VERSION "GWERZIOU BREIZ IZEL" |
VERSION "BARZHAZ BREIZH"
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TRADUCTION de la version "GUERZIOU" |
[1] "Kornandonesse": cf. Les Nains, commentaire "Origine ou parenté galloise?" [2] Buset arc'hant: Cette proposition n'a rien à voir ici. Elle est peut-être tirée, selon l'hypothèse de Luzel, d'une autre gwerz, telle que celle du "Comte des Chapelles", où l'on propose de racheter un condamné à mort pour son poids d'or. Cependant il existe une version de la présente ballade, chantée à l'ïle d'Ouessant, dans laquelle la sorcière dit: - Ro dime ur yalc'had arc'hant/ Pe me as lazo subitamant! - Arc'hant deoc'h me ne roin ket/ Er ger emaint gant va fried. (Donne-moi une bourse d'argent ou je te tuerai sur le champ! - De l'argent à vous je n'en donnerai pas: il est à la maison avec mon épouse!) [3] "Broget":Luzel indique qu'il ne connaît pas ce mot et dans les "Observations" préliminaires de l'ouvrage, conjecture qu'il pourrait s'agir d'une déformation de "droged", "robe d'enfant", "robe de femme", alors qu'on s'attendrait à une indication de couleur. Svend Grundtvig fait remarquer que "broget" existe en danois et signifie "partiellement coloré". L'écossais "broakit" signifie "noir et blanc". L'islandais "brok" qui signifie "tartan", "tissu partiellement coloré" viendrait du gaélique "breac", bigarré. Ces mots suggèrent une signification plausible du breton "broget". Voir aussi les commentaires à propos du chant scandinave "Ólavur Riddararós". . |
[1] "Kornandoness": cf The Dwarfs, comment "Welsh origin or Welsh kindred?" [2] Buset arc'hant: This proposition does not belong here. Maybe it is derived from another gwerz, such as "Count des Chapelles", where someone sentenced to death can be redeemed against his weight in silver or gold. However there is another version of the present ballad, sung on the Island Ushant, in which the witch says: - Ro dime ur yalc'had arc'hant/ Pe me as lazo subitamant! - Arc'hant deoc'h me ne roin ket/ Er ger emaint gant va fried. (Give me a purseful of silver coins or I'll kill you right now! - Silver to you I shall not give: it is at home with my wife!) [3] "Broget": Luzel says he does not understand this word and his "Observations", prefixed to the volume, expresses a conjecture that it must have been altered from "droged", "robe d'enfant", "robe de femme", but we evidently want a colour. "Svend Grundtvig remarks that "broget" would make sense in Danish, where it means "party-coloured". Scots "broakit" is "black and white". Icelandic "brok", tartan, party-coloured cloth" is said to be from Gaelic "breac", versicolour. This point to a suitable meaning for Breton "broget". See also comments on Scandinavian song "Ólavur Riddararós". |
I The lord Nann and his wife Were very young when they married. Very young they were, indeed: She was twelve. He was thirteen. Very young when they married Very young when they died. II The lord Count did say To his wife one day: - For having given me a child, my wife What do you want me to bring you? Flesh of snipe, flesh of grouse Or else some flesh of partridge? I should prefer some flesh of snipe But for the worry it causes you! The lord Count, on hearing it Has seized his gun at once. He has seized his gun at once And made for the woods. When he was in the woods, He encountered a "korgandoness" (fairy): - Good day to you, lord Count, For long I've been longing to meet you. Since we have met at last, You must marry me! You must marry me, and quickly. Or give me my weight in silver. Or else die within three days Or stay in bed for seven years Or stay in bed for seven years And yet die afterwards! - Marry you I certainly won't: I was betrothed and I have wed. I was betrothed and I have wed. My wife has just had a baby. - I prefer to die in three days Rather than be lying for seven years in bed, Rather than be lying for seven years in bed, And yet die afterwards. |
III The Lord Count said To his mother when he came home: - My dear mother, prepare a snug bed for me. For I had a hard day of it. When I was hunting in the woods, I've encountered a "korgandoness". I've encountered a "kornandoness". [1] And she has said to me: Either I marry her, and quickly. Or I give her her weight in silver. Or else I die within three days Or for seven years in bed stay Or for seven years in bed lie, And yet, afterwards I must die! - Be silent, my son, don't cry! Many are sick and do not die. I've chosen to die in three days And be buried on the fourth day. My dear mother, I entreat you, All this to my wife don't avow! - All this to my wife don't avow! - Before to "cleansing mass" she goes (after childbirth). III The young Countess asked Her mother-in-law, one day: - What's new in this house? I hear the men servants cry. - -The best horse that was in the stable Was devoured by the wolves. - Tell them they must stop crying, I'll make my husband consent (to replace it). - The young Countess asked Her maids, that same day: Why are your headdresses untidy? Yet there is no lack of needles. From the great fair in Tréguier I brought a thousand for each of you. - A poor that we had put up During the night he died. During the night he died. We must go into mourning for him. - |
The young Countess asked Her mother-in-law that same day again: What's the matter with this house? I hear priest who are chanting? - A poor that had come here to rest Early this morning was found dead. Early this morning was found dead. And he must be buried today. - Tell them that they may keep singing. We'll have money and I'll pay them. - The young Countess asked Her mother-in-law that same day again: - Whither has gone my dear husband Whom I did not see since quite long? Whom I did not see since quite long, Though he was used often to come? Shame on you, daughter, who say so, And you were not purified, though! The young Countess asked Her mother-in-law that same day again: What kind of dress shall I put on To go to the purification? A white dress, an embroidered one [2] Or my purple petticoat dress? - That's the way of the local people, daughter: Women go to church in black (after a childbirth). You go in black. T' will be the best, Daughter, to be purified. - The young Countess, now she said Upon her church pew when she knelt: - What has, tell me, again happened? Why is my pew all in black veiled? If my pew all in black is veiled, My husband is dead, I'm afraid! - I can no more from you conceal That your husband is buried here! - - Take, mother-in-law, these keys of mine, And take care of my goods. And take care also of my son. But I, I'll stay with his father! - |