Ej heh nemohla jich rozcesat, do venecka zapletat

English translation: >>>see explanation

11:13 Feb 20, 2007

Slovak to English translations [PRO]
Music / Lyric translation

Slovak term or phrase: Ej heh nemohla jich rozcesat, do venecka zapletat

Another last line of a song about a young woman who used to sit on a bridge over swift water brushing her hair. But the last line about braids...well, I'm not sure how it all works, but if someone interprets this literally it might shed some light on the weaker translation I have already.

AbraCol KudoZ activity Questions: 25 (none open) (3 closed without grading) Answers: 0
Local time: 16:22

English translation:>>>see explanation

Explanation:
It's simple - "... she could not get her hair combed and braided...", in other words her hair was frizzy/tangled. As an additional explanation - in folk music this lyrics might refer to the girl's personality - she had "let her hair down", was a bit of a wild girl, she was not submissive or had been in some kind of a struggle...

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Note added at 23 hrs (2007-02-21 10:28:50 GMT)
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Your translation is pretty good, I am not a musician so cannot tell how the lyrics woud fit in with the music though.
You cannot take folk music on face value, in most cultures music in the previous centuries carried subtle sentiments and in this case the notion of hidden feminism is obvious! OK, now I got carried away :-) What I'm saying that there was an unspoken message in most of any music of any culture, until the punk rockers came in the latter half of last century...! Interpretation of music and lyrics is highly subjective and dependent on each person's state of mind, emotions, personality, experiences and background.

Selected response from:

Lubosh Hanuska
Australia
Local time: 09:22

Grading comment

Thanks.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

4 +2

>>>see explanation

Lubosh Hanuska

.. she was not able to comb out her hairs and weave them into chaplet / garland ...

Peter Hladky

she could not comb her hair >

Maria Chmelarova

Answers

37 mins confidence:

.. she was not able to comb out her hairs and weave them into chaplet / garland ...

Explanation:
Chaplet / garland in connection with young girl has often meaning of virginity. To lose virginity is often expressed in Slovak / Czech folk songs like to lose green chaplet / garland.

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Note added at 48 mins (2007-02-20 12:01:21 GMT)
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She maybe lost her virginity and that was reason why she could not weave her hairs into chaplet / garland. There is often only allusion in Slovak folk songs and ballads of something what happened. Maybe she was thinking on jumping into water beacause of loosing virginity if her lover left her.

Peter Hladky
Slovakia
Local time: 01:22
Native speaker of:

Slovak
PRO pts in category: 16

Notes to answerer

Asker: It could be possible there's a suggestion of this, but really I think that would be beyond the intention of this simple song, from what I can tell from the rest of it. But then again, the music is very moody and atonal in sections so it could be. I'm going to keep this one open for a little while longer.

29 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

>>>see explanation

Lubosh Hanuska
Australia
Local time: 09:22
Native speaker of:

English,

Slovak
PRO pts in category: 8

Grading comment

Thanks.

Notes to answerer

Asker: Interesting addition to the possible sentiment. I'm not sure if I should just take this song on face value or if there is some type of metaphor involved. The translation might indicate it's just a memory: The translation I have goes like this: Swift water left the banks covering all the bridges...leaving a single one, the one where my love used to linger...where she used to sit brushing her hair of gold... she couldn't disentangle them; she couldn't braid them into a wreath... So perhaps it's just an image of a memory and that is all. (?) There could possibly be an allusion to something, or maybe there's nothing else there. The music is extraordinarily enchanting, but the lyrics don't say as much as I had hoped.

4 hrs confidence:

she could not comb her hair >

Explanation:
> and braid them into hair garland

her doing so, has nothing to do with her virginity in this song,

only if it is mentioned as (she lost her white garlad...biely venček)

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Note added at 1 day1 hr (2007-02-21 12:53:05 GMT)
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In this song, in my opinion is no metaphorical meaning.

Maria Chmelarova
Local time: 19:22
Native speaker of: Slovak
PRO pts in category: 6

Notes to answerer

Asker: I didn't think it was alluding to a loss of virginity, but I'm still not sure how metaphorical it is.

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