| Latvian song | Free translation | Word-for-word translation |
| Sit, Jānīti, vara bungas, *līgo, līgo, Vārtu staba galiņāi, līgo, līgo, Vārtu staba galiņāi, līgo, līgo, | %Jānis, strike the copper drum, *līgo, līgo,
On top of the gate post, līgo, līgo, Repeat last line. | strike-2nd.p.sg.imp. %Jānis-dim.voc.sg. copper-gen.sg. $drum-acc.pl.
gate-gen.pl. post-gen.sg. end-dim.loc.sg.-**i Repeat last line. |
| Lai ceļāsi Jāņa māte, līgo, #u.t.t.
Lai saņēma Jāņa bērnus, līgo, u.t.t. | Let the Jānis mother arise
And welcome the children of Jānis. | let rise-3rd.p.pres.-**i Jānis-gen.sg. mother-nom.sg., līgo, etc.
let welcome-3rd.p.pst. Jānis-gen.sg. child-acc.pl. līgo, etc. |
| Labvakaru, Jāņa māte, līgo, u.t.t.
Vai tu mūsu gaidījusi? | Good evening, Jānis mother
Did you expect us? | good-evening-acc.sg. Jānis-gen.sg. mother-nom.sg., līgo, etc.
whether you-2nd.p.sg.nom. us-acc.pl. await-past.act.ppl.fem.nom.sg. |
| Mīkstu sieru sasējusi, līgo, u.t.t.
Saldu alu darījusi? | Did you $$make soft cheese?
Did you %%brew good ale? | soft-acc.sg. cheese-acc.sg. $$tie-up-past.act.ppl.fem.nom.sg., līgo, etc.
sweet-acc.sg. ale-acc.sg. %%make-past.act.ppl.fem.nom.sg. |
| Jāņa māte bēdājāsi, līgo, u.t.t.
Mazu sieru sasējusi. | The Jānis mother is upset -
The cheese she made is too small. | Jānis-gen.sg. mother-nomsg. worry-2nd.p.sg.pres.refl.-**i, līgo, etc.
small-acc.sg. cheese-acc.sg. tie-up-past.act.ppl.fem.nom.sg. |
| Nebēdājies, Jāņa māte, līgo, u.t.t.
Gan Dieviņis gausināsi. | Don't worry, Jānis mother,
God will take satisfy everyone. | not-worry-2nd.p.sg.imp.refl., līgo, etc.
indeed god-dim.-**i-nom.sg. satisfy-3rd.p.fut.-*i |
* The refrain līgo, līgo is sung at the end of each line of every verse. The word līgo is difficult to translate. It is only ever used as a refrain in songs that are sung to celebrate the festival of Jāņi. There is a verb līgot which means to "to sway back and forth rhythmically" (in other words, in time to music). However, this verb could just as easily been derived from the refrain (since one does tend to sway in time to music while singing), as the other way around. Who knows?
** The syllable -i is added simply to fill out the metre of the verse; it has no meaning.
$ Although the word bungas is a plural, I haven't translated it as "drums", but as "drum". The word bungas ALWAYS occurs in its plural form, so that it could mean either "drum" or "drums". I decided that since only one post is mentioned, there must be only one drum on top of it. Since it's made of copper, it's probably something more like a cymbal than a typical drum, don't you think?
% Although Jānis is equivalent to "John" in English (and, thus, Jānītis would be equivalent to "Johnny"), I've chosen not to translate Jānis into "John", since the English name "John" doesn't have the same celebratory connotations that the Latvian word Jānis does.
# u.t.t. stands for un tā tāļāk which means "and so on". It's the Latvian equivalent of etc. I'm using this to indicate that the refrain līgo, līgo is added at the end of each line. Hate repeating myself.
$$ The verb sasiet literally means "to tie up". It's used here to describe the preparation of the cheese which (after cooking) is tied up tightly in a cloth. I've translated it simply as "make" the cheese.
%% The verb darināt literally means "to make, prepare, manufacture". I've chosen to translate it as to "brew" the ale. Also, the word describing the ale (salds) literally means "sweet", but this doesn't really sound right in English, as ale is known for being bitter. The Latvian word implies "good-tasting", so I translated it as "good".
To see the explanation of the grammatical abbreviations used in the "word-for-word" translations, go to → Grammatical Abbreviations
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Last revised September 16, 2008