Discussion:
song lyrics in Hebrew
(too old to reply)
Raymond Roy
2004-07-04 18:14:26 UTC
Permalink
Hello all semiticists,

The Ivorian reggae singer Alpha Blondy sings a song called 'Jerusalem',
with lyrics in French, Arabic and Hebrew.

Could someone translate the Hebrew parts for me? Can you see any
mistakes in the Hebrew text? Is it classical (biblical) Hebrew or modern
Hebrew?

I am reproducing the lyrics here (the capitals in the text are not by
me), but they are also available at:
http://facstaff.uww.edu/allsenjm/SAAM/TEXTS/Jerusalem.htm

N.B. It is not with the words 'adonai' and 'shalom' I have problems...


« Alpha Blondy, Jérusalem - text in Hebrew, French, and English

BAROUH ATAT ADONAI,
BAROUH ABA YÉROUSHALAIM.
From the Bible to the Koran,
revelation in Jérusalem.
SHALOM SALAMALEKOUM.
You can see Christians, Jews, and Muslins
living together and praying.
Amen! Let's gives thanks and praises:
BAROUH ATAT ADONAI,
BAROUH ABA YÉROUSHALAIM.
Jérusalem here I am.
Jérusalem je t'aime.
Jérusalem here I am.
Jérusalem je t'aime.
ISRAELA YAKIRATI,
ISRAELA YAKIRATI,
ANI OHÊV OTARH,
ISRAELA YAKIRATI.
From the Bible to the Koran
Revelation time
SHALOM SALAMALEKOUM
You can see christians jews and muslins
Living together and praying
Amen! Let's gives thanks and praises
BAROUH ATAT ADONAI,
BAROUH ABA YÉROUSHALAIM.
Jérusalem here I am.
Jérusalem je t'aime. »


Thanks.


Raymond Roy
Peter T. Daniels
2004-07-04 23:05:26 UTC
Permalink
Post by Raymond Roy
Hello all semiticists,
The Ivorian reggae singer Alpha Blondy sings a song called 'Jerusalem',
with lyrics in French, Arabic and Hebrew.
Could someone translate the Hebrew parts for me? Can you see any
mistakes in the Hebrew text? Is it classical (biblical) Hebrew or modern
Hebrew?
I am reproducing the lyrics here (the capitals in the text are not by
http://facstaff.uww.edu/allsenjm/SAAM/TEXTS/Jerusalem.htm
N.B. It is not with the words 'adonai' and 'shalom' I have problems...
It's a bit of a mess of naive French orthographic transliteration.
Post by Raymond Roy
« Alpha Blondy, Jérusalem - text in Hebrew, French, and English
BAROUH ATAT ADONAI,
Baruch ata Adonai (blessed are you, Lord)
Post by Raymond Roy
BAROUH ABA YÉROUSHALAIM.
(maybe) Baruch ha-ba' Yerushalaim (blessed is the one who comes,
Jerusalem)
Post by Raymond Roy
From the Bible to the Koran,
revelation in Jérusalem.
SHALOM SALAMALEKOUM.
Heb (peace) Ar (peace be unto you)
Post by Raymond Roy
You can see Christians, Jews, and Muslins
living together and praying.
