Here is the carol for December 1 - plus you can see the complete collection all at once if you want - and even add a Latin Christmas Carol widget to your own blog or website.
Some of the carols are translations into Latin. As always with translations, there are all kinds of possible approaches, and I've found THREE different translations of "Rudolph" into Latin. Version 1 is much more commonly found on the Internet but, personally, I think I prefer Version 2! You could use these three different versions to give you suggestions and strategies so you can do your own version. If you do your own version, go ahead and post it as a comment here at this blog.
** Be sure to check the comments: you can find a fourth version AND a fifth version which people have shared in the comments section. The fifth one features Jupiter instead of Santa! **
Learn more about the English song, with the lyrics, at wikipedia, including the English lyrics.
Version 1 (translator unknown, widely repeated on the Internet)
Reno erat Rudolphus
Nasum rubrum habebat;
Si quando hunc videbas,
Hunc candere tu dicas.
Omnes renores alii
Semper hunc deridebant;
Cum misero Rudolpho
In ludis non ludebant.
Santus Nicholas dixit
Nocte nebulae,
"Rudolphe, naso claro
Nonne carrum tu duces?"
Tum renores clamabant,
"Rudolphe, delectus es!
Cum naso rubro claro
Historia descendes!"
(this is usually printed with a question mark after "delectus es" but I don't see why it should be a question, so I've changed that to an exclamation mark)
Version 2 (translated by Harry C. Maynard?)
Rudolphus, naso rubro,
naso nitidissimo,
si umquam eum spectes,
dicas eum fulgere.
Reliqui tum renones
deridebant ludentes,
semper vetabant eum
apud ludos ludere.
Deinde ante Natalem
Santa venit, et
"Tu, Rudolphe nitide,
traham meam duc nocte."
Dein, ut renones amant,
exclamantes hilare:
"Rudolphe, naso rubro,
in annalibus eris!"
Version 3 (translated by Philip Brunelle, I think - and there's an audio download at this link, too!)
(This version uses the noun "tarandus" instead of the more usual "reno.")
Rudolphus rubrinasus
fulgentissimo naso,
vidisti et si eum
dicas quoque candere.
Omnes tarandi ceteri
ridebant vocantes nomina;
non sinebant Rudolphum
interesse ludentes.
Olim crassa nocte Christi,
Nicholas it dictum:
“Rudolphe, naso tam claro,
agesne traham meam?”
Qui tum tarandis amor
conclamantibus eum,
“Rudolphe rubrinase,
descendes historia!”
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11 comments:
Very cool I think I'll refer to you, with proper attribution in my blog.
And here's a fourth:
Rudolphus
Rudolphus cervus nasum
Rubicundum habebat
Quem si videre possis
Elucere referas.
Ludificare cervi
Deridentes solebant,
Neque sinebant eum
Comminus colludere.
Ecce! Dixit Nicholas
Pridie festum
"O Rudolphe nocte hac
Visne traham ducere?"
Quam tunc iucundus fuit
Cervis iubilantibus.
"Rudolphe," nunc dicebant.
"Notus eris posteris!"
Rufe, nasute cerve,
nasus tuus ruber stat.
immo, si vera dicam,
nasus tuus conflagrat.
omnes ad unum cervi
eum risu lacerant.
misero Rufo numquam
lascivire secum dant.
nebuloso vesperi
venit Iuppiter:
"Rufe, nitido vultu,
nonne Iovem trahes tu?'
illum nunc amant omnes.
audi quam clamaverint;
"Rufe, nasute cerve,
omnes te meminerint!"
The fourth version (by "St. Izzy") is the 'correct' version; the one we were taught by our Latin teacher in 1963 at Bexley High School in Bexley, Ohio ! I thought I would never find this again !!
YEAH!!! St. Izzy!! That's the one I remember! We translated that back in my High School Latin class in 88 or 87 and that's the EXACT translation we came up with!! Thanks! I sing it every year!!
The version from "Anonymous" is exactly the one my Latin teacher made us sing. "Rufe, nasute cerve..." etc
Fourth version is the version
Miss Niver taught us in 1979 in Exeter NH.
I think the words here are a little different, but most are the same!!!!!
Whoo HOO!!
What memories.
Exactly: it's amazing what kinds of things can "stick" from long-ago Latin. I've got a friend who will sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" (mica mica parva stella) at the drop of a hat - and she learned that in Latin class perhaps forty years ago!
Just like Dr. Sam Williams said about St. Izzy's version; it is the one we are taught in Latin class. They were taught in 1963, but in 2007 in Massachusetts we still sing this version every year on the last day before Christmas vacation.
we also sing the "correct versions" of the Little Drummer Boy, Silent Night, and The Twelve Days of Christmas.
Has anyone run across a version of this that includes the introductory lines about "You know Dasher and Dancer" etc.?
(I'll be singing the Philip Brunelle version in a small concert on Dec. 20 -- at this point we probably wouldn't lengthen it even if we found such a version, but it would be nice to know ...)
That is a great question, Jonathan. I know from reading Harrius Potter in Latin that coming up with good names in a list like that is a REAL challenge in Latin (like the names of Mrs. Figg's cats, for example). I've tried to publicize this blog through the Latin teaching folks online in hopes of collecting ALL the translations people might be using. It would be GREAT if someone had a version like that in Latin they could contribute! :-)
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