Help with three Slovak songs

[Krafcik, Patricia]

Dear Francoise--
I consulted again with Marta Botikova, Chair of the Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology at Comenius University. She applauded Martin Votruba's translation of the songs, but had the following corrections to the overall discussion--corrections which emerge from her many years of researching women and women's issues and culture in Slovakia (she is, in addition,a fluent speaker of Hungarian):

--kytla/kytlicka: a white linen over-skirt.
--obrancovat': This verb, meaning "to pleat" does come from Hungarian, as Jan Zielinski says, but "ranc" in connection with clothes and especially a skirt refers to a "pleat." Pleating the skirt was a way to keep it in proper and accepted shape. Both Hungarian and Slovak women engaged in this activity. Pleats were made by running one's fingernails down small sections of material after the skirt was washed. This was a difficult and time-consuming task requiring precision, and it could be supposed that the girl in the song was, as David Cooper suspects, lazy, and would not make these pleats properly or at all. 

Marta and I hope that this explanation clears up the issue. We also thought that we had communicated with you about these songs last year.

All the best. 
Pat Krafcik
The Evergreen State College 



-----Original Message-----
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list on behalf of Francoise Rosset
Sent: Thu 11/10/2011 9:57 PM
To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Help with three Slovak songs
 
Dear SEELANGers:

My thanks to the people who wrote with help and comments, and 
particularly to Magdalena Mullek, Ralph Cleminson, Christina Manetti 
and Martin Votruba, who kindly provided translations. The community 
has been a terrific resource!

I also offer many thanks from our musical director Tim Harbold, and 
from the students who much prefer knowing exactly what it is they're 
singing.

-FR


Francoise Rosset, Associate Professor
Chair, Russian and Russian Studies
Wheaton College
Norton, Massachusetts 02766
Office: (508) 285-3696
FAX:   (508) 286-3640

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