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Provençal song

The King's Nurse

In Provençal: LA NOURRIÇO DOOU REI

Song no. 19 Damase Arbaud, 1862

Song no. 19 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

Lou rei a ’no nourriço Plus belo que lou jour, Lou rei a ’no nourrico, Loun lan fa de la lireto, Plus belo que lou jour, Liroun lan fa de la lira. Elo s'es endourmido Lou Dauphin au coustat, Mai quand s’es revelhado, L'’a trouvat estouffat. N'en pren sa courbelheto Les pedas vai lavar. Lou rei qu'es en fenestro La regardo passar : — Et ounte vas, nourriço, Que Dauphin plourara ? —N'aguetzpas poou,mounmesire, , Jou l'ai ben malhoutat. — Entouerno-te, nourrico, Servanto l’y anara. La nourriço s’entouerno : Plourant et souspirant. — Mai que n'as-tu, nourrice, Que sies tant estounad’ ? — Pardoun, pardoun, beou sire, Vous l'auge pa” avonar. — Ah ! digo tout, nourrico, Te sera pardounat. — Jou me siou endourmido Lou Dauphin an coustat, Quand me siou revelhado L’ai trouvat estouffat. Au bout de tres quart d’houros La mandoun pendourar. Quand es sur la poutenci Dauphin s’es revelhat : — N'en pendetz pas ma maire Que l’a pas meritat ; _Pendetz n'en la servanto Que m'avie 'mpouisounat, Pendelz n’en la servanto, Loun lan fa de la lireto, Que m'avie ‘mpouisounat, Liroun:lan fa de la lira.

English translation of the full text forthcoming.

Notes

This lament tells of the king's nurse, who falls asleep beside the Dauphin left in her care and finds him smothered on waking. Questioned by the king, she confesses the truth and is led to the gallows. At the moment of execution, the Dauphin awakens, begs mercy for the woman he calls his mother, and names the servant as the true poisoner. The narrative is punctuated by a refrain of vocables without lexical meaning, typical of traditional song. The text carries several footnote calls in Arbaud's edition, whose content is not present in the OCR source available here.

Notable words

ProvençalFrench
nourriçonourrice
poutencipotence
courbelhetopetite corbeille, panier
estouffatétouffé
malhoutatemmailloté
liretovocable de refrain, sans sens lexical

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. 19. Public domain. Digitization: https://archive.org/details/chantspopulaire00arbagoog. Transcription and formatting by Lingua Nostra.

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