The Final Notes of "Tempus Adest Floridum" (Latin)

Posted on 2012/02/15 by NSCZach

Introduction
The Whole Song
A Time for Recitation
Now it is the Animal Hour
Closing

Introduction

Now that I’ve translated the entire song “Tempus Adest Floridum”, I’ve brought it all together. I also made some improvements to the last two verses to get them to better fit the song’s meter, and I think that it came out rather nicely. Here’s how I’m going to pledge my complete translation to the ages:

“The time for flowers now is come, for the flowers now &nbsp&nbsparise.
All things now are of the spring, nature’s likeness is in &nbsp&nbspall eyes.
This which winter once had attacked, has regained its &nbsp&nbspfire;
We all see winter’s weeping, since spring has perspired.

“The meadows are full of flowers now, as they start &nbsp&nbspappearing.
These are brought where all may see, plants their pleasure &nbsp&nbspbringing,
Grasses, shoots both rising through, making winter turn &nbsp&nbspin.
Spring growing stronger in due time, bringing renewed bird &nbsp&nbspdin.

“This lovely creation shows your fullness, oh God,
to whom we entrust all deeds whether they be bare or shod.
O time therefore of great joy, pleasing all by laughter,
Now we pray you renew the world fill our souls to the &nbsp&nbsprafters.

“The earth is filled by flowers now, and with much beauty,
Death and love we now do dignify absolutely.
Thus we now in this season most pleasing rejoice,
With praise and laud of the lord with our heart’s voice.”

And here’s a version that I wouldn’t mind the ages getting a hold of, but really have no strong feelings either way:

And with that, “Tempus Adest Floridum” is complete.

Now, it’s my intention to work on mostly medieval Latin on this blog and with that in mind I’ve decided to move on to an entry from Isidore of Seville‘s Etymologiae.

The Etymologiae is the medieval world’s Wikipedia, essentially, an encyclopedia covering all fathomable topics.

Of course, Isidore didn’t write it, but he did compile it – much like how the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary wasn’t written by a single person or even a small group, but was an effort of an entire mass sending in slips of paper with words and meanings and uses.

Because medieval bestiaries are often great fun, I’ll be translating a passage about an animal. Which animal, however, I’ll leave a mystery until next week.

If you want to compliment my reciting voice, perhaps make a special request, or just drop a line, feel free to do so in the comments.

The Fourth Verse of "Tempus Adest Floridum" (Latin)

Posted on 2012/02/08 by NSCZach

Abstract
Translations
Vocabulary Boost
We’ve Made a Few…Changes
Closing

Well, just as the winter of the song has wrapped up so too does the song itself now wrap up. This entry marks the final verse of the song “Tempus Adest Floridum” (which you can read in its entirety, in Latin, here).

So, here is my translation of verse four:

“The earth is ornamented by flowers and much beauty.
We dignify by death and certainly loving.
Therefore we rejoice in the pleasing time,
We praise and laud the Lord from the bottom of our hearts.”

And the more metrical version:

“The earth is filled by flowers now, and with much beauty,
Death and love we now do dignify absolutely.
Thus in this pleasing season we now rejoice,
Praise and laud the lord with heart’s voice.”

Having already worked through the previous three verses, this one gave me little trouble.

Aside from a few words that I added to my vocabulary (honestis-dignify, maybe root of the verb sense of honour; pectoris-heart, mind, breast~I had to look it up because I had confused it with peccator, meaning sin; and iucundo, meaning pleasing or delightful), there was little that caused difficulty.

But difficulty was still had.

This time it came in the form of the last line of the verse. I know (and confirmed) that the suffix “que” means “and, both” and that sort of thing, but as far as I can tell there’s no other verb present in the sentence. Thus, I just unpacked “laudemus,” the result being “praise and laud.” It might not do for the literal translation, but there is something there for the more liberal version, I think.

