anyone who has ever talked about music with me would know that one of my favorite bands is Sigur ros. They are an icelandic band and the lyrical content of their songs is primarily in the hopelandic language. their music is, in simple words beautiful. and very good soul-food.if i could just see them perform live, at close-range, at least once in my life i would die a happy madeeha.
the song in question is njósnavélin or more popularly known as The Nothing Song. it was part of the soundtrack of the movie Vanilla Sky. why am i mentioning all of this? because Sigur ros holds competitions on a regular basis and in one particular competition they asked their fans to give the literal translation of njósnavélin. the winner of that competiton, spinynorman214@aol.com, gave the following response.
for the longest time the lyrics of njósnavélin remained a mystery for me. and i wasn't unhappy. i could still 'feel' the music. i thought if i found out, that 'feeling' would be taken away.
instead, after reading what spinynorman214@aol.com wrote, i am oddly moved by his intepretation of the song. in return, it's only managed to give the song more depth. at least for me.
warning on the website:
[note that this entry is completely ficticious.]
this is what he wrote:
A recent study of mine concludes that the Hopelandic language Sigur Rós uses is derived from a little known ancient language, Essil (roughly translated as "light"). Though its speakers are long dead and their country long forgotten, I have learned about its culture through its surviving art and poetry. "Njósnavélin," a new song by Sigur Rós, uses a piece of Essilian poetry for its lyrics. Unfortunately, literal or even poetic translation fails to fully explain the concepts behind the words, so an explanation will follow the transliteration and translation. (Although Essil uses its own alphabet, there is as of now no font to type it. A catalogue of the alphabet's characters and the culture's artwork might be available in the future.)
Njósnavélin in Essil
(original title: "ete tas Essilev" = "Light's traveller")
Essil on
Essil on erifet al
Essil on
Essil on eriftel al
Essil on
(Pronunciation: ee-sile on [long "i," as in "hi" and long "o" as in "throw"], er-o-fet all)
Literal Translation:
I travelled through light
I travelled through light; I am not afraid
(repeat)
Explanation:
In Essilian mythology, light was the source of everything. People were born of light and remained immortal as long as they upheld nature and light. The preferred communication of scholars and monks was thought and telepathy, which they understood as the pathway of light that bound the minds of all. But for the sake of posterity, they recorded their thoughts in Essil, the language named for light itself.
Their belief was that water preserved light, and from this preservation of light they came into being. This song, "ete tas Essilev," is an account of their sort of birth... instead of reproduction and natural child-birth, the people of this culture claimed to come into existence from the water and light. The verb "essil" is a concept of both birth and thought. The speaker is talking about swimming in the water before birth, a collection of light and souls (or, arguably, a single soul shared by all). The form "E(e)ssil on" is a first person perfect form of the verb. Our understanding of the perfect form has changed over time. Instead of a single action in the past, the perfect tense here is understood to mean a continuous action... this soul was floating and travelling from the beginning of time, and is still a part of their "essil."
The alternate line's "erifet al" is a first person negative present of the verb "rifet," which means not simply to fear, but to be incredibly fearful, to be terrified. Why would one consider birth fearful in the first place? Surely with such a languid tone and the lazy repetition of phrases and lines, this is not a song of fear, nor is it a song of the abscence of fear... it speaks of a peaceful ignorance. The present here, too, is not to be taken in its true form. Rather, it means the person was not afraid at birth, nor are they now. The explanation of this is the Essilian culture considered coming into existence and existence as the same thing, a continuing and never-ending process. So where does fear come in? The Essilians are doing two things: first, they are praising light, Essil, for its comfort and power, but secondly, the speaker is asserting his belief in Essil... therefore he is speaking of his trust that he will continue existence and not be revoked his life (a thought expressed in the noun/infinitive "ocente").
Taking all this in mind, a poetic translation becomes more possible. But, for the sake of the original scheme, it is necessary that its simple repetition and ideology be preserved. Thus the poetic translation:
In this lake of souls
In this lake of souls, I lose all fear
(spinynorman214@aol.com)