BAROUH ATAT ADONAI,
BAROUH ABA YÉROUSHALAIM.
Jérusalem here I am.
Jérusalem je t'aime.
Jérusalem here I am.
Jérusalem je t'aime.
ISRAELA YAKIRATI,
ISRAELA YAKIRATI,
maybe "he approaches you"
Post by Raymond Roy
ANI OHÊV OTARH,
This must be an intrusive r as in "Myanmar" ani ohev otakh (I love you)
Post by Raymond Roy
ISRAELA YAKIRATI.
From the Bible to the Koran
Revelation time
SHALOM SALAMALEKOUM
You can see christians jews and muslins
Living together and praying
Amen! Let's gives thanks and praises
BAROUH ATAT ADONAI,
BAROUH ABA YÉROUSHALAIM.
Jérusalem here I am.
Jérusalem je t'aime. »
Thanks.
--
Peter T. Daniels ***@att.net
Raymond Roy
2004-07-04 23:52:02 UTC
Permalink
Le Sun, 04 Jul 2004 23:05:26 GMT, "Peter T. Daniels"
Post by Peter T. Daniels
Post by Raymond Roy
Hello all semiticists,
The Ivorian reggae singer Alpha Blondy sings a song called 'Jerusalem',
with lyrics in French, Arabic and Hebrew.
Could someone translate the Hebrew parts for me? Can you see any
mistakes in the Hebrew text? Is it classical (biblical) Hebrew or modern
Hebrew?
I am reproducing the lyrics here (the capitals in the text are not by
http://facstaff.uww.edu/allsenjm/SAAM/TEXTS/Jerusalem.htm
N.B. It is not with the words 'adonai' and 'shalom' I have problems...
It's a bit of a mess of naive French orthographic transliteration.
Post by Raymond Roy
« Alpha Blondy, Jérusalem - text in Hebrew, French, and English
BAROUH ATAT ADONAI,
Baruch ata Adonai (blessed are you, Lord)
Post by Raymond Roy
BAROUH ABA YÉROUSHALAIM.
(maybe) Baruch ha-ba' Yerushalaim (blessed is the one who comes,
Jerusalem)
Post by Raymond Roy
From the Bible to the Koran,
revelation in Jérusalem.
SHALOM SALAMALEKOUM.
Heb (peace) Ar (peace be unto you)
Post by Raymond Roy
You can see Christians, Jews, and Muslins
living together and praying.
BAROUH ATAT ADONAI,
BAROUH ABA YÉROUSHALAIM.
Jérusalem here I am.
Jérusalem je t'aime.
Jérusalem here I am.
Jérusalem je t'aime.
ISRAELA YAKIRATI,
ISRAELA YAKIRATI,
maybe "he approaches you"
Post by Raymond Roy
ANI OHÊV OTARH,
This must be an intrusive r as in "Myanmar" ani ohev otakh (I love you)
Post by Raymond Roy
ISRAELA YAKIRATI.
From the Bible to the Koran
Revelation time
SHALOM SALAMALEKOUM
You can see christians jews and muslins
Living together and praying
Amen! Let's gives thanks and praises
BAROUH ATAT ADONAI,
BAROUH ABA YÉROUSHALAIM.
Jérusalem here I am.
Jérusalem je t'aime. »
Thanks.
--
Thank you. Everything is clear now. I can see that the Hebrew text leans
very much on the French one.