Speaking of the liberal version. A few changes were necessary throughout this verse to make the words more or less fit the melody and rhyme scheme. For example, “certainly” was replaced with “absolutely” in line two, and “voice” was subbed in for “depths” in line four. Replacing “time” with “season” is a little less egregious though – the two words are practically synonyms.

If you think otherwise, however, or have something that you want to suggest, correct, or just plain comment on, feel free to do so in the comments below.

Since that wraps up “Tempus Adest Floridum,” next week I’ll post a full, metrical and rhyming version of the song, my own performance of it, and an introduction to the next text. And, of course, that’s another thing that you can toss into a comment: a request for me to translate any text.

The Third Verse of "Tempus Adest Floridum" (Latin)

Posted on 2012/02/01 by NSCZach

Introduction
Translations
Words and Rhymes
Closing

Introduction

Seeing that it’s Tuesday, it’s time for the next installment of the song “Tempus Adest Floridum.” So here are my translations of and thoughts on the third verse of the song.

Here it is in its basic, literal translation:

This lovely creation shows you oh God,
Which also we entrust all deeds
O time therefore of great joy, which it pleases by laughter
Now renew the world, we are rightly renewed.

And then this is the smoother version:

This lovely creation shows you, oh God,
to whom we entrust deeds both bare and shod.
O time therefore of great joy, pleasing all by laughter.
Now we pray you renew the world as we too are e’er after.

For the most part this was very straight forward.

There were a few vocabulary issues, since I wasn’t entirely sure about “libet” (“it pleases,” an “impersonal” verb according to my dictionary), and “decet” (it becomes, suits, it is right, proper). But those were solved with a quick look in the dictionary.

Again, I confess that my memory for conjugations and declensions isn’t excellent, and so there may be some issues with those, but for the most part I just followed my general rule. Use the context to figure out the word’s function in the sentence or clause and then just translate the other words in the same conjugation in the same way.

Because the song rhymes in Latin, this generally means that words at the end of lines tend to be those that are the same in terms of conjugation. So I just trim those with the same scissors and everything ends up hunky dory.

However, this little experiment is coming to its end. I just have one more verse and then the song will have been finished, and I’ll be moving onto my next project. I’m not entirely sure what it will be, just yet, but I will be looking around my collections for something.

If you have any suggestions for my next Latin translation project please drop me a comment.

The Second Verse of "Tempus Adest Floridum" (Latin)

Posted on 2012/01/24 by NSCZach

Translations
Wrestling with Words
Liberties Taken
Closing

Translations

Alright, So here’s the translated verse that I did today. First, in the original, and then in my more artful, more free translation.

The meadows are full of flowers, these begin appearing.
Where these are brought for all to see, plants with pleasure.
Grasses and shoots, put winter to rest.
In time the spring gets strong and increases.

The meadows are full of flowers, as they start appearing.
These are brought where all may see, plants their pleasure bringing.
Grasses, shoots both rising through, making winter turn in.
Spring growing strong in due time, bringing renewed bird din.

If you want a refresher on the original Latin song, check it out here.

So there it is, but it wasn’t as easy as the first verse. This one had a few words that really threw me. “incunda” (which I take as a form of “incoho,” meaning to begin, start upon, turn to) was especially tough since I don’t really know how to fit it into the sentence. Nor am I entirely sure of its meaning. But, given the context, it seems to be the best fit.

The other two words that gave me trouble, “aspectu” (to look at/sight/catch sight of) and “delectu” (joy, take pleasure in, etc.), weren’t so difficult to define, but instead were tough to place within the sentence. This difficulty arises for me because I’m not entirely familiar with all of the verb forms once things get as complicated as passives in tenses other than the past and simple present.

However, I am sure that they are verbs since there aren’t any Latin nouns or adjectives that end with a “u” after being conjugated. There are “u” stem words, as there are in Anglo-Saxon, but those have “u” in the stem and do funny things with that. They don’t tend to keep the “u” in anything but the nominative case. And besides all of that, the rules of one language tend not to apply to another in such a direct way.

