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.

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