"Mirie it is while sumer ilast" - Middle English Folk Song
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 3 окт 2024
- "Mirie it is while sumer ilast" is one of the earliest surviving secular songs in the English language, dating to the first half of the 13th century. It is about the longing for summer in the face of the approaching cold weather, shortened hours of daylight, the potential for sickness and death. The manuscript survived on a piece of paper alongside two other French songs in a Psalm book for several centuries. It was rediscovered towards the end of the 19th century; the musical composition was slightly rearranged by Frank Llewellyn around 1964. The modern English lyrics:
Merry it is while summer lasts
With fowl’s song.
But now nears the wind’s blast
And weather strong.
Oh, oh! How this night is long!
And I with very much wrong
Sorrow and mourn and fast
Performed by Ensemble Belladonna, 2006 (Melodious Melancholye).
As a Dutch speaker, I wish English was still spoken this way, I can understand this perfectly
How vreemd.
No, just no.
I wish English were more like it's Old and Middle forms, much more charm, melody and joy and rhythm to it.
Honestly I speak Dutch and couldn't understand *everything*, let alone perfectly. But yes I could understand a sizeable part
@@Lucas-q2l5e Why not? If English is a Germanic language then it should at least be close to early Middle English, Old English is preferrable
As a german speaker, one can really see how much closer our languages used to be:)
This was before our Germanic heritage was lost to us :(
@@sakkra93 it wasn't lost
Das ist so) Ich bin Russ, aber sprech manchmal auf Deutsch und Englisch.
@@DerekDerekDerekDerekDerekDerek France robbed us of our Germanic language
@@DerekDerekDerekDerekDerekDerek Kind of was, you can thank the Norman French for modern English.
"Merry it is while summer lasts"
© Napoleon, 1814
Modern English lyrics:
Merry it is while summer lasts
With fowl’s song.
But now nears the wind’s blast
And weather strong.
Oh, oh! How this night is long!
And I with very much wrong
Sorrow and mourn and fast
In Dutch the lyrics would be:
Vrolijk het is als zomer laatst
Met vogels zang
Maar nu naart de winds blaas
En weer sterk
En ik met erg veel mis
Zorg en rauw en snel
( I intentionally tryied using cognates where possible so this might sound a bit archaic)
As an english speaker I can understand afew words and get a feel of what the song is about. Its crazy how much English has changed. When modern English speakers think of "old english" they think Shakespeare is old english but in reality that is early modern english.
This song is like 1200s old
Yes, Old English ended with the Norman Conquest. If the other side had won, English would be more like Dutch or German today.
@@mariannehancock8282 You're quite right, but the simplification of the old English gramma was more so as a result of contact with the Danish spoken in the Danish law! So both language having a somewhat similar lexicon resulted in a need to communication and so the overtly Complex English grammar same to have someone simplified such as getting ride of the four-case system and replacing it with having a strong sentence word order.
And so when the English lost at hastings, the West Saxon based elite was replace with the French speaking Norman and so allowed for Middle English to develop from the Old English spoken around Danelaw area.
Fugheles, Fugol, Fawl, Vogel and then there’s the modern English odd one out: bird
Ah, Whitby Abbey, lovely choice of picture!
Such peace
Lovely song
As an English speaker who studied German, I can really see how much stronger germanic influence here.
As a Swiss (-german) speaker, I can add that we say „sumer“ - „soommer…?“ and „nehereth“ - nöcheret exactly as sung here. And this is not in English, Dutch or German language of today the case.
Dyfed, Gwent and Morgannwg object to this map, regardless of how historically accurate it may be.
Marcher lords be damned!
It’s interesting English got rid of the hard gh sound while scots kept it as ch
Always thought "ch" in Scottish names had a Brythonic/Gaelic origin to be honest.
And the rolled/trilled “R” has been lost too, along with the breathed whuu for the wh sound. I remeber my great grand parents (last one died when I was 18, two others at 11 and 12. My great granddad had such a beautiful English accent which was 3/4 Norfolk, 1/4 East London. I’m 66 and I can still hear it although I (sadly) can’t reproduce it outside of my head.
Could understand most of this in written form, but throw in a local accent and some peasant speaking not so clearly, and I probably wouldn't understand it. It's the same with old and middle Welsh for me too. It's always interesting to see older versions of English, or whatever language.
It sounds and looks like English but it's actually quite hard to understand it properly. It's definitely a foreign language even to native English speakers
It’s much more comprehensible than Old English, and you can slightly see and hear the divergence from Old to Middle English in this song. For instance, “michel” evolved from the Old English “miċel/myċel”, as in “very much, many, great”. Icelandic has a similar word for it, “mikill”.
Today, this word survives in Northumbria’s dialect and in Scots, “mickle”. Maybe you’ve heard of the proverb “many a mickle makes a muckle”. Fascinating isn’t it?
I only ever heard and knew that word from lotr lol
Yes! Let me guess, Michel Delving or Mickleburg.
My favourite is "ac" for "but", which is cognate to Irish Gaelic "ach" but not the modern English word.@@balladsofhistory
I'm English, this song is definitely understandable, but parts of it are harder to understand. This is back when our Germanic heritage was much closer to us that it is now.
I. E. "Mirie it is while Sumer ilast" is basically "Merry it is whilst Summer alasts".
Basically, if you're English and have a decent understanding of German and Dutch understanding this song should be no problem.
Such a shame that thousands of years of English history and culture is dying within the span of a couple decades.
What? English culture is doing just fine.
@@Willie5000
If you don’t count London or Birmingham or any decently large city then sure
@@Willie5000except when Englishmen and women ask the authorities protect innocent little girls
Come on man
@@V9bct7I'm sure medieval England was one of the safest places in the world. What are you guys even on about lmao.
Its either Celtic English or Anglo Saxon English.
🏴
I can't tell which one.
Celtic English doesn’t exist; not sure what you mean by that. This is Middle English. Plain and simple.
@@tfan2222 Say that to the Cornish in Cornwall.
It's Middle English, a more "modern" form of Old English that reflects the changes introduced by the Normans.
@@sakkra93 So that's why I got that vibe. Nice.
@@Viper97Gaming Sadly. this language itself is lost to us though :(
Much to my lamentation.
That old english
Middle English*
Old English was much more different.