Friday, July 7, 2017

U Boj, U Boj - To Battle, Into Battle

There is a great song about Nikola Zrinski' final charge against the Ottoman besiegers of the Fortress of Szigetvar.  From the Croatian opera "Nikola Subic Zrinski.  There are a few translations into English but none of the translations are very good - that is communicate the heart of the message in an eloquent way.



Translations
Wikipedia
Revolvy
LyricsTranslate

I have done this.
Can a word artist make it better?

For example - what is the best translation for U BOJ?
Is it TO BATTLE or INTO BATTLE?



U boj, u boj

U boj, u boj!
Mač iz toka, braćo,
nek dušman zna kako mremo mi!

Grad naš već gori,
stiže do nas već žar
rik turski ori,
bijesan je njihov jar!

K'o požar taj grudi naše plamte,
utiša rik mača naših zvek!

K'o bratac brata
Zrinskog poljub'te svi!
Za njim na vrata,
vjerni junaci vi!

Sad, braćo!
Pun'mo puške, samokrese,
naše grome, naše trijese,
neka ore, ruše, more!
Brus'mo ljute naše mače,
neka sijeku jače, jače!

Sad zbogom bud',
dome naš zauvijek,
oj, zbogom,
od svud i svud
na te dušman ide prijek.
I već u grob
sveti trup sklada tvoj,
al' neće!
Za te sin svak u boj se kreće!
Dome naš, ti vijekom stoj!

Hajd' u boj, u boj!
Za dom, za dom sad u boj!
Ma paklena množ
na nj diže svoj nož;
Hajd' u boj!
Nas mal, al' hrabar je broj!
Tko, tko će ga strt?
Smrt vragu, smrt!

Za domovinu mrijeti kolika slast!
Prot dušmaninu!
Mora on, mora past'!

To battle, into battle

To battle, into battle!
Brothers, unsheathe your swords,
Let our enemy know we are prepared to die!

Our fort is burning,
Flames advancing at us
The Turkish roar resounds,
Their rage is furious!

Our chests burn like the flames,
Clank of swords silenced by our battle-cry!

As brother to brother,
All embrace Zrinski!
Follow him to the gate,
All you faithful heroes!

Now, brothers!
Load our muskets, pistols,
Ours thunder, ours shake,
Let them roar, demolish, assail!
We sharpen our angry swords,
May they cut deeper, deeper!

Now go with God,
Our eternal home,
O, goodbye,
From anywhere and everywhere
The enemy attacks with fury.
Already, into a grave
They plan to bury your holy corpse,
But they won't!
For you every son marches into battle!
Our home, for centuries stands!

Come, into battle, to battle!
For our home, for home now into battle!
Though their infernal might
Towards them raises its knife;
Go into battle!
While few, we are brave!
Who, who will destroy him?
Death to the devil, death!

To die for the Homeland, what honor!
Against the enemy!
They must, they must fall!

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

Excerpts from reports about events near Sisak in 1593

Source:  Spomenici hrvatske Krajine: Od godine 1479 do 1610, Volume 1, edited by Radoslav Lopašić https://books.google.ca/books?id=tHLvuERLU...