Uncategorized

100 Days with Erwin; day 12; Old Rhymes for Rainy Days…

Tags:

13 thoughts on “100 Days with Erwin; day 12; Old Rhymes for Rainy Days…”

  1. Does it say “Vine Ene pe la gene, peste ochü de mergieá” ?… Maybe something about eyes and eyebrows ?
    Would you please put these verses in English or French, so I could understand them better ?

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Of course… 😉 “Ene” or better, “Mos Ene” is the romanian for “Sandman”, the mythical old man that would put kids to sleep in the evening, through sprinkling his magic dreamy sand… 🙂 The poem´s title is “Vine Ene pe la gene” – as in: “Ene comes upon the eyelashes” / Upon the pearly eyes / Little girl / The thin eyelashes are being weaved / lazier and lazier, thicker and thicker / She wouldn´t turn her ear with an earring to the door: / The sleep comes gently / Nobody hears its steps! / Only when it snows like now, / It lets behind, on the road, a thread of wet footsteps…

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      3. My native languages are Catalan and Vlax-Romani (Gurbetcko), and I often use English and French as well. I know, more or less, some others: Occitan, Italian… I do not count the one I was forced to learn, but now I do not use anymore for any reason (Spanish).
        Anyway, I presume you speak very well more than I do !! :))

        Liked by 1 person

      4. Amazing! You speak many beautiful languages! Catalan has many word similarities with romanian… The Romani languages sound very melodious – just crossed my mind – have you seen Tony Gatlif´s “Transylvania”? My feelings about the movie are mixed, but the overall atmosphere is beautiful like a painting, rich in pigments… I love Occitan and the pride they take in the region to preserve this linguistic heritage… No, you are by far more talented 🙂 I speak my native language, Romanian, English, French and German (still taking pleasure in unriddling the depths of the latter…;)

        Liked by 1 person

      5. I’ve not watched Transylvania, but I loved Latcho Drom !!, so I will search that one too. As for Occitan, it’s an official language in Catalonia as well, where one of its dialects is spoken (in the Vall d’Aran). Its problem is there are many dialects and no standard form. Anyway all are very similar to Catalan and mutually intelligible with it. To me, Romanian is the most difficult Romance language to understand, because of the many Slavic words it has; all the others sound quite easy to my ears. A curious thing is that all the people from your country I have met in life were very good polyglots 🙂 I noticed this on your blog at once. I also admire your German, since it’s hard to learn well for persons with a Latin background like us. I studied it for two years and I have already forgot more than a half of what I learned. Romani, in its ancient, genuine core part, is a magical language –one with true mystery and power–, and has always enthralled me. Of course, the merit comes from Sanskrit itself (which some have said is the language of the gods :))

        Liked by 1 person

      6. I haven´t seen Latcho Drom, but I will, thanks for mentioning it! 🙂 …It´s true about Romanian being a bit difficult (weird) since it´s a colorful mixture of everything… I wouldn´t know where to start if I were to teach it. But, not so many people speak the language, that explains perhaps why the people in my country learn other languages… And, you couldn´t be more accurate about German. It is (for people with a Latin grammar frame of thinking) a mighty challenge. 5 Years ago, when I started learning it ,I thought it´s not possible to learn it in less than 20 years :)))… Some while ago, when I was much younger, I wanted to become a Sanskrit researcher… Oh those idealist times! 😀 Yes, the ancient cultures in the South Asia are ravishing! You are lucky to be able to understand Romani. There should be more translations, more investment in these languages and cultures, out there…

        Liked by 1 person

      7. Of course, Romanians are like Catalans –and Roma!! — about having to learn languages.
        I’m gladly surprised that you are knowledgeable in Sanskrit, to the point of making a career of it. My sis was learning Hindi and Punjabi before passing away, and she always told me she aspired to get into Sanskrit. I will do it in my next life, if there is one.
        Romani, in all its many forms and dialects (quite more than a hundred…), is bound to extinction. There exists investment nowadays (G. Soros and the Open Society Foundations), some of us are making translations, many defend our legacy (mostly in music, dance and… well, nothing else), but our folk is scolded and scared, we are too proud, too closed and stubborn and lazy, we are mostly illiterate… and our “chib” is doomed to die, transformed into a swarm of different clumsy jargons. I’m honestly speaking about this. It’s reality.)

        Liked by 1 person

      8. I am sorry to hear about your sister. And I hope, these languages and cultures will be here still, for a while… there´s something infinitely sad in the fading of a language. Good to hear about G. Soros Foundation, I´ve always admired him.

        Liked by 1 person

      9. Thank you ! It’s a pity she is gone, so young, because she was the most competent linguist I have ever known… Aside of a wonderful dancer of some of our folk dances (both Catalan and Romani). Also she had just got a good job in the Open Foundations as a translator and interpreter of Vlax and Balkan Romani. Thank you in her name ! 💛

        Like

Leave a Reply

Please log in using one of these methods to post your comment:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s