| Latvian song | Free translation | Word-for-word translation |
|---|---|---|
| Ez piezimu bez naudiņas Bez gudrā padomiņa; Dieviņš man naudu deva, Laima gudru padomiņu. | I was born without any money Without any sage advice; The good God gave me money Laima gave me sage advice. |
I-nom.sg. be-born-pst.1st.p.sg. without money-dim.gen.sg. without wise-def.gen.sg. advice-dim.gen.sg. God-dim.nom.sg. me-dat.sg. money-acc.sg. give-pst.3rd.p. Laima wise-acc.sg. advice-dim.acc.sg. |
| Lūdzu Dievu, lūdzu Laimu Abus divus mīļi lūdzu; No Dieviņa veselību, No Laimiņas labu mūžu. | I asked of God, I asked of Laima Both of them I humbly asked: Health from God, and from Laima - A lifetime long and good. | beg/ask-pst.1st.p.sg. God-acc.sg. beg/ask-pst.1st.p.sg. Laima-acc.sg. both-acc.pl. two-acc.pl. lovingly beg/ask-pst.1st.p.sg. from God-dim.gen.sg. health-acc.sg. from Laima-dim.gen.sg. good-acc.sg. life(span)-acc.sg. |
| Bēgu dienu, bēgu nakti Laimas likta neizbēgu; Kādu mūžu Laima lika, Tāds bij man dzīvojot. | I fled by day, I fled by night Laima's fate I couldn't flee; Whatever fate she decreed That was how my life was lived. | flee-pst.1st.p.sg. day-acc.sg. flee-pst.1st.p.sg. night-acc.sg. Laima-gen.sg. put/lay-pst.pass.ppl.masc.gen.sg. (="that which has been laid down" = "fate") not-away-flee-pst.1st.p.sg. whatever-acc.sg. life(span)-acc.sg. Laima-nom.sg. put/lay-pst.3rd.p. that-nom.sg. be-pst.3rd.p. me-dat.sg. live-indecl.ppl. |
| Gaiša, gaiša uguns deg Tumšajā kaktiņā; Tur Laimiņa mūžu raksta Mazajam bērniņam. | Bright, bright the light was shining In a small, dark corner; That was where Laima wrote A little baby's destiny. | bright-fem.nom.sg. bright-fem.nom.sg. fire-nom.sg. burn-pres.3rd.p. dark-def.loc.sg. corner-dim.loc.sg. there Laima-dim.nom.sg. life(span)-acc.sg. write-pres.3rd.p. small-def.dat.sg. child-dim.dat.sg. |
*The name of the goddess Laima derives from laime, which means "fortune, destiny, luck".
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 20, 2008