A few more questions though:

- was this 'language' Classical Hebrew, Modern Hebrew or something else?

- as for the phrase 'SHALOM SALAMALEKOUM', is it pure Hebrew, or is it
on the basis of my Arabic notions that I understood it right away? Or is
it merely the juxtaposition of SHALOM + SAMALALEKOUM?

- as for the phrase 'ISRAELA YAKIRATI,' that you translated by « 'maybe
"he approaches you' », could you analyze it for me? What morphems
correspond to 'he', 'approaches' and 'you'? Are there any declensions?
Any parallels to the Arabic grammar?

Since we're at it, can you recommend me a good introduction to Biblical
Hebrew? An affordable one if possible.

Thanks.

Raymond
Peter T. Daniels
2004-07-05 11:59:46 UTC
Permalink
Post by Raymond Roy
Le Sun, 04 Jul 2004 23:05:26 GMT, "Peter T. Daniels"
Post by Peter T. Daniels
Post by Raymond Roy
Hello all semiticists,
The Ivorian reggae singer Alpha Blondy sings a song called 'Jerusalem',
with lyrics in French, Arabic and Hebrew.
Could someone translate the Hebrew parts for me? Can you see any
mistakes in the Hebrew text? Is it classical (biblical) Hebrew or modern
Hebrew?
I am reproducing the lyrics here (the capitals in the text are not by
http://facstaff.uww.edu/allsenjm/SAAM/TEXTS/Jerusalem.htm
N.B. It is not with the words 'adonai' and 'shalom' I have problems...
It's a bit of a mess of naive French orthographic transliteration.
Post by Raymond Roy
« Alpha Blondy, Jérusalem - text in Hebrew, French, and English
BAROUH ATAT ADONAI,
Baruch ata Adonai (blessed are you, Lord)
Post by Raymond Roy
BAROUH ABA YÉROUSHALAIM.
(maybe) Baruch ha-ba' Yerushalaim (blessed is the one who comes,
Jerusalem)
Post by Raymond Roy
From the Bible to the Koran,
revelation in Jérusalem.
SHALOM SALAMALEKOUM.
Heb (peace) Ar (peace be unto you)
Post by Raymond Roy
You can see Christians, Jews, and Muslins
living together and praying.
BAROUH ATAT ADONAI,
BAROUH ABA YÉROUSHALAIM.
Jérusalem here I am.
Jérusalem je t'aime.
Jérusalem here I am.
Jérusalem je t'aime.
ISRAELA YAKIRATI,
ISRAELA YAKIRATI,
maybe "he approaches you"
Post by Raymond Roy
ANI OHÊV OTARH,
This must be an intrusive r as in "Myanmar" ani ohev otakh (I love you)
Post by Raymond Roy
ISRAELA YAKIRATI.
From the Bible to the Koran
Revelation time
SHALOM SALAMALEKOUM
You can see christians jews and muslins
Living together and praying
Amen! Let's gives thanks and praises
BAROUH ATAT ADONAI,
BAROUH ABA YÉROUSHALAIM.
Jérusalem here I am.
Jérusalem je t'aime. »
Thanks.
--
Thank you. Everything is clear now. I can see that the Hebrew text leans
very much on the French one.
- was this 'language' Classical Hebrew, Modern Hebrew or something else?
As Helmut Richter pointed out, the morphology was picked up pretty much
intact, so from a scattering of words, you can't really say.
Post by Raymond Roy
- as for the phrase 'SHALOM SALAMALEKOUM', is it pure Hebrew, or is it
It's not a phrase. I told you, it's the Hebrew word "peace" and the
Arabic phrase "peace be unto you (pl.)."
Post by Raymond Roy
on the basis of my Arabic notions that I understood it right away? Or is
it merely the juxtaposition of SHALOM + SAMALALEKOUM?
- as for the phrase 'ISRAELA YAKIRATI,' that you translated by « 'maybe
"he approaches you' », could you analyze it for me? What morphems
correspond to 'he', 'approaches' and 'you'? Are there any declensions?
What do you mean by "declension"??

-a might conceivably be the Biblical Hebrew locative suffix (not used in
Modern), but "Israel" isn't a place name in Biblical Hebrew.

"yakirati" might perhaps relate to QR' 'be near' with the 3sg. prefix
ya- and the 2fsg. suffix -ti "thee," but I can't make sense of it, which
is why I said "maybe." It doesn't seem to relate to anything in the
French.
Post by Raymond Roy
Any parallels to the Arabic grammar?
Since we're at it, can you recommend me a good introduction to Biblical
Hebrew? An affordable one if possible.
Hah! They're textbooks, so the publishers feel they can make the prices
as high as they like. In 1972, we used Lambdin's textbook, published by
Scribners, but new ones are published every year and I wouldn't have any
idea whether any are more suited for self-study. (Nor would I have any
way of knowing what's available in French.) Why not just get a small
reference grammar?
--
Peter T. Daniels ***@att.net
Yusuf B Gursey
2004-07-05 13:12:44 UTC
Permalink
In sci.lang Peter T. Daniels <***@worldnet.att.net> wrote in <***@worldnet.att.net>:
: Raymond Roy wrote:

:>
:> Since we're at it, can you recommend me a good introduction to Biblical
:> Hebrew? An affordable one if possible.

: Hah! They're textbooks, so the publishers feel they can make the prices
: as high as they like. In 1972, we used Lambdin's textbook, published by
: Scribners, but new ones are published every year and I wouldn't have any
: idea whether any are more suited for self-study. (Nor would I have any
: way of knowing what's available in French.) Why not just get a small
: reference grammar?

