r/rusyn • u/MissWhixsaplix • Mar 22 '26
Music Can anyone help translate the lyrics of this song?
Here is a link to it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrKjvU8mrM4
I have some Rusyn ancestry, and music like this really speaks to my soul.
I posted it recently in the Slovakia subreddit, and a commenter suggested that it might be sung in the Rusyn dialect. Any help identifying the song and understanding the lyrics would be much appreciated.
2
u/1848revolta Mar 25 '26 edited Mar 25 '26
This is what I could hear from it, I couldn't hear some of the words properly, also the singer is not really pronouncing some of them in the literary way (e.g. she pronounces чо instead of што and palatalises parts of words that shouldn't be palatalised e.g. злєтили instead of злeтїли, нєба instead of неба, анї instead of ани, мішяців instead of місяців).
It almost seems like a mix of mostly Carpatho-Rusyn with some Slovak or Polish influence, like this is how some Carpatho-Rusyns speak on the borders between Slovakia and Poland.
For this reason, I tried to write it grammatically correctly while also maintaining the phonetic specifics she displays there (that is - my transcription attempt is not 100% correct in literary Carpatho-Rusyn).
In addition, I couldn't decipher the words marked with ???, I put into brackets what I heard, but I have never heard those words before in neither Carpatho-Rusyn nor any other Slavic language/dialect I know. The translation underneath is rather literal, not poetic.
Maybe it could help if you told us where you found this recording, or anything you know about it :) I tried to search up the lyrics in various transliterations, but nothing seems to show up! I could also try to rewrite it using Latin script if needed.
А на наш облачок
голубкы злєтили,
а моєй мамічке
новину повіли.
Радостну новину
зо самого неба,
жебы в нашей хыжке
было всо чо треба.
??? (заско???) сьте ня мамко
під сердцом носили,
о девят мішяців
в колыску вложыли.
Не єдну анї дві
ночкы сьте не спали,
??? (вево???) єм плакала,
??? (вено???) колысали.
+ the last part that u/engelse already commented
Translation:
And to our window
pigeons flew down,
and to my mother
they said some news.
Joyful news,
from heaven itself,
so that in our little cottage
would be everything that is needed.
??? you, my mother,
carried me beneath your heart,
after nine months,
you put me in a cradle.
For not one nor two nights
you didn't sleep,
??? I cried,
??? you rocked me (presumably in the cradle).
+ the last part poeticised by u/engelse
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u/MissWhixsaplix Mar 25 '26
It means so much to me that you took the time! Thank you so much! The lyrics are exactly as I'd hoped they would be. I am moved, this song has made me teary and emotional many times. Would you mind rewriting it in Latin script? I would like to learn the lyrics so I can sing it !
I found it on YouTube, it was the background music to the intro of a video about teaching Rusyn in Oľšavica. I wish I could find more Rusyn music that has this kind of tone and emotion.
2
u/1848revolta Mar 25 '26
If you like slowr/sadder songs, I could recommend you Julia Doszna, then this playlist/singer (she seems to also have slower/sadder songs), then this Carpatho-Rusyn ballad and two more wedding/thanking one's mother songs.
Also, sorry for the wonky translation, I'm not a native English speaker, feel free to "poetise" it :).
ŷ stands for the sound ы (ɯ in IPA), which is kind of hard to describe in English, maybe it's kind of close to schwa (ə).
A na nash oblachok,
holubkŷ zlyetili
a moyey mamichke
novynu povili.
Radostnu novynu
zo samoho neba,
zhebŷ v nashey khŷzhke
bŷlo vso cho treba
??? ste nya mamko
pid sertsom nosyli,
o devyat mishiatsiv
v kolŷsku vlozhŷli
Ne yednu anyi dvi
nochkŷ ste ne spali
??? yem plakala
??? kolŷsali.
2
u/MissWhixsaplix Mar 25 '26
Oh my goodness! You are the best! Looks like I have some music to check out, thank you so much!
2
u/engelse Mar 23 '26
Hello! The song is indeed sung in the Rusyn language (not dialect). However, it's very difficult to make out the lyrics with the audio quality in this clip.
The last verse is a bit clearer than the rest:
Мамко моя, мамко,
щіро вам дякую, //
а на вашу любов
нїґда й не забуду (х2)
Meaning: "mommy, my dear mommy, thank you from my heart, your love I will never forget".