Translations into Cerstan
Below are various translations from English into Cerstan, the majority being interlinear. The contents of this page may change abruptly: as I find mistakes, or change aspects of my grammar, the translations will also change.
- My Jesus Loves Me (children's song)
- Ring inscription
- Chorus from "Stolen Child"
- Children's prayer
Hymns and Other Christian Choruses
My Jesus Loves Me (children's song)
Cristo nesarin, socénne straning
Cristo ne-sarin, so-cén-ne stran-ing
Christ 1SF-agape.love, 3SI-know-1SF truth-INS
Cristo nesarin, nesarin zha
Cristo ne-sarin, ne-sarin zha
Christ 1SF-agape.love, 1SF-agape.love even
Stalénél mérane, Cristo nesarin
Stalén-él méra-ne, Cristo ne-sarin
future-LOC sing-1SF, Christ 1SF-agape.love
Cristo nesarin, nesarin zha
Cristo ne-sarin, ne-sarin zha
Christ 1SF-agape.love, 1SF-agape.love even/indeed
English original:
My Jesus loves me, I'm glad to sing it
My Jesus loves me, loves even me
And so I'll sing again, my Jesus loves me
My Jesus loves me, loves even me
Note: This one was specifically translated, not to have an accurate translation, but to produce a Cerstaní verse for a song which already has verses in at least four languages I know of (original German, as well as English, French, and Spanish). Though Cerstaní music allows for some leeway with stress on sung words, the best lyrics are those which follow all stress patterns in the words, and this translation is close to that.
Tolkien
Ring inscription
Ce-ñeri yéns dashoth, ce-ñeri tacas,
Ce-ñeri gavi dashoth, dûrasan tarén.
One Ring to rule them all, one Ring to find them;
One Ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them.
Loreena McKennitt lyrics
Chorus to "Stolen Child"
Açica mandad, nastu gadan
Açi-ca man-da-d, nastu ga-dan
Come-IMP place-this-ABL, ACC\child having-humanity
Ghushcet zwoladanas
Ghushce-t zwoladan-as
water-ALL wilderness-COM
yénitas dero cotésas
yénit-as dero cotés-as
fairy-COM hand same-COM
Sam Veran tara-ish
Sam Veran tara-ish
because NOM\Earth weep-more
Ey-iscala hwésta.
Ey-isca-la hwésta.
than-can-2SM intimately.understand.
English original:
Come away, oh human child
To the waters and the wild
With a faery hand in hand
For the world's more full of weeping
Than ye can understand.
Note: This one posed a slight problem, in that the poem clearly says "child", and not boy, yet the only possibilities for pronouns are masculine, feminine, and inanimate. Though elsewhere in the original poem (and her lyrics) the child is referred to as "he", I decided to translate it as child, which does not convey gender, but to represent the pronoun as masculine, as also would be done in the case of multiple children (whose genders would be unknown in the noun, yet specified in the pronoun).
Miscellaneous
Children's prayer
(found on a Wonderworks video)
Mathua, Marco, Luco, Jona-si
Mathua, Marco, Luco, Jona-si
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John-and
Prasca baño cre hûtane zorédh
Pras-ca baño cre hûta-ne zor-édh
Bless-IMP ACC\bed which lie-1SF ACC\3SI-SUP
Hét-dathozén paño-neí can
Hét-d<ath>ozén paño-neí can
Four-ACC\<PL>corner NOM\bed-1SF.GEN have
Hét-rathôcam cradhec-neí ménta
Hét-r<ath>ôcam cradhe-c-neí ménta
Four-ACC\<PL>messenger head-CPER-1SF.GEN exist/are located
Ce shûl, ce chwia
Ce shûl, ce chwia
One watch, one pray
Li-si mehyon ninos-neí mandad.
Li-si mehyon ninos-neí man-da-d.
Two-and carry soul-1SF.GEN place-this-ABL.
English translation:
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John
Bless the bed I lie upon
Four corners to my bed
Four angels round my head
One to watch, one to pray
And two to carry my soul away.
Note: I used the feminine version of the pronoun because I am female, but it could easily be converted to masculine. This translation I'm still pondering, for a few places. The main one is the use of "cradhec" versus "cradher". The -(a)r is the adessive case, meaning "location near", whereas the -(o)c is the circumperlative case, indicating movement around. For now I'm keeping the meaning of movement, hinting that the angels are actually moving about the girl's head, but if I figure out that simply having them near her head is a better translation of what the poem really means, I'll switch it.