Wiki
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Length
5:15
Liv Kristine comments on this track and translates the lyrics:
Firstly, let me explain the title, which is my own word-creation: To my grammatical knowledge, “Meredead” could mean ‘dead by the sea’, ‘or the deadly sea’. Poetically, we could add some imagination and lyrical sound and say “Sea of Death”. Secondly, the word “Meredead” sums up some of the themes rooted in my lyrics on the album.Now you may ask, why sing in Old-English? Since my Old-English studies I’ve taken great interest in both Old-English poetry and grammar. I just felt that this song required Old-English lyrics, and an Old-English “sound”, moreover, it needed this historical feel! Old-English or Anglo-Saxon is an early form of the English language that was spoken and written by Angeln, Sachsen and Jüten (Germanic tribes, called Anglo-Saxons) and their descendants in parts of what are now England and southeastern Scotland between at least the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century. Although, for me, it meant digging my nose into my Old-English books for weeks (and buying even more at Amazon), I feel that it was really worth it, moreover, it made so much fun! For me, having Norwegian and Danish parents and grand-parents, it’s even more interesting that from the 9th century, Old-English experienced heavy influence from Old Norse, a member of the related North Germanic group of languages.
I highly recommend having a look at the book “The Cambridge Old English Reader” by R. Marsden.
Good luck with learning more about Old-English! Here’s my translation of my poem “Meredead”.
PS: I was amazed that my dear friend and great inspiration in classical singing, Maite Itoiz (Elfenthal), managed to sing her Old-English parts straight away, without any phonetic explanations from me! Well done! Thank you, Maite!
-Liv
Meredead (original)
Be sam tweonum
Awa to aldre
Eow frithes healdanHire feollon tearas
of tham eagum
Eall heo
Waes mid sorgum
GedrefedBe saem tweonum
He waes forwundod
Be saem tweonum
Thaer reste heMeredead
Awa to aldre
Always forever rest in peaceStormedead
Awa to aldre
Sleeping on ocean’s groundBe saem tweonum
He waes forwundod oooh
Be saem tweonum
Thaer slaepst thuThaet was egeslic wyrd
Swa byth tham men
Friora monna gangeth
On flodwegasMeredead (translation)
Between the seas
Always forever
Peace be with youTears fell
From her eyes
She was all drenched with sorrowBetween the seas
He was hurt
Between the seas
He will restThe deadly sea
Always forever rest in peaceThe deadly storm
Always forever
Sleeping on ocean’s groundBetween the seas
He was hurt
Between the waves
You will restThat was a terrible fate
So is it with the man
Free men travel
Their way across the seas
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