"Mirie it is while sumer ilast" - Middle English Folk Song

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7 ай бұрын

"Mirie it is while sumer ilast" is one of the earliest surviving secular songs in the English language, dating to the first half of the 13th century. It is about the longing for summer in the face of the approaching cold weather, shortened hours of daylight, the potential for sickness and death. The manuscript survived on a piece of paper alongside two other French songs in a Psalm book for several centuries. It was rediscovered towards the end of the 19th century; the musical composition was slightly rearranged by Frank Llewellyn around 1964. The modern English lyrics:
Merry it is while summer lasts
With fowl’s song.
But now nears the wind’s blast
And weather strong.
Oh, oh! How this night is long!
And I with very much wrong
Sorrow and mourn and fast
Performed by Ensemble Belladonna, 2006 (Melodious Melancholye).

Пікірлер: 49

@blu9700 7 ай бұрын

As a Dutch speaker, I wish English was still spoken this way, I can understand this perfectly

@jimeatscorn6628 6 ай бұрын

How vreemd.

@El_Gungas 2 ай бұрын

No, just no.

@dungcheeseMORK999 2 ай бұрын

I wish English were more like it's Old and Middle forms, much more charm, melody and joy and rhythm to it.

@goodbanter4427 25 күн бұрын

Honestly I speak Dutch and couldn't understand *everything*, let alone perfectly. But yes I could understand a sizeable part

@Laudon1780 7 ай бұрын

As a german speaker, one can really see how much closer our languages used to be:)

@sakkra93 4 ай бұрын

This was before our Germanic heritage was lost to us :(

@DerekDerekDerekDerekDerekDerek 3 ай бұрын

@@sakkra93 it wasn't lost

@therealmcgoy4968 7 ай бұрын

As an english speaker I can understand afew words and get a feel of what the song is about. Its crazy how much English has changed. When modern English speakers think of "old english" they think Shakespeare is old english but in reality that is early modern english.

@RubenJavierTovarEsparza 4 ай бұрын

This song is like 1200s old

@mariannehancock8282 2 ай бұрын

Yes, Old English ended with the Norman Conquest. If the other side had won, English would be more like Dutch or German today.

@balladsofhistory 7 ай бұрын

Modern English lyrics: Merry it is while summer lasts With fowl’s song. But now nears the wind’s blast And weather strong. Oh, oh! How this night is long! And I with very much wrong Sorrow and mourn and fast

@blu9700 7 ай бұрын

In Dutch the lyrics would be: Vrolijk het is als zomer laatst Met vogels zang Maar nu naart de winds blaas En weer sterk En ik met erg veel mis Zorg en rauw en snel ( I intentionally tryied using cognates where possible so this might sound a bit archaic)

@patrioticarchive 5 ай бұрын

Lovely song

@sakkra93 4 ай бұрын

Ah, Whitby Abbey, lovely choice of picture!

@roberthudson3386 7 ай бұрын

Dyfed, Gwent and Morgannwg object to this map, regardless of how historically accurate it may be.

@balladsofhistory 7 ай бұрын

Marcher lords be damned!

@laurelmentor404 3 ай бұрын

As an English speaker who studied German, I can really see how much stronger germanic influence here.

@maeges 3 ай бұрын

As a Swiss (-german) speaker, I can add that we say „sumer“ - „soommer…?“ and „nehereth“ - nöcheret exactly as sung here. And this is not in English, Dutch or German language of today the case.

@newg4515 7 ай бұрын

It’s interesting English got rid of the hard gh sound while scots kept it as ch

@roberthudson3386 7 ай бұрын

Always thought "ch" in Scottish names had a Brythonic/Gaelic origin to be honest.

@roberthudson3386 7 ай бұрын

Could understand most of this in written form, but throw in a local accent and some peasant speaking not so clearly, and I probably wouldn't understand it. It's the same with old and middle Welsh for me too. It's always interesting to see older versions of English, or whatever language.

@isaweesaw 7 ай бұрын

It sounds and looks like English but it's actually quite hard to understand it properly. It's definitely a foreign language even to native English speakers

@balladsofhistory 7 ай бұрын

It’s much more comprehensible than Old English, and you can slightly see and hear the divergence from Old to Middle English in this song. For instance, “michel” evolved from the Old English “miċel/myċel”, as in “very much, many, great”. Icelandic has a similar word for it, “mikill”. Today, this word survives in Northumbria’s dialect and in Scots, “mickle”. Maybe you’ve heard of the proverb “many a mickle makes a muckle”. Fascinating isn’t it?

@npickle54 7 ай бұрын

I only ever heard and knew that word from lotr lol

@balladsofhistory 7 ай бұрын

Yes! Let me guess, Michel Delving or Mickleburg.

@isaweesaw 7 ай бұрын

My favourite is "ac" for "but", which is cognate to Irish Gaelic "ach" but not the modern English word.@@balladsofhistory

@sakkra93 4 ай бұрын

I'm English, this song is definitely understandable, but parts of it are harder to understand. This is back when our Germanic heritage was much closer to us that it is now. I. E. "Mirie it is while Sumer ilast" is basically "Merry it is whilst Summer alasts". Basically, if you're English and have a decent understanding of German and Dutch understanding this song should be no problem.