Song no. 2 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
This bedtime prayer strings together a series of protective invocations: the seven angels watching over the bed, the Good Mother reassuring against beasts and evildoers, the formula warding off the witch, then a rosary of saints (the Chalice, John, Luke, Mark, Matthew, Denis, Joseph, Anne) each invoked for a specific protection. The genre is that of the popular evening prayer, recited before sleep. Several lines bear traces of OCR mutilation, flagged below.
Notable words
| Provençal | French |
|---|---|
| masco | sorcière |
| ragi | rage (maladie transmise par la morsure) |
| capet | tête (mot dont Arbaud dit qu'il ne se trouve dans aucun lexique) |
| boueno mero | bonne mère, la Vierge |
| calici | calice |
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. 2. Public domain. Digitization: https://archive.org/details/chantspopulaire00arbagoog. Transcription and formatting by Lingua Nostra.