Bulgarian Folk - Калиманко Денко (Kalimanko Denko) (English translation)

Bulgarian

Original lyrics

Калиманко Денко

Калиманко, Денко мари, хубава,

до сега си ми била, Денко мари, калиманка,

от сегана насетне, Денко мари, първо любе.

Изгори ме, Денко мари, попари ме,

та ме стори, Денко, калиманко, мари, сухо дърво,

сухо дърво, Денко, калиманко, мари, орехово.

English

Translation

God-mother1, you, Denka, you beautiful one,

Until now you were, you, Denka, my god-mother,

From now on, you, Denka, you are my first love.

You've burnt me, you, Denka, you've scalded me.

You've made of me, you, Denka, god-mother, a dry log.

A dry log, you, Denka, god-mother, a walnut tree log.

1. This explanation might be confusing but what we have here is this: Denka cannot be the real god-mother, because she will be quite old at the time when the boy in the song has fallen in love with her. In Bulgaria the children of the god-father and the god-mother were also called god-father (кръстник) and god-mother (кръстница), So Denka is probably the daughter of the god-mother, which makes perfect sense because she will be at the same age as the boy (although the song is sung by a female, the antagonist is a man)

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