| Latvian song | Free translation | Word-for-word translation |
|---|---|---|
| Tā sacija sveši ļaudis: Bīdeleta kviešu maize. Manas rokas bīdeleja, Brāļa asās dzirnaviņas. | The strangers spoke thus: «This bread is made from finely-ground wheaten flour». My own hands ground it The fine grinding mill was my brother's. | thus speak-3.p.pst strange-masc.nom.pl. people-nom.pl. ground-pst.pass.ppl.fem.nom.sg. wheat-gen.pl. bread-nom.sg. my-fem.nom.pl. hand-nom.pl. grind-3.p.pst brother-gen.sg. sharp-fem.nom.pl. mill-dim.nom.pl. |
| Galdam kājas nolīkušas; Kas tās līkas nolocija? To darija tīra maize, Mans brūvets alutiņš. | The table's legs are bent; What made them bend? It was so much* pure bread, And beer that I brewed. | table-dat.sg. leg-nom.pl. down-bend-pst.act.ppl.fem.nom.pl. what-nom.sg. them-fem.acc.pl. bent-fem.acc.pl. down-bend-3.p.pst that-acc.sg. do-3.p.pst. pure-fem.nom.sg. bread-nom.sg. my-masc.nom.sg. brewed-pst.pass.ppl.masc.nom.sg. beer-dim.nom.sg. |
| Dziediet, mani lūgti viesi, Pa visiem kaktiņiem! Citam& devu sāli, maizi, Citam& jauku valodiņu&&. | Sing, my invited guests, In every part** of the house! To some I gave bread and salt, To others I spoke kindly&&. | sing-imp.2.p.pl. my-masc.nom.sg. invited-pst.pass.ppl.masc.nom.pl. guest-nom.pl. in all-masc.dat.pl. corner-dim.dat.pl. someone-masc.dat.sg. give-1.p.sg.pst salt-acc.sg. bread-acc.sg. someone-masc.dat.sg. pretty-fem.acc.sg. speech-dim.acc.sg. |
| Daudz darba, daudz darba Sestdienas dienā: Bij maize jācep, Bij kaza jākauj; Bij āda jāved Ģērmāņa nagā. | Lots of work, lots of work To be done on Saturday: Bread to bake, A goat to kill, It's hide to bring Into the German's clutch$. | much work-gen.sg. much work-gen.sg. Saturday-gen.sg. day-loc.sg. be-3.p.pst. bread-nom.sg. must-cook-debitive be-3.p.pst. goat-nom.sg. must-kill-debitive be-3.p.pst. hide-nom.sg. must-bring-debitive german-person-gen.sg. claw-loc.sg.$ |
* I have inserted the phrase "so much", even though there is no such phrase in the original Latvian. However, a large quantity of food is implied. Otherwise, why would the table's legs be bowed?
** The phrase pa visiem kaktiņiem literally means "in every little corner". Although the Latvian word (māja) meaning "house" does not occur in this song, it is implied, so I have added it to the translation.
& The adjective cits is usually translated as "different". However, when two are used (i.e. citam … citam), the more appropriate meaning is "the one … the other", or "some … others".
&& The Latvian phrase devu … jauku valodiņu would more precisely be translated as "gave (them) … comely speech". However, this is a very old-fashioned way of speaking, and so I have translated it as "spoke kindly (to them)".
$ The phrase Ģērmaņa nagā. literally means "into the claw of the German (person)". To be or get into someone's "claws" implies that you don't want to be there, but you are there under duress. Presumably, the singer is under an unwelcome obligation to this German individual, who may be an overlord, or possibly a money lender.
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 November 3, 2008