affordable and cheap is "Teach Yourself Biblical Hebrew". I don't know how
good it is, and it may even be out of print but generally the "teach
Yoruself" series is good for introductions.
Andrew Woode
2004-07-06 14:12:03 UTC
Permalink
Post by Peter T. Daniels
Post by Raymond Roy
Jérusalem here I am.
Jérusalem je t'aime.
Jérusalem here I am.
Jérusalem je t'aime.
ISRAELA YAKIRATI,
ISRAELA YAKIRATI,
"yakirati" might perhaps relate to QR' 'be near' with the 3sg. prefix
ya- and the 2fsg. suffix -ti "thee," but I can't make sense of it, which
is why I said "maybe." It doesn't seem to relate to anything in the
French.
Seems like a strange verb form - do you have examples of -ti being
used as an object suffix? I was wondering whether the root word here
was 'yaqqira' f. of 'yaqqir' "dear, beloved". This would fit the
generally laudatory lyric. I can't explain the whole line, but there's
no guarantee it hasn't been a bit garbled.
Avi Jacobson
2004-07-07 04:31:16 UTC
Permalink
[snip]
Post by Andrew Woode
Post by Peter T. Daniels
Post by Raymond Roy
ISRAELA YAKIRATI,
ISRAELA YAKIRATI,
"yakirati" might perhaps relate to QR' 'be near' with the 3sg. prefix
ya- and the 2fsg. suffix -ti "thee," but I can't make sense of it, which
is why I said "maybe." It doesn't seem to relate to anything in the
French.
No, I would reckon to say it is: "yisrael, ah yeqirati," "Israel, ah, my
beloved." yeqirah, feminine of yaqir, as in the Yom Kippur prayer "ha-ben
yaqir li efrayim" ("My beloved son Ephraim").
Post by Andrew Woode
Seems like a strange verb form - do you have examples of -ti being
used as an object suffix? I was wondering whether the root word here
was 'yaqqira' f. of 'yaqqir' "dear, beloved". This would fit the
generally laudatory lyric. I can't explain the whole line, but there's
no guarantee it hasn't been a bit garbled.
No, yeqirati is a fairly common term of endearment used to mean "my dear."

As for the RH -- French newcomers to Israel often transliterate Hebrew khaf
and Het as <R> or <RH>. Thing of the French voiced velar fricative spelled
<R>, plus an <H> to indicate that it is voiceless.
Harlan Messinger
2004-07-06 16:05:14 UTC
Permalink
Post by Peter T. Daniels
Post by Raymond Roy
ISRAELA YAKIRATI,
ISRAELA YAKIRATI,
maybe "he approaches you"
Not "my dear one"? "Yakir" = "dear, expensive", fem. construct form
"yakirat", first-person singular possessed form "yakirati".
Peter T. Daniels
2004-07-06 16:27:02 UTC
Permalink
Post by Harlan Messinger
Post by Peter T. Daniels
Post by Raymond Roy
ISRAELA YAKIRATI,
ISRAELA YAKIRATI,
maybe "he approaches you"
Not "my dear one"? "Yakir" = "dear, expensive", fem. construct form
"yakirat", first-person singular possessed form "yakirati".
Ok, Andrew and Harlan, but what's "Israela"?
--
Peter T. Daniels ***@att.net
Harlan Messinger
2004-07-06 17:03:05 UTC
Permalink
Post by Peter T. Daniels
Post by Harlan Messinger
Post by Peter T. Daniels
Post by Raymond Roy
ISRAELA YAKIRATI,
ISRAELA YAKIRATI,
maybe "he approaches you"
Not "my dear one"? "Yakir" = "dear, expensive", fem. construct form
"yakirat", first-person singular possessed form "yakirati".
Ok, Andrew and Harlan, but what's "Israela"?
Either Esperanto or Gothic for Israel? Or maybe it's a gynecomorphism for
"Israel".
Avi Jacobson
2004-07-07 04:32:44 UTC
Permalink
Post by Peter T. Daniels
Ok, Andrew and Harlan, but what's "Israela"?
"israel, ah, yeqirati."

Or some Frenchman with really lousy Hebrew is erroneously trying to add the
definite article (he ha yedi`ah) onto "yeqirati." -- *ha-yeqirati.
Raymond Roy
2004-07-09 15:32:54 UTC
Permalink
Le Wed, 07 Jul 2004 04:32:44 GMT, "Avi Jacobson"
Post by Avi Jacobson
Post by Peter T. Daniels
Ok, Andrew and Harlan, but what's "Israela"?
"israel, ah, yeqirati."
Or some Frenchman with really lousy Hebrew is erroneously trying to add the
definite article (he ha yedi`ah) onto "yeqirati." -- *ha-yeqirati.
I am sure that his transliteration skills leave much to be desired...

Raymond

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