Help with Czech song

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klimmmper
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Joined: Tue Jul 19, 2022 11:56 am
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Help with Czech song

Postby klimmmper » Tue Jul 19, 2022 11:58 am

Hey there,
I'm a little desperate about finding the right place to find help, so I'll try it here. If my thread is inappropriate, I'm very sorry - in this case, please just remove it.

Im doing a research project at my university regarding the music of Czech composer Alois Hába at the moment. A special point of interest is his opera "Matka" from 1929/31, but since it is in czech language, I have a hard time to understand the lyrics. I already tried different translation programs, but the results were, well, not really understandable. This might be due to the fact that Hába used eastern-moravian dialect, but I'm not sure about that. If anyone could help me to understand the following song, it would be much appreciated. Its considered to be a "traditional folk song" / Lullaby:

Hali halí halučký
Můj Tonečku malučký kukuš.
Hali halí halučký
Můj Tonečku malučký kukuš!
Hali halí halučký
Můj Tonečku malučký kukuš.
Kukuš, kukuš, kukuš.

Hali halí halučký
Můj Tonečku malučký
Bóže daj mi síly
Abych ešče aj toto břemenounésla,
Co sem na sebe vzala.
Hali halilí hali halučký,
Halilí hali halučký
Můj Tonečku malučký
Halí halí halučký, halučký.

There might be some typing/spelling errors in it but I tried to copy it from the script as original as possible. Again, if this is not a good place to ask for help regarding this issue, its ok if you remove the thread. Or if you have any hint where to find help, I'll be really glad to hear about it as well. Thanks a lot!
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Cavesa
Black Belt - 4th Dan
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Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 9:46 am
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Re: Help with Czech song

Postby Cavesa » Tue Jul 19, 2022 12:50 pm

Hi and welcome to the forum!

I haven't ever heard of that opera or composer, but I'll try to help. Yes, a part of the problem is the dialect, which turns "maličký" (tiny) into "malučký", and the usual diminutive "Toníčku" (little Tony) into "Tonečku", "ještě" into "ešče" , "unesla" to "unésla" (could carry)... no wonder the machine translators cannot deal with it.

And another thing: a part of this are not standard words. I think "kukuš" is a sort of diminutive of the interjection"kuš", which is a "shut up" no longer used much (it is less strong than shut up, it is still mostly polite, but it is a bit different from "be silent" "buď zticha", it is gentler but more direct). "Hají" (and I guess Halučký is a diminutive of this) is used on kids as "lie down", a toddlers' word.

To put this into contemporary standard Czech (with also cutting the diminutives of the interjection words (I hope I use the English term for this correctly):
Hají, hají, hají,
můj Toníčku maličký kuš!
Hají hají hají
Můj Toníčku maličký kuš!
Hají hají, hají
Můj Toníčku maličký kuš
kuš kuš kuš

Hají, hají, hají,
můj Toníčku maličký
Bože dej mi síly (btw both sílu and síly would be standard Czech, dej mi koho co, dej mi koho čeho, even though síly sounds old fashioned)
Abych ještě i toto břemeno unesla,
co jsem na sebe vzala
Hali halí halučký
Můj Tonečku malučký
Hali halí halučký
Můj Tonečku malučký


and to English (just the meanings, you can copy paste the repetitions)
lie down, lie down, lie down,
my little Tony (or even my tiny Tony) be silent.

lie down, lie down, lie down
my little Tony,
God give me strength
to carry even this burden, or to carry this burden too (like this burden on top of the already carried ones)
that I took upon myself.
Lie down...

I hope this helps a bit :-)
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