Almeomusica

[sasasha]

Just to mention that I’ve had a chest infection and been too busy IRL but will post some updates soon. Thanks zomp for the roundup of new musical vocab - I like the Kebreni calques!

[Raphael]

Just to mention that I’ve had a chest infection and been too busy IRL but will post some updates soon. Thanks zomp for the roundup of new musical vocab - I like the Kebreni calques!

Get better!

[sasasha]

Just to mention that I’ve had a chest infection and been too busy IRL but will post some updates soon. Thanks zomp for the roundup of new musical vocab - I like the Kebreni calques!

Get better!

Thank you!

[keenir]

Just to mention that I’ve had a chest infection and been too busy IRL but will post some updates soon. Thanks zomp for the roundup of new musical vocab - I like the Kebreni calques!

keep safe and may your recovery be uneventful.

[hwhatting]

Gute Besserung!

[sasasha]

Gute Besserung!

keep safe and may your recovery be uneventful.

Thank you for the wellwishes! I’m feeling much better and back at choir... which, given that it’s
Holy Week in the Church of England where I work, has partly prompted the following translations of the 3rd or 4th century Greek hymn Phos Hilaron (also known as the Lamp-Lighting Hymn). No religious compunction intended ‒ just Almeology!

From somewhat limited but compelling enough research, I’d suggest that the Elenicoi would likely have known the original hymn ‒ interestingly, it is the only complete non-scriptural hymn from an early enough date to qualify, and it seems to have been known widely across the early Christian world and already to have been considered old in the 4th century.

There is a suggestion that early Christian groups kept a single candle flame burning perpetually in the tomb of Christ in Jerusalem, and the tradition of lamp-lighting at evening stems from the conceptual spreading of this flame. Perhaps this practice came over with the Elenicoi... This is my excuse for adding, in the versified version, the word sula ‘single’ (which was, mainly, useful for the alliteration ‒ I’m very open to other suggestions on this and other points!). I‘m not sure about the way emphasising the single flame here steals focus from the celestial image, though I think it is possible that that is the intention in the original composition.

I also added a curiosity in the prior line: we haven’t just come to the setting of the sun, but to “this sun elsewhere”. (This involves a potentially dodgy use of telcë, normally an adverb.) The Almean version of this Elenicoi tradition seems to reference their displacement and the Miracle of the Translation... With this aspect of direct perspective, as a liturgical text, it might be revered as the song of one (or all) of the early faithful, much as the Song of Mary and Song of Simeon are used regularly in liturgy today/thisworld.

I am working on Érenati and Eleďe music in general, but what musical form this may assume is yet unknown, and likewise whether or not there is any plausible connection with later-attested musical setting of the Greek text. I wanted a Verdurian text first...

I feel my versification is rather clumsy with repetition used simply to satisfy the alliteration. I’m very much open to suggestion (and/or correction!). The really cool thing would be to have the text in Old Verdurian / Avélan ... If zomp would like to bite that apple, please be my guest!

Finally, I’m away next week and will try to get some more work presented! I’ve been working quite haphazardly while I’ve been ill but trying to re-establish some order!


🝮

Greek original:

Φῶς ἱλαρὸν ἁγίας δόξης ἀθανάτου Πατρός,
οὐρανίου, ἁγίου, μάκαρος, Ἰησοῦ Χριστέ,
ἐλθόντες ἐπὶ τὴν ἡλίου δύσιν, ἰδόντες φῶς ἑσπερινόν,
ὑμνοῦμεν Πατέρα, Υἱόν, καὶ ἅγιον Πνεῦμα, Θεόν.
Ἄξιόν σε ἐν πᾶσι καιροῖς ὑμνεῖσθαι φωναῖς αἰσίαις,
Υἱὲ Θεοῦ, ζωὴν ὁ διδούς· διὸ ὁ κόσμος σὲ δοξάζει.

Phôs hilaròn hagías dóxēs, athanátou Patrós,
ouraníou, hagíou, mákaros, Iēsoû Christé,
elthóntes epì tḕn hēlíou dýsin, idóntes phôs hesperinón,
hymnoûmen Patéra, Hyión, kaì Hágion Pneûma, Theón.
Áxión se en pâsi kairoîs hymneîsthai phōnaîs aisíais,
Hyiè Theoû, zoḕn ho didoús, diò ho kósmos sè doxázei.

🝮

Literal English (merci à Wikipedia):

O Light gladsome of the holy glory of the Immortal Father,
the Heavenly, the Holy, the Blessed, O Jesus Christ,
having come upon the setting of the sun, having seen the light of the evening,
we praise the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit: God.
Worthy it is at all times to praise Thee in joyful voices,
O Son of God, Giver of Life, for which the world glorifies Thee.

🝮

English verse translation (John Keble):

Hail, gladdening Light, of His pure glory poured
Who is the immortal Father, heavenly, blest,
Holiest of Holies, Jesus Christ our Lord!

Now we are come to the sun’s hour of rest;
The lights of evening round us shine;
We hymn the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit divine!

