LL-L: "Lyrics" LOWLANDS-L, 22.DEC.1999 (01) [E]
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Wed Dec 22 15:54:29 UTC 1999
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L O W L A N D S - L * 22.DEC.1999 (01) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: Arvid Huisman <ahuisma at creston.heartland.net>
Subject: AULD LANG SYNE
Hello, Lowlanders!
Here in the US and, I assume, in many parts of the world it is
customary to ring out the old year on New Year's Eve by singing "Auld Lang
Syne." While I've sung the song many times over the years, I have always
wondered what the phrase "auld lang syne" means? Is this phrase Scots and,
if so, what is its meaning?
Any other information regarding the lyrics of this fine old New
Year's Eve song would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you!
Arvid Huisman
Creston Iowa USA
----------
From: R. F. Hahn [sassisch at yahoo.com]
Subject: Lyrics
Dear Arvid,
Your question is a reqular annual event. It is one of the most frequently
asked questions. So we don't have to reinvent the wheel again, I am enclosing
excerpts from relevant discussions we had in previous years. I hope it helps.
Happy Holidays!
Reinhard/Ron
***
From: Colin Wilson <lcwilson at iee.org>
Subject: Re: LOWLANDS-L 27.MAY.1996 (02) "Auld lang syne, etc."
At 13:04 27/05/96 -0700, Klaus Linssen wrote:
> Should auld acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind?
> Should auld acquaintance be forgot and days of auld lang syne?
> For auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne,
> We'll take a cup of kindness yet for the sake of auld lang
> syne.
>
> And there is a hand, my trusty friend
> and gies a hand of thine
> and we will take a right guide
> willy waught for auld lang syne
>
> What does 'auld lang syne' and 'gies a hand of thine'
> and 'willy waught' mean?
> What kind of English is this? Old English?
> An English or Scottish dialect?
This looks like an incomplete and inaccurate rendering into
English of part of one of the most famous songs in the world,
"Auld Lang Syne", written in Scots by Robert Burns over 200
years ago.
I say "incomplete", because some of the Scots vocabulary has
been left untranslated, and hence your call for an explanation.
To answer your specific questions: "auld lang syne" means literally
"old long ago", and so the phrase "for auld lang syne" is best
translated into English as "for old times' sake".
"Gies" should be " gie 's", a contraction of "gie us" meaning
literally "give us", but idioomatically meaning "give me".
A "guidwilly waught"... "guidwilly" has no counterpart in English,
but is the adjective derived from "guidwill" (meaning "goodwill").
A "waught" is a draught of liquor.
These are the words as Burns actually wrote them:
"Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to min'?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne?
For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.
And there's a hand, my trusty fiere
And gie 's a hand o' thine;
And we'll tak a right guid-willie waught
For auld lang syne."
One aspect of Burns' way of writing Scots is that it makes Scots
look more like English than it really is. At the time when he
write those words, Scots had already been in decline as a medium of
literacy for some 200 years: as a result, he was writing for a
readership whose primary medium of literacy was English, and in the
case of his readership outside Scotland, one not even familiar with
Scots in speech.
The result can be seen in anglicisms such as "right" and "brought", which
really ought to be "richt" and "brocht" (and the "ch" is pronounced),
and the so-called "apologetic apostrophe" in "o'" , standing for a
"missing" letter which was never there to begin with. His contemporary
Scottish readership would have known what to make of these, of course,
and known how to read them aloud: today, though they cause a lot of
confusion.
Here is how the same passage looks in a modern Scots orthography:
"Shid auld acquaintance be forgot,
An nivver brocht tae mind?
Shid auld acquaintance be forgot,
An auld lang syne?
For auld lang syne, ma dear,
For auld lang syne,
We'll tak a cup o kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.
And there's a haund, ma trusty fiere
And gie 's a haund o thine;
And we'll tak a richt guid-willie waucht
For auld lang syne."
Colin Wilson
From: kl at wing.gun.de (Klaus Linssen)
Subject: LOWLANDS-L 28.MAY.1996 (06) "Auld lang syne, etc."
Hallo Colin,
From: Colin Wilson <lcwilson at iee.org>
Subject: Re: LOWLANDS-L 27.MAY.1996 (02) "Auld lang syne, etc."
Thank you very much for your detailed and comprehensive
explanation of this great old song! :-))
Maybe you would like to see the German version? ;-)
Here it comes:
Nehmt Abschied Brueder ungewiss
ist alle Wiederkehr
die Zukunft liegt in Finsternis
und macht das Herz uns schwer
Ref.: Der Himmel woelbt sich uebers Land
Ade auf Wiedersehn
wir ruhen all ein Gottes Hand
lebt wohl auf Wiedersehn
Nehmt Abschied Brueder schliesst den Kreis
denn das Leben ist ein Spiel
und wer es recht zu spielen weiss
der gelangt ans grosse Ziel
Ref.: Der Himmel...