In any case, those discrepancies in tense make for a bit of an awkward translation which I’ve tried to smooth over in the dolled up version. This led me to a few liberties in my quest to come out with something that rhymes, and these are most noticeable in the last four lines.

Instead of winter just being “put to rest” I’ve changed it to winter being forced to “turn in.” A kind of synonym for put to rest, but with more of a shift-worker kind of tone. And given the regularity of the seasons, it seems like that’s appropriate since I’m working with a traditional personification of the seasons.

In the final couplet of the poem, I mixed it up a bit, and actually replaced the statement about the “increases” of spring with a line about the birds returning. This helps make the whole verse singable to the original melody and completes the rhyme pattern of ABCB for each four lines. I also think that the side by side combination of “bird” and “din” makes for a neat aural pun on the word “burden.”

After all, spring is coming back and so work does need to resume in a medieval agrarian society: the land needs to be cleared of the debris that winter leaves behind, fields need to be tilled and planted, and animals need to be transitioned from winter treatment to summer treatment.

Winter was also no walk in the park for those in the past (and those still without indoor heating/plumbing or refrigeration today), but the workload was comparatively less field-based, or at the least more household-based.

Of course, if you take issue with any of my generalizations here, or if you want to suggest an interpretation of one of the words with which I struggled feel free to do so in the comments.

First Verse of "Tempus Adest Floridum" (Latin)

Posted on 2012/01/17 by NSCZach

Introduction
Translations
Word Issues
Liberties Taken
Closing

Introduction

So this song, “Tempus Adest Floridum,” is the origin of the tune for “Old King Wenceslas.” However, as you’ll notice from the title and from the song’s content it has nothing to do with old King Wenceslas.

You can find the full song in its original Latin here.

First my literal translation:

The time for flowers now is come, for the flowers rise up.
Spring in all things, the likeness/copy of nature.
This which ice had attacked, has recovered warmth.
We all see this weeping, by great work.

And my dolled up translation (with some rhyme):

The time for flowers now is come, for the flowers now arise.
All things now are of the spring, nature’s likeness is in all eyes.
This which winter once had attacked, has regained its fire;
We all see winter’s weeping, since spring has perspired.

The issues that came up for me during this translation were relatively minor, just a few issues with words not being in my Collins Pocket Gem dictionary. The words in question?

“Vernales” (an adjective meaning “of Spring” was the worst); “Cerno” (ere, crevi, cretum; a verb meaning to see, discern, understand, perceive, etc.); and “fleo” (ere, evi, etum; a verb meaning to weep, cry, lament, mourn for) were close seconds since I had to twist things around to make good sense of it all.

Obviously, I took some liberties with the second use of “hoc” (“this”) to bring in Winter again, but I like the personification of the seasons to which this song gives rise.

It isn’t direct personification, necessarily, but the conceit definitely helps to make the translation more fun. And, since the original image seems to be that of icicles dripping (hence weeping), making winter the weeper seems appropriate.

The conquest of spring also makes it a more joyous song, even if that joy is derived from conquest.

Though I must admit that a pop song about Spring coming in and ruining Winter’s shit might be fun as well, the cycle of nature can be pretty brutal after all.

“Transpire” could also have worked as the final word of the verse, but I think that spring is generally a wet season, and “perspire” is a wetter word. It also implies that much more effort was used, and if a season is going to be made to weep I imagine that even another season is going to need to break a sweat.

So that’s verse one of “Tempus Adest Floridum.” Expect verse two next week.

A Blogger's Beowulf

An Old English enthusiast's translation of Beowulf. Plus a little bit about Beowulf's impact on modern culture.

Tag Archives: tempus adest floridum

The Final Notes of "Tempus Adest Floridum" (Latin)

The Fourth Verse of "Tempus Adest Floridum" (Latin)

The Third Verse of "Tempus Adest Floridum" (Latin)

The Second Verse of "Tempus Adest Floridum" (Latin)

First Verse of "Tempus Adest Floridum" (Latin)