Song no. 47 from the collection Chants populaires de la Provence by Damase Arbaud (1814-1876), published in 1862. Public domain. The text follows Arbaud's own spelling, which predates the Félibrige standard, and is reproduced unchanged.
Text
English translation of the full text forthcoming.
Notes
A piece presented by Arbaud as being of Italian origin, inserted among the Provençal serenades to show the kinship, between the Provençal and Italian traditions, of the device comparing the beloved woman to a different flower in each verse. The text kept in the "texte_prov" field is in fact the original Italian, left unchanged by Arbaud; it has been translated into French from the Italian for this edition. The first couplet threatens to steal the girl away if she is not given in marriage; the second, subtitled "Fior di ginestra" (broom flower), explains that the mother withholds this marriage to keep her daughter by her. Arbaud relates this kind of serenade to Italian, Corsican, Greek, and Romanian folk songs, as well as to Christine de Pisan's "Gieux à vendre".
Notable words
| Provençal | French |
|---|---|
| ruberò | je déroberai (italien, futur de rubare) |
| ginestra | genêt (italien) |
| finestra | fenêtre (italien) |
| apposta | exprès, à dessein (italien) |
Glosses are given in French, as delivered by our lexicographic source; an English gloss is not yet available for these words.
Source: Damase Arbaud, Chants populaires de la Provence, 1862, song no. 47. Public domain. Digitization: https://archive.org/details/chantspopulaire00arbagoog. Transcription and formatting by Lingua Nostra.