spring is sprung!

[klewlis]

we're two days away from april and today is the nicest yet this year... it's 21C right now, gorgeous (that's 70F). and they are of course forecasting snow for tomorrow, so everyone is out enjoying today while they can.

I wore sandals and a tank top for the first time this year, and it was fantastic. Of course I had to walk to the nearest Sev and get a turtles icecream bar in celebration of spring. ;)

There was a proliferation of children all over the place, rollerblading, playing basketball, and playing with remote control monster trucks. There were old couples sitting on benches, midriff-baring 14 year olds with rollerblades and cell phones, and college students sitting outside doing homework.

There were also two cats very much in heat--but seemingly unwilling to do anything about it. Instead they just sat and meowed at each other (maybe they're both female... ).

lol. I love spring.

[JuliaP]

Oh, I'm just waiting for our first day like that! It hasn't been much warmer than 50 F here yet, but the snow's almost gone, the days are getting longer and the daylight itself is noticeably brighter. My Dad has tapped a couple of his maple trees, but the sap is only a trickle as yet. I'm anxious for warmer days so I can get out on the local walking trail, and photograph Spring unfolding.

[annis]

ἦλθ’, ἦλθε χελιδών, καλὰς ὥρας ἄγουσα, καλοὺς ἐνιαυτούς, ἐπὶ γαστέρα λευκά, ἐπὶ νῶτα μέλαινα. παλάθαν σὺ προκύκλει ἐκ πίονος οὔκου, οἴνου τε δέπαστρον, τυρῶν τε κάνυστρον.

"She has come, the swallow has come,
leading good times
and good years,
white upon her belly,
black upon her back.

"Roll out the sweet cake
from a rich house,
and a goblet of wine,
and a basket of cheeses."


Perhaps I should work up the full thing for Aoidoi.

[Emma_85]

Well, we have had some nice sunny days... tuesday was warm and the sun was out .

[PeterD]

ἐπὶ γαστέρα λευκά, ἐπὶ νῶτα μέλαινα.

Hi Annis, wonderful poem. I'm curious; why is γαστέρα in the singular and νῶτα in the plural. Thanks.

[klewlis]

ἐπὶ γαστέρα λευκά, ἐπὶ νῶτα μέλαινα.

Hi Annis, wonderful poem. I'm curious; why is γαστέρα in the singular and νῶτα in the plural. Thanks.

middle liddel simply says: "the plural nwta often used for the sing., like Lat. terga". must be idiomatic. :)

[annis]

Perhaps I should work up the full thing for Aoidoi.

And so I have. Giant PDF here.

[mingshey]

I nearly missed this pretty poem, since my network had a mysterious problem for a while.
May I sing this to my baby with a random melody?


P.S.
because lentils(of which lekithites is made) is not well known in Korea, I had to browse the web for a while to see what it looks like. And now I see it is what lens is named after. I looked up to see if it has a Korean name. And it had. Kachikong or Jebikong was it. (kong is the word for bean, Kachi is magpie, and Jebi is swallow, and this lentils bread appears in a song about swallow in Greek -- what a coincidence!, or is it not ?)

[annis]

I nearly missed this pretty poem, since my network had a mysterious problem for a while.
May I sing this to my baby with a random melody?

You may if you wish, though if you look at the PDF you'll see that the song gets a bit aggressive after the "happy happy spring spring!" part.

because lentils(of which lekithites is made) is not well known in Korea, I had to browse the web for a while to see what it looks like. And now I see it is what lens is named after. I looked up to see if it has a Korean name. And it had. Kachikong or Jebikong was it. (kong is the word for bean, Kachi is magpie, and Jebi is swallow, and this lentils bread appears in a song about swallow in Greek -- what a coincidence!, or is it not ?)

That is very interesting! Several of the food words in the poem don't occur very often at all, so I'm suspicious of all the translations, especially the "fruit cake," a food that has very ominous - or at least annoying - associations in the U.S.

[mingshey]

You may if you wish, though if you look at the PDF you'll see that the song gets a bit aggressive after the "happy happy spring spring!" part.

We have such kind of aggresiveness in a sand song of children.
you put your hand on a sand and put a couple of handful of sand on your hand and tab it softly to harden while singing:

Dukoba dukoba (toad, oh toad)
honjib julke saejib dao(I'll give you an old house, give me a new house) -- (bold face: high tone, italic: lowered tone)

And draw your hand out slowly to get a tiny den of sand.
The song sounds quite aggresive, but the toad here whose home is taken away is nothing but your own hand.