A Carol in the Original Klingon: Personent Hodie

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Personent hodie
Words: Latin from 12th Century, German from 14th century (several sources give the date of 1360), from Piae Cantiones, 1582

1. Personent hodie
voces puerulae,
laudantes iucunde
qui nobis est natus,
summo Deo datus,
et de virgineo ventre procreatus.

2. in mundo nascitur,
pannis involvitur
praesepi ponitur
stabulo brutorum,
rector supernorum.
perdidit spolia princeps infernorum.

3. magi tres venerunt,
parvulum inquirunt,
parvulum inquirunt,
stellulam sequendo,
ipsum adorando,
aurum, thus, et myrrham ei offerendo.

4. omnes clericuli,
pariter pueri,
cantent ut angeli:
advenisti mundo,
laudes tibi fundo.
ideo gloria in excelsis Deo.


On This Day Earth Shall Ring
words: "Personent Hodie" from Piae Cantiones, 1582
translated by Jane M. Joseph (1894-1929)

On this day earth shall ring
with the song children sing
to the Lord, Christ our King,
born on earth to save us;
him the Father gave us.

Refrain:
Id-e-o-o-o, id-e-o-o-o,
Id-e-o gloria in excelsis Deo!


His the doom, ours the mirth;
when he came down to earth,
Bethlehem saw his birth;
ox and ass beside him
from the cold would hide him.


God's bright star, o'er his head,
Wise Men three to him led;
kneel they low by his bed,
lay their gifts before him,
praise him and adore him.


On this day angels sing;
with their song earth shall ring,
praising Christ, heaven's King,
born on earth to save us;
peace and love he gave us.





I'm just kidding about the title of this entry. I quite like the English version, and I sing both happily. This is a lovely, rousing, percussive hymn,and it makes a good work song.

But you know me and Latin. I actually translated part of this once, for Latin class.

Comments

[tibicina.livejournal.com]

You know... having sung both, but never actually done a side-by-side comparison... I hadn't previously realized just how loose that translation was. Still.. I like both. And we're doing a setting of this on Christmas morning with the choir and bells.

[petronelle.livejournal.com]

That's not the translation I know. The translation I know ends the first verse with "Virgin born, born, born, virgin born, born, born / Virgin born on that morn, procreated for us" and starts the last verse with "Man and boy, join in joy / Sing as heav'n sings for joy."

I like my translation.