A poem about Ani?

[nairi]

Who was "Hay Ashovgh", the poet?

 

I missed this question It means Armenian (Hay) Minstrel (Ashugh).

 

At the end of the "minstrel" it says: "HAY ASHUGH ME", West-Armenian for "An Armenian Minstrel". As for your "corrected" version of the translation, I'll see how we can improve it later. Not that I'm a translator, but I think if we take it a step at a time, translating literally first, we can come closer to an accurate translation. Unless you're not interested anymore

[nairi]

??? (I have no idea what this line means)

 

Of course Arpa gave a hint when he wrote: "blind owls circling my head" and I should've seen buer as owls, rather than something I couldn't figure out... Anyway, with help from outside, this is what it is more literally:

 

I have gathered (around) my head blind owls

 

This is supposed to mean that the speaker (Ani) is having sinister or ominous premonitions. This makes more sense as well, with the following two lines.

[bellthecat]

Stepanik I'm not saying the poem is not about a woman. I'm saying that the poem has no indication to such. Maybe the author had a woman in mind and every one else who heard it was passed on this information. Very possible. But the author doesn't specify it. That's all I'm saying.

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Sorrt I wasn't intending to imply that you were saying it wasn't about a woman! I was just trying to show that the concept of Ani as a woman would have been in the minds of contemporary readers of the poem, so it wouldn't need to be explicitely indicated that "she" was a woman.

[bellthecat]

As for your "corrected" version of the translation, I'll see how we can improve it later. Not that I'm a translator, but I think if we take it a step at a time, translating literally first, we can come closer to an accurate translation. Unless you're not interested anymore

 

Sure Nairi, I'm interested

 

But I'm a bit confused as to where the translation is at the moment. Those stanzas that you said were missing, some do seem to be in Arpa's translation. Or are you giving, for a part of it, alternative translations to Arpa's?

 

In the Middle East owls are seen as birds of ill-omen. But in Europe it they are traditionally seen as a symbol of prosperity and wisdom. There is a town in England, called Oldham, that has an owl in its coat of arms. A couple of years ago a group of Muslim politicians in the area (displaying their typical Islamic "tolerance") tried to get it removed. When they did not succeed they instigated local Muslim youths to riot - smashing up anything that had the owl on it, (dustbins, park benches, etc.). But it was all hushed up by the Labour Party and their (then) pals in the BBC.

[Arpa]

nairi,Aug 28 2004, 07:53 PM]

Arpa!!! : You missed 2 stanzas!

 

Thank you Nairi. Please feel free to correct and edit.

I also found a few other errors.

 

 

Here is a corrected version.

Just in case the translation is all mine so you can blame me.

 

ODE

(to the) CITY OF ANI

 

Ani Kaghak, sitting down, she cries,

No one around to say; "Dont't cry, Don't Cry!"

You say it's not enough, let her stay and cry,

Akh! When will I hear "Don't cry, don't cry".

 

With much pain I am on fire, I burn,

I have no one loyal to trust

Who would approach this wretched me?

Who'll ever say; "Don't cry, don't cry"?

 

(Hordorak/Advice)

 

Akh Hay Tgha, have mercy on me,

Look and see how's your Ani,

I have cried enough, you with no mercy.

Is not your alas for Ani!?

 

Days of mourning and fear I've had,

My eyes with tears blinded,

Orphan has always been my lot,

I've been forsaken by my luck .

 

I have lost many a king,

Blind owls circling my head,

Who ever sing; "Ani is gone,

Ani, orphaned and ruined"

 

I am Ani, much populous,

Here I am, a bitter ruin.

My cries, my moans and pleas,

As of orphans motherless.

 

There was a time no peer I had,

City of Hays of orient,

Now I am razed to the ground,

Sitting, weeping here aloud..

 

You came, you saw and now you leave,

You say "goodbye" with lots of tears,

For the sake of God, do not forget..

When you get near our Masis...

 

Tell that my Brave Ararat,

"My poor Ani is down and cries",

When will that mount give the tidings,

"Oh my Ani, enough you've wept"?

Edited September 2, 2004 by Arpa

[Arpa]

Sure Nairi, I'm interested 

In the Middle East owls are seen as birds of ill-omen. But in Europe it they are traditionally seen as a symbol of prosperity and wisdom.

style_images/master/snapback.png

 

Ani (the name) is a woman. It isa diminutive and endearing form of Anahit. Even today many Anahits are called Ani as an endearment.

The city was named such in honor and memory of Anahit.

 

As to owls an ill-omen. The reason for that is their vocalization, their hooting which is interpreted as wailing and moaning. The superstition is that when an owl perches on a rooftop and "wails" the next morning a corpse comes out of that house.

The superstition is tantamount to a self fulfilling prophesy. The following story that I had read some time ago will illustrate.

 

An owl had perched on the roof top wailing and hooting. The woman of the house, who as usual was the more superstitious urges her husband to do something about it lest there would be a death in the house. The husband, reluctantly picks up his rifle and goes out to once and for all silence the "bearer of bad news". It is dark out. He circles the house and finally spots the shadow perched at the highest window, it moves illuminated with the back light. He aims he shoots. He hears this heart rending scream coming from the house. He runs in and finds his son fatally shot. It was the curious boy looking out the window that he took to be the owl.

 

Superstition?

 

Self fulfilling prophesy?

[nairi]

Arpa, I like your translation. I think it pretty much covers it all. I guess I'm a little bit more of a literal "translator", so my changes would be to make it more literal Like in the first line I would try to leave out a pronoun and just go by Ani City as the subject of both verbs (argh!! I'm doing it again!!). But then, it wouldn't sound as poetic, so it has its bad sides too. Anyway, as long as Steve is satisfied