In
each language you can hear a short sample of the lullaby . You can also
see some information about each lullaby (if available)
Get
asleep my tiny baby
Nani,
Nani My Sweet Tiny Baby
Nani,
Nani, Your Mother’s Baby
Haia, Haia, Tiny is the Bath
Tiny
you are when it starts your sleep
Get
asleep my tiny baby
Culcă-te,
puiuţ micuţ
Sample (MP3)
Go
to asleep my tiny baby,
Try to sleep and get asleep
Till the white dawns break the day.
Then wake up as a grown child.
Till tomorrow at the (white) dawns.
I wonder who invented this song,
I guess it was firstly uttered by a tiny mouth of a baby
When his mother left him sleeping
And found him singing.
Abua – bua – bua,
Abua, your mother will gently kiss you
Don’t be afraid of dragons in the forest
Your mother is forever protecting you.
My baby with tiny eyes like dark blackberries
Your mother will go to forest
She’s going to bring woods from the trees
And make biscuits just for you.
Culcă-te, puiuţ
micuţ,
Scoală-te mărişoruţ.
Culcă-te şi te abuă
Până mâine-n dalbă ziuă.
Şi te culcă şi adormi
Până mâine-n dalbe zori.
Doina din ce s-o făcut?
Dintr-o gură de mic prunc.
L-o lăsat maica dormind,
L-o aflat doina zicând.
Abua, bua, bua,
Abua, ţucu-l maica,
Nu te teme tu de zmei,
I-a goni maica pe ei.
Puişor cu ochi de mure,
Maica-i dusă la pădure,
Ţi-a aduce gătejoare
Şi ţi-a face scovergioare
About
Get asleep my tiny baby
This is an old lullaby from Western and Central România
(Cluj, Bihor, Năsăud ) still sung by mothers living in the
countryside. It can be heard in different versions. It is
also mentioned in the school textbooks as sung by a great
Romanian folk singer, Maria Tănase who lived between 1913-1963
and made a great contribution to the aknowledgement of the
Romanian folklore abroad. In this lullaby, the mother is
fondling and telling endearments to her baby and wishes
him to sleep all night in order to be a grown up child at
dawn. Her words seem to be spontaneous, telling about the
creator of the most well-known Romanian song ‘doina’. The
mother concludes that this is so old and pure that it can
have as the origin a baby’s genuine and naïve singing. Then,
the mother encourages her baby not to be afraid of the bad
creatures in the forest because she is going to protect
him forever. In the last stanza, the mother compares her
little baby’s eyes to blackberries, which is a very suggestive
image and makes us think of the steady love of people for
nature in the countryside. Following are some characteristic
expressions used in this lullaby: Abua – onomatopoeia/ mimetic
word expressing the idea of getting asleep; doina – old
traditional song; ţucă-l maica – a regional expression/
phrase meaning the wish of a mother to kiss her child or
any child; gătejoare, scovergioare - old, regional, archaic
and diminutive words, e.g. scovergioară is a diminutive
from scovergă (a small cheese biscuit with a curly or twisted
shape, cooked in oil).
Nani,
Nani, Your Mother’s Baby
Nani,
nani, puiul mamii
Sample (MP3)
Nani,
nani, your mother’s little baby
Nani, nani, your mother’s little baby
Tiny baby of thy mother
I wish you be strong
Nani, nani, your mother’s little baby
Nani, nani, your mother’s little baby
Cute and strong
Proud as a young oak
Nani, nani, your mother’s little baby
Nani, nani, your mother’s little baby
Baby of thy mother, tiny baby
Sleep my baby, peacefully sleep
AboutNani, Nani, Your Mother’s Baby
This is another very old cradle song which has its origin
in one of the south regions of Romania, Oltenia.
It is short and only repeats specific words for inducing
peace and sleep to the baby: nani is a typical mimetic word
very often used in a lullaby; maica means my mum. In Romanian,
it is common to address a baby by the words my mum to show
affection.
Haia, haia, mică baia,
Haia, hai, hai, câţi copii ai ?
Douăzăşi şi unu,
Dă-m şi mie unu
AboutHaia, Haia, Tiny is the Bath
This is an old song from Banat region (Western part of Romania),
using the numbers, which is not common in lullabies. In
this lullaby, cuculică is a diminutive, mimetic word meaning
a kind of tiny birdie/cuckoo; and lululică is another diminutive
expressing the rocking of the baby.
Nani,
nani, your mothers baby
Nani, nani, your mothers baby
Tiny you are when it starts your sleep
But a grown child when your sleep ends.
Then you’ll watch the sheep
In the fields full of flowers.
To watch the ducklings
In the fields full of snowdrops.
You’ll watch the little lambs
In the fields full of hollow-worts
Nani,
nani, puiul mamii,
Nani, nani, puiul mamii
Culcă-mi-te mititel
Şi te scoală măricel.
Să te duci cu oile
Pe câmpul cu florile.
Să te duci cu bobocei
Pe câmpul cu ghiocei.
Să te duci cu mieluşei
Pe câmpul cu brebenei.
AboutTiny you are when it starts your sleep
This is also an old, archaic cradle song from Muntenia region
(Southern Romania). The mother wishes her baby to grow and
be able to take care of the sheep and lambs and ducklings
in the fields. Little children in the countryside always
play in the fields among little animals and flowers. They
also take care of these animals when they grow up. Mititel,
măricel, bobocei, ghiocei, mieluşei, brebenei are one-word
diminutives in Romanian in order to compare the baby’s tiny
environment with the natural elements which are also tiny
and cute.
