Re: OT: Brazilian Portuguese help (LONG, sorry)

Roger Mills wrote:

Hi!
> For years I've been enjoying a CD of songs from the Nordeste-- one in
> particular because of the singer's incredible sound and technique. I could
> only understand a few of the words, however, and only recently did it occur
> to me to hunt up the lyrics online :-(
>
> I know there is no special requirement that song lyrics should make sense,
> but there are a number of words and locutions that my limited knowledge of
> Port. (based entirely on knowledge of Spanish and a bit of linguistic
> history) can't quite handle.
>
> ROMARIA [Pilgrimage] as sung by ELIS REGINA-- Apparently written by one
> "Texeira" (there are online recordings, which I highly recommend)
>
> É de sonho e de pó---  it is from/of dream and dust
> o destino de um só---  the destiny of one alone
> feito eu perdido em pensamentos sobre o meu cavalo---
>    made I/me lost in thoughts on my horse
> É de laço e de nó
> de gibeira o jiló dessa vida
> Cumprida a sol.
>
> Questions: does feito in line 3 go with É in line one "the destiny ... is
> made of dream and dust...etc"??  Then what does eu in line 3 go with?  The
> last 3 lines are a mystery; I know laço and nó, but gibeira isn't in any
> dictionary. Jiló apparently is a bitter vegetable, and probably a symbol for
> the bitterness of life (..dessa vida). Cumprida a sol ---????
>
I would translate like this: It's [made] from dream and dust / the
destiny of one alone / like myself, lost in thoughts (about / on : ) )
my horse / It's [by] lace and knot / and purse that the bitterness of
this life [is made] / fulfilled with Sun (fulfilled by enduring the Sun,
so I understand).

I'm not smart trying to understand that kind of
non-compacted-by-the-dust-of-centuries Portuguese. "Cumprida a sol"... I
think it's the instrument of the fulfillment of life, even more in
Northeast, where shadow is quite rare...
> Refrain:
> Sou caipira pira pora Nossa Senhora de Aparecida---
>    I'm a [peasant,hillbilly] ...? for Our Lady of Aparecida (the Virgin
> Patroness of Brazil, so I learn).
>
It's a vocative: I'm a hillbilly, o Our Lady of Aparecida,

Pirapora is used like an onomatopoeia, strengthening the meaning of
his/her hillbilliness : ).
> Ilumina a mina escura e funda o trem da minha vida---
>    (she?) illuminates the dark mine and establishes? the train/course? of my
> life
>
May you (thou?) illuminate (st??) the dark mine, and establish the
course of my life
> (repeated)
>    What is _pira_? just a repeat of the end of caipira (which has other
> meanings too)?
>    What is the (grammatical) connection between _dark mine_ and _train of my
> life_?? Do I have that line right???
>
That is indeed hard to get : ). It could be 'a mina escura e funda' the
mine dark and deep, the course of my life. Here it could be an...
apposite of predication, I have no idea of the correct nomenclature in
English: He, *that is my friend*, is going to the woods.
> O meu pai foi peão, minha mãe solidão---
>    my father was ....? my mother solitude
>
cowboy. The meaning is derogatory...
> Meus irmãos perderam-se na vida em busca de aventuras---
>    my brothers got lost in life in search of adventures
> Descansei, joguei, investí, desistí---
>    I rested(trusted?), I played(gambled?), I invested(attacked?), I
> stopped(gave up?)
> Se há sorte, eu não sei, nunca ví---
>    If there's luck, I don't know, I never saw (it)
>
It's all about luck: I rested, I gambled, I invested, I gave up. If
there is any luck, I don't know, as I never saw it. Reminds me of Julius
Caesar ; )
> (Refrain)
>
> Me disseram porém, que eu viesse aquí---
>    they told me however, that I should come here
> Pra pedir de romaria e prece paz nos desaventos---
>  to [make a pilgrimage?] and pray (for?) peace in (misfortunes?)
>
Prepositions are a mess: to ask through pilgrimage and prayer (the verb
for prayer is 'orar', 'rezar') for peace in... something : ) I couldn't
find that either... well, let me guess: it may be from des-*avento, and
that from vento, wind. Or with evento... event, maybe... bad events, bad
things that happen. That is your guess to, so we guess in conjunction ; ).
> Como eu não sei rezar --- since I don't know how to pray
> Só queria mostrar meu olhar, meu olhar, meu olhar---
>    I only wanted to show my .....???
>
> What tense is disseram?? Preterit, 3d plural??
>
I just wished to show [you] my sight. Verbs may be used as nomen
actionis, we call it 'derivação imprópria'. It's quite useful when the
... regular word is missing in the vocabulary. o chamar = chamamento; o
falar = ? ; o dizer = dicção, but few people link those two words:
dicere, dictio.

Disseram can be from the past perfect: eu disse, tu disseste, ele disse,
nós dissemos, vós dissestes, eles disseram... or from the pluperfect:
eu dissera, tu disseras, ele dissera, nós disséramos, vós disséreis,
eles disseram. But that tense is almost dead by now. Note the cruel
accent shift from the originally long dicera:mus, for instance...
> (Refrain)
>
> Can anyone (our Brazilian friends) explain this any further?
>
> I've been inspired to order a CD, Elis Regina ao Vivo, and hope she won't
> disappoint :-)))) She was apparently part of the Tropicalia movement, and
> died prematurely, in 1982.
>
>
> Apologies for the length, but if I've turned someone else onto this song,
> well and good.
>
>
    Well, for my part, it's not that long : ). I'm rather curious about
the foreign curiosity on those musicians... and, as I myself hate to
hear something without knowing what the hell are they talking, I felt
the... compassionated obligation of saying whatever I could about it.

Edgard.