Память
SaintMark
LT
FaryMemory
- 1. Svarog was the main Slavic god and god of the heavens.
- 2. Yav' (Явь) is a concept found in Russian neopaganism which equates to the land of the living. Nav' is the land of the dead, and Prav' is the land of the gods. Although Slavic mythology did have a belief in three worlds, Nav' is the only one found in old sources.
- 3. I believe this to be a wordplay involving the Slavic god Rod, who created everything. His name can be found in the root of Russian words meaning "to give birth", "family members", and "family line".
- 4. Veles was the Slavic god of forests, waters, and earth.
- 5. The bratina (братина) was a copper or wooden vessel used for drinking at feasts and wakes.
Gäst den 2016-09-16
Ove Eriksson
Lör, 10/06/2017 - 22:31
Great work, kudos! Please consider this one little thing: in the second stanza, second line where the original says: "Память, что позабыта" you translated to "Memory, you who have been forgotten". Maybe I'm wrong but in my understanding it should rather be "Memory, that has been forgotten". Why do I say that, one may ask. It is because there is no word or any other relation to "memory" being a living being, or an entity. Russians don't use terms regarding living beings as same as to things, so I'd like to recommend you to change that line into what I put above. On the other hand, addressing the wind in the eighth stanza as "who" really makes sense, because the wind was considered an entity not only in ancient Russia, but also in many other cultures. Thank you in advance, if you change it or not, I'd be happy about a reply anyway.
With kindest regards fron Deutschland and myself,
yours Ove
Ove Eriksson
mon, 12/06/2017 - 14:20
You are welcome! I see, and I think the general problem of translating any language into English is simply the vagueness of the latter in many cases. In German you can translate "память" to „Gedächtnis, Erinnerung, Gedenken“ which all mean „memory“ but refer to somehwat different meanings. Also, you can say “Besinnung” which means “reflection” like in “reflecting on something”; or “Andenken” which means “rememberance”, perhaps this could also fit in here although I’m anything but certain about that. I have to admit that translating one (to my self) foreign language into another is always a real challenge that I mostly try to avoid. Well, regarding these lyrics it happened that I had made the German translation several months ago, and when I read yours into English I thought to myself: Ove, you should share your opinion! Glad you didn’t take it ill, cheers from Germany and me :)
awesome !