Vintersorg translations

Dec 7, 2001
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As with the thread with Otyg-translations I will put more Vintersorg translations to this thread later...

NÄR ALVER SINA RUNOR SJUNGIT

>WHEN ELVES THEIR RUNES HAVE SUNG

Solmärkets brådfång nu står
Vid storskog och rimhöljda snår
Kom! Syster och broder från lid
Nu stundar en alvehögtid

>The busy time's mark of the sun* stands now
>By great woods and hoarcovered thickets
>Come! Sister and brother from mountain side
>A festival of the elves is at hand

En gåtfull släkt
I daggkåpa skrudad
Av skymningen väckt
Ur mossan som dess hemvist täckt

>A mysterious family
>Clothed in cloaks of dew
>Awoke by the dusk
>Out of the moss that has coverred their home

När alver sina runor sjungit
Från åsar utöver fåld
Och på frostöm vextbädd sprungit
Med ödets härold
Skola ödemarken viska
Från trolldomskällans bröst
Såsom nordanvindar friska
Med en sagoröst

>When elves their runes have sung
>From hills, out over ?**
>And ran on frosen bed of plants
>With the herald of destiny
>Should the wilderness whisper
>From the chest of the source of witchery
>Like fresh north wids
>With a voice of sagas

Höstmoln flyr
I brådstördad resa
Över kärrlegg och myr
I, av trolltyg omstrålat äventyr

>Clouds of automn fly/fleed
>Hurrying in their travel
>Over swamplands and marshes
>In, by ?*** sparkling adventure

När alver sina runor sjungit...

>When elves their runes have sung...

En rikesfamnande syn
Beskådad av stjärnblick från skyn

>A sight extending over the country
>Gazed upon by star eyes from the sky

*"The mark of the sun" - it's a calendar they talk about here.
**I don't know what "fåld" means, but from the situation here, it might mean a valley, though I don't think so, or maybe a more open land... But you probably get a feeling of it on your own, so I don't need to say more about that.
**Trolltyg... hmm... troll means - troll! Or another similar creature. Tyg actually means cloth, but of course, trollcloth is not what this means. It can mean just some sort of trollish creature, though, or it can mean something more... abstract? Like withchery or some such. Get a feel of it? Just what Vintersorg had in mind, I don't know.
----By the way; Otyg is a word of the same concept, just that the 'o' means 'un' or something like that. Witch means the word means something bad, or naughty, or even devilish; either a creature or, again, something more abstract.
 
Troll also seems to mean "magic," or "magical," or "mystical" in Swedish, but then again, I have no idea what it would actually mean to put "magic cloth" in that verse... wouldn't make much sense.
 
About that 'tyg' thing: that is used as an expression only, and has nothing to do with 'cloth' here... maybe I shouldn't have written it at all, if it only make you confused. But anyway; you're right about 'magic' and 'magical' and all that. That's correct! :)
But maybe I can explain the word, though... in an example:
Think of a little kid. Who does something he/she is not supposed to. You will call the kid a little rascal or something; in swedish I guess you can use both the word otyg and trolltyg about him (but not very seriously meant, then). It will mean he/she's a little wicked, but not like evil wicked, just... ah, you know what I mean, right?
And what the kid does, is also otyg/trolltyg; the action is a action of trolltyg/otyg. Does that make any sense to you?
In Norway we have this saying (or so), that you might say to a kid if he/she does something 'illegal' but at the same time a little cute (=not very serious). It goes: "how trollish you are". Now maybe that's a bad english, but it would mean something like that in english. And anyway; otyg/trolltyg - maybe trolltyg the most - fits in that situation. Did that make you any smarter? Hope so.
 
Yep, that cleared it up for me. And that actually makes more sense in the verse as well. Don't worry about the english, by the way. People who supposedly know it as their first language don't use it as well as you have so far. :cool:

Fjelltussa <-- Makes someone smarter at least once per day. :D
 
SVÄLTVINTER

>STARVATION WINTER

Den birfilande snöstorm vid herkuliska uren
Över iskrränsrygg i ursprungsmakt
Vid bergryggens skulderblad hörs näverluren
De klagande toner i svältande trakt

>The ? blizzard by the Herculean clock
>Over steep mountain crowned with ice, in ancient might
>From the shoulder of the mountain ridge sounds näverluren*
>Those mourning tones in starving land

Med hungerns sorgevägnar som släpande ok
Utmärglade, hålögda med bukar som rämnar
Nybyggaröden insvepta i vinters dok
Där ovädret skövlar och ruinar efterlämnar

>With the sorrow** of hunger as a yoke dragging its feet
>Lean***, hollow-eyed, with bellies that are being torn
>The fait of the settlers, wrapped in the veil of winter
>Where the storm ravage and leave ruins behind

Vävtett är snöfallet som ger en mat belysning
Kylan förkunnar sin härskarrätt
Nu födan har sinatallt känns som en feberrysning
Det gnager i själen hos fjällbugdens ätt

>The snowfall is dense as cloth and provides a dull light
>The cold proclaim its right to rule
>The feed is expended, everthing feels feverish
>It gnaws at souls of the people of the mountain village

Livslågan falnar för omätlig nöd
"Ett kungarike, för kött och bröd"
Från korpboning höres hånskratten
Så saktligen närmar sig polarnatten

>The joy of life fades for insatiable suffer
>"One kingdom, for meat and brad"
>From the home of ravens sounds the mocking laughter
>Slow and sure the polarnight approaches

Och fjällskred avlas vid topparnas fästen
En dundrande härsmakt i rasande färd
Byns undergång, och lavinen är själva offerprästen
Och drivornas fängsel dess altarhärd

>And landslide is procreated at the hold of the peaks
>A thundering force in raging move
>the fall of the city, and the avalanche is the sacraficial priest
>And the prison**** of the blizzard its altar*****

Med hungerns sorgevägnar...

>With the sorrow of hunger...

Frosttronade de domnar
Till griftlig stillhet de somnar

>Throned in frost they grow numb
>To tomb-like stillness they fall asleep

------------
Must admit there were some tricksy word in this text... quite a few, actually, but this is better than nothing, isn't it?

*"Näverlur" is an instrument for which I couldn't find any word in english. It's a wind instrument made from bark, usually birch. It's very long, thin, and it's been made in all the scandinavian countries (I think) for ages. Maybe other places to, but Idon't know anything about that.
**I've only translated the first part of the word: "sorg-evägnar". I don't know what "vägnar" means.
***"Lean" may not be the best word here, but I couldn't find any other. The original word means the kind of lean one are if one's starved; almost "starved", or "outstarved", if that's a word, just that it describes how it looks...
****"Fängsel" may be translated to "imprisonment" just as well as just "prison".
*****"Altarhärd" was also a little tricky. I translated the first part, "altar", which means the same in english. I found out "härd" could mean "open hearth", but how to make sense of that, I have yet to find out. Maybe someone else is smart enough...?
:err: