Monday, April 22, 2013

Raw translation of the second strophe

 After translating the first strophe I was all fired up and later I began to translate the second strophe as well. I have already had the suspicion that the second strophe will not be as clear as the first was, but I have to admit, I had no idea how right I was about this.

So hereby I present to you the first raw translation of the second strophe of Sîon, trûre.

Owê, Minne,
mîner sinne
meisterinne,
wâ hâstû si hin gesant?
Alas, Love,
my mind,
mistress,
where have you gone?
Lâ mich schouwen
mîne vrouwen;
in den ouwen
müez si werden mir bekant
Let me see
my lady;
in the stream
she will have to recognize me.
Sô der meie sînen krâme
schouwen lât
unde in gât
mit vil manigen liehten mâle
Like May let
her stall be seen
Through the many holes
The siege machines have done,
Daz ist mir ein bernder sâme
sender klage,
sît ich trage
den slac von den mẏnen strâle
It is for me a fertile seed
Of painful sorrow,
Since I bear with
The strike of Love’s wounding dart
Wære ein man ê siech gewesen
Er möchte genesen,
Swenne ez allez hügende lebet
There was a man who was sick,
He would liked to be cured,
Then to live happily ever
Unders meien liehten zelt,
Sô walt, sô velt
Spilnde gegen dem lufte strebet
[Under the lights of May it tells
so violent, so shallow,
fighting a tournament against the air.]
Nu tuont ir wunder
ungesunder
mînen lîp,
ich ensehe daz wîp.
Just do a miracle
For the wounded
Life I have,
so I can see the woman.

I have encountered many problems, because the text of the strophe is more complex than the other and also you cannot rely on the dictionary either. I'm not saying that you can rely on a dictionary when you translate something in general, but you would expect to find the right context of the expressions. For example in the sentence "unde in gât/mit vil manigen liehten mâle": unde is definately not unter. There's no such word as manigen, but you can find mangen which means siege machine. Or for instence the word mâle in this particular context has nothing to do with any possible the dictionary gives - malen, entwerfe im geiste, schminke, grenze ab or schreibe -, therefore we cannot apply a literal translation in this case. Although the final conclusion could be associated from the word "malen" which means to paint. So my conclusion was the following: the holes on the walls of Sion were not visible, but thanks to the siege machines (see previous entry for these siege machines) the holes now visible and not just imaginary - or so to say.

I think, I will have to think about this text a little bit more and find some other associations which would create a connection between the scrambled pieces of this puzzle.

Monday, April 15, 2013

Translation of the first strophe

I have searched for paraphrases of the lyrics, but I could not find any. After searching and searching, and waiting and waiting for articles and transcriptions, it turned out that there isn't any paraphrase of the original Mittelhochdeutsch lyrics. I was hoping to find one because I have seen the "Nachdichtungen" of Wizlaw von Rügen III (or IV, recently they proved that the minnesinger was actually the III), but I was mistaken. Although I have found an online Mittelhochdeutsch-Hochdeutsch Dictionary and with the help of this online dictionary and my current state of German (and of course Dutch, which helped me out very much). Thank God, that Dutch language stored some medieval German words or word forms.

And the result of my work is the following:



Sîon, trûre
dîn burchmure
hât von schûre
und von winde manigen stôz.
Sion, mourn:
your castle walls
have trembled under the archers’ shots
and the wind of siege machines’ missles.
Dû nach weine
dem ortsteine
der al eine
dîne wende zesamene slôz:
Then weep
for the cornerstone,
for the one that already
decided your Fate:
Abe nam der wint mit zangen
sînen kloben.
nû lâ toben
daz volc, lâ die wahter slâfen
But take down the wind with pliers
and put it into a birdcage.
Now those unaware
soldats, those watchmen are sleeping.
Unser künic ist ûf gegangen
und sîn her
an die wer.
owê wâfen, îmmer wâfer!
Our King is gone out
and his army
is unarmed.
Alas, to arms, always to arms!
Waz sol eht nu hie geschehen?
der künic wil sehen
wie sîn stat behüetet sî.
What should really happen now?
The King wants to see
how his people hold their ground.
Sô engilt niht wan der tôt
– owê der nôt! –
dem er ist mit zôrne bî.
For Death pays you nothing
– Alas! the danger! –
He is here now with anger.
Noch wachet alle
vor dem walle,
wachet wol
dâ man wachen sol!
But keep watching
on the walls,
and watch well,
the man’s duty to watch there.


This is not the final and ultimate translation, but a good start. I am still waiting for confirmation whether this translation is more or less correct or not.