Song no. 43 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 cumulative dialogue song, close to a children's round or counting song, built on the refrain "Ga limousin" and on playful, largely nonsensical words ("Begoun, beguin"). A girl married to a goatherd loses the goat she was tending, and a shepherd finds it. A haggling scene follows: the shepherd offers his heart for a cheese, the girl prefers to keep the cheese and calls him a fool. Each verse repeats the last line of the one before, a device typical of cumulative songs.
Notable words
| Provençal | French |
|---|---|
| cabrier | chevrier |
| dounado | donnée |
| gardar | garder |
| froumagi | fromage |
| couyoun | nigaud, sot |
| trinca | trinquer, boire |
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. 43. Public domain. Digitization: https://archive.org/details/chantspopulaire00arbagoog. Transcription and formatting by Lingua Nostra.