Worthiest art Thou at all times to be sung
With undefiled tongue,
Son of our God, Giver of life, alone:
Therefore in all the world
Thy glories, Lord, they own.

🝮

Verdurian ‒ literal:

Ä zula selta, soei nëronei bracei soán Řourisen Piron,
so Oränise, so Nëron, so Benul, Iesu Krist,

Ya žannam ad zakatán [Ënomain], ya lelnam soa selta vëčerei,
Eglérom Iain, Eleď, er Itian Nëron, Aď.

Valec e, pro tësen diďen eř eglérec ab lerežen vuén,
Ä Meď Aďán, Donec Elirei, pro kion Almea eř estae.

🝮

Verdurian ‒ verse (sulirulî):

Ä zula selta, | selta cuelzulë
i so nëron brac | soán Řourisen Piron,
so͜ Oränise, so Nëron, | Iesu Krist so Benul.

Ya žannam zakatán | ci-telcen Ënomain,
Ya lelnam soa sula | selta vëčerei,
Nun eglérom Iain, | Eleď, er Itian
Nëron, Aď imanul, | an imanul Aď.

Valec e, nibkiam | er vremya eř eglérec,
ab lerežen vúen, | Elirei Donec,
Ä le Meď Aďán, | ket Almea estae.

Žescó.

🝮

Back translation of Verdurian verse translation:

Oh joyful light, light gathering joy,
of the holy glory of the Eternal Father,
the Heavenly, the Holy, Jesus Christ the Blessed.

We have come to the setting of this ‘elsewhere sun’,
We have seen the lone light of evening,
Now we praise Iáinos, Eleď and the Spirit
Holy, God united, one united God.

Worthy [it] is, anytime and thenceforth thee to praise,
with happy voices, of Life the Giver,
Oh, thou Son of God whom the world exalts.

Amen.

[zompist]

I'm just going to look at the verse translation. Your Verdurian is good, the problem is the alliteration. You really want to avoid alliterating on the same word.

Ä zula selta, | selta cuelzulë

Maybe "Ä syelë selta, cuelzulë (er) čistë"

i so nëron brac | soán Řourisen Piron,
so͜ Oränise, so Nëron, | Iesu Krist so Benul.

I'm not fond of the r/Cr alliteration... but you have Řourisen / Oränise with r, and brac / Krist with Cr. See if you can rearrange these?

Ya žannam zakatán | ci-telcen Ënomain,

How about orestán instead of telcan?

Ya lelnam soa sula | selta vëčerei,
Nun eglérom Iain, | Eleď, er Itian
Nëron, Aď imanul, | an imanul Aď.

Maybe perë / ireste ('whole / supreme')?

Valec e, nibkiam | er vremya eř eglérec,
ab lerežen vúen, | Elirei Donec,
Ä le Meď Aďán, | ket Almea estae.

No problems here!

[sasasha]

I'm just going to look at the verse translation. Your Verdurian is good, the problem is the alliteration. You really want to avoid alliterating on the same word.

Ä zula selta, | selta cuelzulë

Maybe "Ä syelë selta, cuelzulë (er) čistë"

The original line is ambiguous as to whether it is referring to a celestial light or a candle, which would be nice to preserve. But perhaps ‘celestial’ might be used of a holy candle flame?

I’ll adopt your suggestion, though, for now.

i so nëron brac | soán Řourisen Piron,
so͜ Oränise, so Nëron, | Iesu Krist so Benul.

I'm not fond of the r/Cr alliteration... but you have Řourisen / Oränise with r, and brac / Krist with Cr. See if you can rearrange these?

Ok, maybe:

i so nëron brac | i Iesu Krist so Benul,
so Oränise, so Nëron, | so Řourise Piro.

Ya žannam zakatán | ci-telcen Ënomain,

How about orestán instead of telcan?

Ok, though isn’t it a bit odd for Eleďî to suggest that theirs is the ‘true’ sun? ... But perhaps it’s just a bit of vague flattery towards Ënomai.

Ya lelnam soa sula | selta vëčerei,
Nun eglérom Iain, | Eleď, er Itian
Nëron, Aď imanul, | an imanul Aď.

Maybe perë / ireste ('whole / supreme')?

In the last line of the quote? Like:

Nëron, Aď perë, | an ireste Aď.

I like that just fine!

To amalgamate your suggestions:

Ä syelë selta, | cuelzulë er čistë,
i so nëron brac | i Iesu Krist so Benul,
so Oränise, so Nëron, | so Řourise Piro.

Ya žannam zakatán | ci-orestán Ënomain,
Ya lelnam soa sula | selta vëčerei,
Nun eglérom Iain, | Eleď, er Itian
Nëron, Aď perë, | an ireste Aď.

Valec e, nibkiam | er vremya eř eglérec,
ab lerežen vúen, | Elirei Donec,
Ä le Meď Aďán, | ket Almea estae.

[zompist]

How about orestán instead of telcan?

Ok, though isn’t it a bit odd for Eleďî to suggest that theirs is the ‘true’ sun? ... But perhaps it’s just a bit of vague flattery towards Ënomai.