Mit freundlichem Gruss
Klaus (kl at wing.gun.de)
From: lone at studentergaarden.dk (Lone Olesen)
Subject: Re: LL-L: "Songs" [E/LS/S], LOWLANDS-L, 30.DEC.1998 (06)
<snip>
This song was translated rather freely by a Danish poet. In Denmark it is
well known, but we do not sing it on New Year's Eve. Since the song was
translated into a Jutland dialect, some Danes mistake for an old folk song.
In fact, I found the text in a site on old Danish songs (I replaced
{ligature ae}, {ligature oe}, {ringed a} with ae, oe, aa).
[I had to edit by giving descriptions for the special characters Lone
gave above. RH]
Godt nytaar,
Lone Olesen
Skuld gammel venskab rejn forgo
Tekst: Jeppe Aakjaer, 1927
Melodi: Skotsk folkemelodi
CHORUS: Di skjoenne ungdomsdaw, aa ja,
de daw saa svaer aa find!
Vi'el loewt wor kop saa glaadle op
for dem daw saa laeng, laeng sind!
Skuld gammel venskab rejn forgo
og stryges frae wor mind?
Skuld gammel venskab rejn forgo
med dem daw saa laeng, laeng sind?
Og gi saa kuns de glajs en top
og vend en med di kaw'.
Vi'el ta ino en jenle kop
for dem swunden gammel daw.
Di skjoenne...
Vi tow - hwor haar vi rend om kap
i'ae groenn saa manne gaang!
Men al den trawen verden rundt
haar nu gjord ae bjenn lidt taang.
Di skjoenne...
Vi wojed sammel i ae baek
frae gry til hoens war ind.
Saa kam den haw og skil wos ad.
Aa, hvor er ae laeng, laeng sind!
Di skjoenne...
Der er mi haand, do gamle swend!
Raek oewer og gi mae dind.
Hwor er ae skjoen aa find en ven,
en haaj mist for laeng, laeng sind!
Di skjoenne...
(Source: http://www.pip.dknet.dk/~ebert/sange.html)
From: "Goaitsen van der Vliet" <vdvliet at a1.nl>
Subject: Re: LL-L: "Songs" [E/LS/S], LOWLANDS-L, 30.DEC.1998 (06)
In addition to the translation of Auld Lang Syne by Ron Hahn I'll give you
the words of a translation by Willem Wilmink in the Twents language of
Enschede, from his book Heftan tattat! (1992):
De daagn van aleer, mien jong,
de daagn van aleer,
ach, doot der miej nog eentjen in
op de daagn van aleer.
Verget iej dan oew' ko"nnigheid,
ach, heugt oe dee nich meer?
Wiej dreenkt hier op de ko"nnigheid
van de daagn van aleer.
En as ik riek was, dan zo'k zegn:
hee keerls, ik trakteer.
Meer noe betaal iej veur oe zo"lf
op de daagn van aleer.
Wiej leupn oaver n Osseler Es
en langs t Buurser Meer,
meer wiej leupn later wied van t hoes,
seend de daagn van aleer.
Wiej leupn deur n Deenkel hen
en keern 's oavns weer.
Vo"l bredere waters hebt oons skeidn
seend de daagn van aleer.
Hier is mienn haand, mien kammeroad,
leg doar oew' haand op neer
en dreenk dan nog s lekker oet
op de daagn van aleer.
Vo"l geluk in n tuk in t niejjoar!
Goaitsen van der Vliet
vdvliet at a1.nl
From: Sandy Fleming <sandy at fleimin.demon.co.uk>
Subject: Re: LL-L: "Songs" [E/LS/S], LOWLANDS-L, 30.DEC.1998 (06)
>From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at geocities.com>
>Subject: Songs
>
>Dear Lowlanders,
>
>What would New Year's Eve in English-speaking countries be without "Auld
>Lang Syne"? I know Sandy doesn't really approve of poetic translations,
>but what the hay?! I'm sure he'll forgive me for this one also. Some of
Strangely enough, I thought of putting in a SAMPA version of this song
when I first learned SAMPA, since it's probably the world's most
mispronounced song! For those who are interested in singing it with a
decent Scots accent, here it is in SAMPA. This isn't meant to be full-
fledged phonetics, but a guide to Scots pronunciation for English
speakers - length and stress should be pretty much as an English speaker
would expect, so your own judgement of length is probably as good as
mine (I'm biased towards full length below as the vowels tend to get
lengthened in the singing). I've also written glottal stops as "t" as
they're usually pronounced this way when singing. I also haven't worried
about Aitken's vowel!
Other Scots are welcome to make corrections and indicate variations.
>AULD LANG SYNE
O:ld la:N sEin
>by Robert Burns (1759-1796)
>
> Chorus:
> For auld lang syne, my dear,
> For auld lang syne,
> We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet
> For auld lang syne!
fIr O:ld la:N sEin ma di:r
fIr O:ld la:N sEin
wil ta:k a kVp I kEin:Is yIt
fIr O:ld la:N sEin
>1.
>Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
>And never brought to mind?
>Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
>And auld lang syne?
Sud O:ld @kwE:nt=ns bi f at rgot
@n nIv at r broxt tI mEind
Sud O:ld @kwE:nt=ns bi f at rgot
@n O:ld la:N sEin
>2.
>And surely ye'll be your pint-stowp,
>And surely I'll be mine,
>And we'll tak a cup o' kindness yet
>For auld lang syne!
@n Se:rlI ju:l bi ju:r pEint staup
@n Se:rlI al bi mEin
@n wil ta:k a kVp I kEin:Is yIt
fIr O:ld la:N sEin
>3.
>We twa hae run about the braes,
>And pou'd the gowans fine,
>But we've wander'd monie a weary fit
>Sin' auld lang syne.
wi twO: he rIn @but DI bre:z
@n pu:d DI gau at nz fEin
bIt wiv wO:nIrt monI a wi:rI fIt
sIn O:ld la:N sEin
>4.
>We twa hae paidl'd in the burn
>Frae morning sun till dine,
>But seas between us braid hae roar'd
>Sin' auld lang syne.
wi twO: he pe:dlt In DI bVrn
fI mornIn sIn tIl dEin
BIt si:z @twi:n Vs bre:d he re:rd
sIn O:ld la:N sEin
>5.
>And there's a hand, my trusty fiere,
>And gie's a hand o' thine,
>And we'll tak a right guid-willie waught
>For auld lang syne!
@n De:rz a hO:n ma trVstI fi:r
@n gi:z a hO:n I DEin
@n wil ta:k a rIxt gId wIlI wO:xt
fIr O:ld la:N sEin
(Is this really what Burns wrote?! I've been singing the last verse
wrong for years:
"An here a haund my trusty feir,
"An see'z the haud o thine,
"An oo'll tak a richt guid wally waucht
"For auld lang syne."
Makes perfect sense to me!)
This is probably too late for this New Year, but never mind! For me
Hogmanay's a double celebration as it's my birthday :\
A Guid New Year ti ane an aa! :)
--
Sandy Fleming
From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at geocities.com>
Subject: Verse
Peter Stornebrink wrote:
>But what EXACTLY does it mean: "Old Long Since".
Hi, Peter!
As you well know -- and it is all too clear, painfully clear, to our
Scots-speaking friends from my occasional abuse of their language -- I am
by no means an authority on Scots. However, going by what I have been
told and by what I gather from context in Burns' verse it is fairly clear
to me that "auld lang syne" (whose literal translation "Old Lang Since"
seems like gobbledigook) means something like "old times (and the memories
thereof)."
In the poem it is preceded by "for," "and" and "since":
We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet
For auld lang syne!
My loose translation:
Let's have another drink between friends
For old times' sake!
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne?
My loose translation:
Should old friend(ship)s be forgotten
And old times as well?
But we've wander'd monie a weary fit
Sin' auld lang syne.
My loose translation:
But we've wandered many a tiring stretch
Since those olden days.
But seas between us braid hae roar'd
Sin' auld lang syne.
My loose translation:
But between us violent seas have roared
since those olden days.
And we'll tak a right guid-willie waught
For auld lang syne!
My loose translation:
So let's have another generous drink
For old times' sake!
Do our Scottish friends think I'm on the right track?
Best of regards,
Reinhard/Ron
****
Finally, my own translation into Low Saxon (Low German), North Saxon of
Germany:
OOLD UN MOI BESINN'N
Robert Burns (1759–1796)
Översetten vun R. F. Hahn, 1998
Refreng:
Up oold un moi Besinn'n, mien Fründ,
Up oold un moi Besinn'n,
Drink noch een Beker Leev' mit mie
Up oold un moi Besinn'n!
1.
Schull'n ole Frünn'n vergeten warr'n,
Verswunnen uut 't Besinn'n?
Schull'n ole Frünn'n vergeten warr'n
Un 't ool' Besinn'n verswinn'n?
2.
Du schast dien egen Drinkkruuk ween,
As ik mien egen bün.
Drink noch een Beker Leev' mit mie
Up oolt un moi Besinn'n!
3.
Inst sünd wie över Bargen birst,
Üm wille Bloom'n to finn'n,
Dunn wöör'n wie mööd vun 'n langen Draff,
Siet d' Tied vun us Besinn'n.
4.
Inst hebbt wie in'n Beek rümplanscht
Bit na den Avend hin.
Dunn trennen us de willen Seen,
Siet d' Tied vun us Besinn'n.
5.
Hier hest mien Hand, mien troe Maat.
Legg dien in er nu rin!
Denn drinkt wie noch 'n goden Sluck
Up oold un moi Besinn'n.
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