of days and I've only been using the one at work. Now there's a 3-day holiday coming up, so unless I get my computer up and running, I'll be going a whole 3 days without posting (or being able to read other people's posts ).
Try four months without the internet... I'll never be able to catch up.
Congratulations to everyone I've missed saying it to!
Deborah wrote:
Now is everyone's chance to catch up to me -- or pass me by. My computer at home hasn't been working for the past couple of days and I've only been using the one at work. Now there's a 3-day holiday coming up, so unless I get my computer up and running, I'll be going a whole 3 days without posting (or being able to read other people's posts ).
Try four months without the internet... I'll never be able to catch up.
Does this mean you're back , or are you just popping in? _________________ Toe ek jonk was, het ek al die antwoorde geken. Nou verstaan ek nie eens die vrae nie.
Congratulations to everyone I've missed saying it to!
Deborah wrote:
Now is everyone's chance to catch up to me -- or pass me by. My computer at home hasn't been working for the past couple of days and I've only been using the one at work. Now there's a 3-day holiday coming up, so unless I get my computer up and running, I'll be going a whole 3 days without posting (or being able to read other people's posts ).
Try four months without the internet... I'll never be able to catch up.
Does this mean you're back , or are you just popping in?
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