Orest means 'true' but also 'loyal'. So it's aimed at Calto worshippers: look, the sun is not a god, but a loyal vassal of the real god.

[sasasha]

How about orestán instead of telcan?

Ok, though isn’t it a bit odd for Eleďî to suggest that theirs is the ‘true’ sun? ... But perhaps it’s just a bit of vague flattery towards Ënomai.

Orest means 'true' but also 'loyal'. So it's aimed at Calto worshippers: look, the sun is not a god, but a loyal vassal of the real god.

Ah, ok, that makes sense!

Would it be strange to add ya in the last line (ket Almea ya estae) ‒ it’s not exactly a perfective meaning I’d be going for, but more the kind of intent that it will be perfective...?

[zompist]

Would it be strange to add ya in the last line (ket Almea ya estae) ‒ it’s not exactly a perfective meaning I’d be going for, but more the kind of intent that it will be perfective...?

Sure. I think it'd be taken as future perfect. (Also, don't tell the non-poets, but it's just the sort of word you can add for metrical reasons whether it's meaningful or not.)

[sasasha]

Would it be strange to add ya in the last line (ket Almea ya estae) ‒ it’s not exactly a perfective meaning I’d be going for, but more the kind of intent that it will be perfective...?

Sure. I think it'd be taken as future perfect. (Also, don't tell the non-poets, but it's just the sort of word you can add for metrical reasons whether it's meaningful or not.)

Perfect. And don’t worry, ya secret’s safe with me.

I realised I had got the meaning a bit confused in the first stanza. It’s not Iesu Krist, the light, that is being described by the string of adjectives, but the Eternal Father from whom that light is emanating.

So I have reworked it a little, and swapped Benulán (‘blessed’) for Inyen (‘kind’) for mainly metrical reasons, thinking there is a semantic harmony to them although they have somewhat opposite meanings. I also tried swapping out sula for sfaisä (‘dutiful’) to extend the image zomp suggested re the sun, and the light in general which is being praised, being seen as loyal to God or a loyal part of God, rather than a deity in itself.

I think it’s seeming like a liturgical text now, and seems a plausible development of the Greek original adapted slightly to an Almean context... Though any more suggestions are gratefully received!

(Tiny query ‒ in some Verdurian texts, e.g. The Lord of the News, is to be found a punctuation mark transcribed as ⟨--⟩. Is this in general use? I’ve been avoiding our uses of dashes and plumping usually for a kešaš ‒ but this dash-like thing is probably useful! Does it have a name?)


Ä syelë selta

Ä syelë selta, | cuelzulë er čistë,
i so nëron brac-- | ä Iesu Krist-- soán Inyen,
Oränisen er Nëronán, | soán Řourisen Piron.

Ya žannam zakatán | ci-orestán Ënomain,
Ya lelnam soa sfaisä | selta vëčerei,
Nun eglérom Iain, | Eleď, er Itian
Nëron, Aď perë, | an ireste Aď.

Valec e, nibkiam | er vremya eř eglérec,
ab lerežen vúen, | Elirei Donec,
Ä le Meď Aďán, | ket Almea ya estae.

Žescó.

*

Literal translation:

O celestial light, effervescently joyous and pure,
of the holy glory ‒ O Jesus Christ ‒ of the Kind,
the Heavenly and Holy, the Immortal Father.

We have come to the setting of this loyal sun,
We have seen the dutiful light of evening,
Now we praise Iáinos, Eleď, and the Holy
Spirit, God entire, one supreme God.

Worthy it is, at any time and thenceforth, to praise Thee,
with happy voices, Giver of Life,
O Thou Son of God, whom all Almea shall exalt.

Amen.

[zompist]

I'll look at the text a bit later!

(Tiny query ‒ in some Verdurian texts, e.g. The Lord of the News, is to be found a punctuation mark transcribed as ⟨--⟩. Is this in general use? I’ve been avoiding our uses of dashes and plumping usually for a kešaš ‒ but this dash-like thing is probably useful! Does it have a name?)

Um, I'm afraid you'll have to take that as a kešaš. That's an old page, written pre-Unicode. The font does have a short dash but that's mostly so the text would look OK in very old texts, where I had the old typist's habit of using -- for a dash.

If you need more punctuation, I suggest looking at the computer encodings document on my Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/character-87767943

Basically, anything that would have been available on an Eretaldan typewriter ended up in the encoding. There are a couple characters that might be of use-- the middle dot; also the semicolon. Unfortunately it's not in the font yet and I can't guarantee it will look like it does in the table. But you can assume there is something with the function of a semicolon.

[sasasha]

Ok, great!

Another alternative arrangement for the first stanza:

Ä syelë selta, | cuelzulë er čistë,
i so nëron brac, | ä Iesu Krist, so Benul,
Oränise er Nëron, | soán Řourisen Piron.

Here so Benul, Oränise er Nëron refers to Iesu Krist, being also the selta, and the other phrase is reduced to ‘of the holy glory of the Eternal Father’.

[zompist]

OK, your Verdurian is correct!

As a reminder, this being poetry, you can rearrange words if necessary to fit the meter.