The Lion Sleeps Tonight

[äreo]

Hi, everyone. I've had an account here for a long time but haven't posted before. I know this is a great place for translation challenges, so I wanted to share a translation I just did and invite anyone who would like to do the same: "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" (as per The Tokens' version).

Aweem aweh, aweem aweh... (Original: Uyimbube, uyimbube...)
In the jungle, the mighty jungle
The lion sleeps tonight
In the jungle the quiet jungle
The lion sleeps tonight
Near the village, the peaceful village
The lion sleeps tonight
Near the village, the quiet village
The lion sleeps tonight
Hush, my darling, don't fear, my darling
The lion sleeps tonight
Hush, my darling, don't fear, my darling
The lion sleeps tonight

I've rendered it in Msérsca as follows:

erremba ve, erremba ve...
torros callos, tottorros callos
melectis remba numma
essos callos, essessos callos
melectis remba numma
demnesse tallis, mimmíthe tallis
melectis remba numma
demnesse tallis, essesse tallis
melectis remba numma
whus, ea símét, rérhadme, símét
melectis remba numma
whus, ea símét, rérhadme, símét
melectis remba numma

Here's IPA and glosses for each distinct line, with some additional notes:

bass chant: erremba ve, erremba ve...
[ɛˈrɛmba vɛ]
e-rremba ve
lion[COMMON.SG] be.PRES.SG
It is/You are a lion...

From the original Zulu, with a Basquesque leading syllable added to remba lion to fit the rhythm.

torros callos, tottorros callos
[ˈtɔrɔs ˈkalːɔs ˈ tɔtθɔrɔs ˈkalːɔs]
tor-ros cal-los tot-tor-ros cal-los
strong-DAT.PL wood-DAT.PL AUG~strong-DAT.PL wood-DAT.PL
In the jungle, the mighty jungle

In Msérsca what I call the dative has a locative function as well. Augmentative reduplication helps us fit the rhythm and to my mind fits the mood of the song quite well. So we're basically saying "in the mighty woods, in the very mighty woods." The use of plural wood to mean "forest" or "jungle" is limited to the dative, so cáli (wood-COMMON.PL) would be taken to mean kinds of wood or perhaps pieces of wood.

melectis remba numma
[ˈmɛlɛkt̪ɪs ˈrɛmba ˈnʏmːa]
melec-tis remba numma
night-DAT.SG lion[COMMON.SG] sleep.PRES.SG
The lion sleeps tonight

Word order is normally SXOV or SOXV, but we can take certain liberties in a song!

essos callos, essessos callos
[ˈɛsːɔs ˈkalːɔs ˈɛsːɛsːɔs ˈkalːɔs]
es-sos cal-los ess-es-sos cal-los
quiet-DAT.PL wood-DAT.PL AUG~quiet-DAT.PL wood-DAT.PL
In the jungle, the quiet jungle

demnesse tallis, mimmíthe tallis
[ˈdɛmnɛsːɛ ˈtalːɪs mɪmˈmiːθɛ ˈtalːɪs]
demnes-se tal-lis mim-míth-e tal-lis
dwelling-GEN.PL area-DAT.SG AUG~peaceful-GEN.PL area-DAT.SG
Near the village, the peaceful village

We can omit demnesse in the second half without ambiguity due to case concord, but this is something of a poetic flourish. And the augmentative of míthe "should" be mímithe, with the long vowel in the first syllable and no gemination, but doing it this way fits the song better.

demnesse tallis, essesse tallis
[ˈdɛmnɛsːɛ ˈ talːɪs ˈɛsːɛsːɛ ˈtalːɪs]
demnes-se tal-lis ess-es-se tal-lis
dwelling-GEN.PL area-DAT.SG AUG~quiet-GEN.PL area-DAT.SG
Near the village, the quiet village

whus, ea símét, rérhadme, símét
[ʍʏs ja ˈsiːmjɛt ˈʒɛɾxazmɛ ˈsiːmjɛt]
whus ea símé-t rérha-dme símé-t
hush 1SG.POSS cherish-PASS.COMMON.SG fear-NEG.IMP cherish-PASS.COMMON.SG
Hush, my darling, don't fear, my darling

[eldin raigmore]

I believe that on Solomon Linda’s original recording it was “mbubwe”, not “awimmaway”.

[Khemehekis]

Awimowe?

[äreo]

I believe that on Solomon Linda’s original recording it was “mbubwe”, not “awimmawy”.

Yeah, I transcribed that based on the English version for consistency, but my own translation pays homage to the original, which is uyimbube "you are a lion." I edited the OP to clarify.

[eldin raigmore]

Yeah, I transcribed that based on the English version for consistency, but my own translation pays homage to the original, which is uyimbube "you are a lion." I edited the OP to clarify.

You apparently know more about this than I do!