Re: ZBB: Another "What language is this song in" thread.

On Jul 31, 2005, at 8:14 PM, Tim May wrote:
>> Can anyone transscribe the lyrics and produce a romanised version
>> for comparison with the X-Sampa we produced?  I assume it'd take me
>> hours to look up the letters, although, of course, it would be a
>> good exercise...  (Presumably half of the vowels are missing, of
>> course.)  **Henrik
> I've tried, but the type is so small, it's very hard to tell what
> certain dots are... it says they're going to replace the images with
> Unicode text, I might be able to do something then.  (Someone who can
> actually read Persian could probably do it without difficulty.)
> Incidentally, if we'd noticed that the first verse was a quatrain with
> an AABA rhyme scheme, that might have been a clue that we were dealing
> with Persian.
Here's my attempt at transliteration:
(i don't know Farsi/Persian, but i can read the Arabic alphabet)

ala ya ayhalsaqy adrkasan wnawlha
kh 3Sq Asan nmwd awl wly aftad mSklha
yh bwy tafh ay kaxr s'bazan t'rh bgSayd
ztab j3d mSkynS ch xwn aftad dr dlha

mra dr mnzl janan ch amn 3yS cwn hr dm
hr dm jrs fryad mydard kh br bndyd mhmnha
bh my sjadh rngyn kn grt pyr mGan gwyd
kh salg byxbr tbwd zrah wrsm hnzlha

Sb taryg wyym mwj wgrdaby ctyn Hayl
kja dattd Hal ma sbkbaran saHlha
hmh karm zxwdkamy bh bdtamy kSyd Axr
than ky matd An razy kzw saztd mHflha

Hd'wry gr hmy xwahy azw Gayb mSw HafD'
mty ma tlq mn thwa d3 aldnya w ahmlha

a = alif
3 = `ayn
S = /S/
A = /?a:/ (forgot what the arabic name is)
x = /x/
s' = /s>/ (emphatic S)
t' = /t>/
g = farsi G
c = farsi /tS)/
G = /G/
H = /X\/
d' = /d>/
D' = /D>/ (|HafD'| is probably the name Hafez, the medieval Persian
poet who wrote the songs that O-HUM sings)

The word-breaks may be off where i couldn't tell with non-connecting
letters which word they belong to.


-Stephen (Steg)
  "my dreams are literal, padmé.
   i wouldn't know a metaphor if it bit me."
      ~ anakin skywalker, _revenge of the sith_ novelization

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