Angst works even in dead languages
The translation of popular music into Latin is not without precedent on the Internet. There has existed for some time a lovely translation of Sir Mix-a-Lot's Baby Got Back, and Alex has rendered into Latin much of David Bowie's "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars". So I've decided to try my hand, with "Gloomy Sunday."
As background, "Gloomy Sunday," the "Hungarian Suicide Song," is a depressing little ditty composed by Rezsô Seress in 1899 and later revised by Lázló Jávor. Translated into English multiple times, the song became the focus of an urban legend suggesting that its lyrics and melody coërce listeners into killing themselves. It's not a complex or long song - certainly nowhere near the previously translated works of Bowie or Mix-a-Lot - but the spooky cachet appeals to me. The following translation is based on the English translation by Sam Lewis of Jávor's version of the song.
This translation is quite literal; none of the words in the English version correspond to nouns or verbs nonexistent in classical Latin. I was not able to find, however, the Latin verb for "to haunt" in the sense of a ghost (though I'm sure such a verb exists) in line 3 of the third stanza; I chose to use in its place inquietare, "to disturb," which I feel matches the intention of the song. I welcome comments and corrections, and I labor under no illusion that this is without error.
Tristis Dies Solis
ab Lazlone Iavore
Dies Solis tristis est, horae meae insomnes sunt
Carissima, umbrae cum quibus vivo innumerae sunt
Parvi flores albi numquam te suscitabunt
Non ubi raeda atra doloris te tulit
Angeli nullam cogitationem umquam te remittendi habent
Irascanturne si cogitem te iungendi?
Tristis Dies Solis
Tristis est Dies Solis, cum umbris omnem ago
Cor meum egoque omnem terminare diiudicaverunt
Mox erunt candelae precationesque, quas tristes esse scio
Ne lacrimarent, me sciant gaudere ire
Mors somnium non est, nam in morte te permulceo,
Spiritu ultimo animae meae te benedicam
Tristis Dies Solis
Somnians, solum somniabam
Expergiscor te invenioque, dormientem hic in profundo cordis mei
Deliciae, spero somnium meum numquam te inquietavisse
Cor meum te dicit quantum te volebam
Tristis Dies Solis
As background, "Gloomy Sunday," the "Hungarian Suicide Song," is a depressing little ditty composed by Rezsô Seress in 1899 and later revised by Lázló Jávor. Translated into English multiple times, the song became the focus of an urban legend suggesting that its lyrics and melody coërce listeners into killing themselves. It's not a complex or long song - certainly nowhere near the previously translated works of Bowie or Mix-a-Lot - but the spooky cachet appeals to me. The following translation is based on the English translation by Sam Lewis of Jávor's version of the song.
This translation is quite literal; none of the words in the English version correspond to nouns or verbs nonexistent in classical Latin. I was not able to find, however, the Latin verb for "to haunt" in the sense of a ghost (though I'm sure such a verb exists) in line 3 of the third stanza; I chose to use in its place inquietare, "to disturb," which I feel matches the intention of the song. I welcome comments and corrections, and I labor under no illusion that this is without error.
Tristis Dies Solis
ab Lazlone Iavore
Dies Solis tristis est, horae meae insomnes sunt
Carissima, umbrae cum quibus vivo innumerae sunt
Parvi flores albi numquam te suscitabunt
Non ubi raeda atra doloris te tulit
Angeli nullam cogitationem umquam te remittendi habent
Irascanturne si cogitem te iungendi?
Tristis Dies Solis
Tristis est Dies Solis, cum umbris omnem ago
Cor meum egoque omnem terminare diiudicaverunt
Mox erunt candelae precationesque, quas tristes esse scio
Ne lacrimarent, me sciant gaudere ire
Mors somnium non est, nam in morte te permulceo,
Spiritu ultimo animae meae te benedicam
Tristis Dies Solis
Somnians, solum somniabam
Expergiscor te invenioque, dormientem hic in profundo cordis mei
Deliciae, spero somnium meum numquam te inquietavisse
Cor meum te dicit quantum te volebam
Tristis Dies Solis