Polish Romani songs, from Izydor Kopernicki, Textes tsiganes (1930)
These are short songs, ghilia, of the Polish Romani as Izydor Kopernicki took them down among the Romani of southern Poland in 1875–77, each under its number and, where he gave it, its singer's name; six variants sung by others stand beside the songs they echo. They sing of going away to where no one knows the singer, of sweethearts and taverns, of a mother's switch and a God who strikes the wrongdoer, of the black earth that will cover the singer, and of drinking with nothing to pay.
Translation
1. Antek Mirga
O Romani horse!
What did you carry me off for?
Was it for a knife, or for a tail,
or for a little itch?
2. (the same)
When I go away,
what shall I leave you?
I leave you, I leave
my true little word.
3. (the same)
Little Romani girl,
you were my sweetheart.
Had I loved a hundred,
I would not have left you.
4. (the same)
In the water, the fish;
in the woman, the child.
I left the child,
left him;
I went to him,
went to him.
4a (variant). Magda Mirga
In the water, the fish;
in the woman, the child.
I took the child, took him;
I gave him to the husband, gave him.
4b (variant). Gierka
In the pot, the fish;
in the woman, the child.
I cut her in three,
I carried her to the badžios.
5. Antek Mirga
That is not the musician
who plays my tune;
that lad will play,
that best of musicians.
6. (the same)
God, God, would you but give me
three, four kreuzers;
three, four kreuzers,
and I would drink a little brandy.
7. (the same)
A woman went for water;
the lad after her;
he caught her by the ranca,
he kissed her on the cheek.
8. (the same)
“When I go over the ridge to mow,
who will bring me my breakfast?
And for water?” For the water?
My kîrvošno sweetheart.
9. (the same)
I'll go away, I'll go
to the stone tavern;
to the stone tavern,
for sweet wine.
10. (the same)
I'll go away, I'll go,
where they will not know me,
little Roma, little gadže,
felig little people!
10a (variant). Jan Čoron
I'll go away, I'll go,
where they will not know me.
The Roma do not know me,
the gadže do not recognize me.
10b. Magda
I'll go away, I'll go,
where they will not know me.
Oh, when they catch me,
they'll hand me in at the little town.
11. (the same)
I'll go, I'll go, na tramava,
I'll give voice, I'll call out.
Whoever goes for him, O God,
ici-ja-moł me-že-dava (?).
12. from Jurgów
I'll go, I'll go, na tramava,
a big head, I will eat it;
oh! a big little head (or heavy?),
the third black little day.
13. Antek Mirga
I'll go, I'll go, where I please;
whom I please, I'll pay.
Even that tavern-woman,
who trusted me.
13a. Magda
I'll go, I'll go, where I please;
whom I please, I'll pay.
Or the baker-woman, to the baker-woman,
even to that young girl.
14. Antek Mirga
Oh mother, mother, don't puff yourself up.
The Roma will fall on, they'll run you off,
the Roma will fall on, they'll run you off,
my head will not come to you.
15. Magda
Man, man, don't puff yourself up.
The Roma will fall on, they'll drive you off.
— “Even if they drive me off,
they will not have their fill of me.”
16. Antek Mirga
Rom, Rom, what have you done?
In my village you cut the vignia.
“I will break your vignia,
and I will take your wife from you.”
16a (variant). Jan Čoron
Man, man, what have you done,
that in my village you cut the vignia?
“I will break your little vignica,
and I will take your wife with me.”
17. Antek Mirga
When me, when me
the black earth covers,
cover me, girl,
with your łeketa.
18. (the same)
My God gave a white day.
I ask you, what do you want?
. . . . . . . . . . .
19. (the same)
God, God, from the night, within!
Let me lie down by her,
by her, the poor little one,
in a black sheet.
20. (the same)
My mother beat me
with the slender switch,
because I lay down
with my sweetheart.
21. (the same)
Oh, God strikes, he strikes
whoever does a wrong;
and that one deeper still,
who does a greater.
22. (the same)
Forests, forests, great forests!
How high are you, my comrades?
The comrades will fall down.
The prajtora will fall down!
23. (the same)
I was not at home,
I do not know who came.
My sweetheart had come
for the little gava.
24. (the same)
On the shelf, the pot,
of cabbage, of millet,
and let it be of salad too.
Don't take her, man, don't take her,
for she was a little whore, and she will be.
25. (the same)
I'll drink, I'll drink;
with what shall I pay?
I have no dudečka,
not even two kreuzers.
Colophon
Translated from the Polish Romani of Textes tsiganes: contes et poésies avec traduction française, by Izydor Kopernicki (Kraków: Polska Akademja Umiejętności, 1930, fascicle 2), pp. 250–255: songs 1–25 of the section headed Ghilia, with the six variants Kopernicki printed among them (4a, 4b, 10a, 10b, 13a and 16a). The text was transcribed from the page images of the New York University copy digitized by Google; Kopernicki's French translation and notes were not consulted. The singers' names, and the headings "the same" (le même, la même) and "variant" (variante), are his; "the same" means the singer of the song before. Song 8 opens with three lines of Polish in the Highland dialect (kiej, "when"; pudem, "I shall go"; virh, a mountain ridge; fristyg, breakfast; za vodom, "for water"), translated here from the Polish; its Romani close takes up za vodom again as pał o pani, "for the water". Song 18 breaks off after two lines, and the row of dots is Kopernicki's. In song 12 the words "or heavy?" render his own printed alternative, ou pharoro?
Words were checked in Rudolf von Sowa's Wörterbuch des Dialekts der deutschen Zigeuner (1898), in the comparative word-list of Franz Miklosich, Über die Mundarten und die Wanderungen der Zigeuner Europa's, part VII (1876), and in Smart and Crofton's The Dialect of the English Gypsies (1875). A pori is a tail, as against por, a feather (Sowa); chandž'ikica is a little itch (Miklosich, under chandz, gives the Polish Romani chandzoto, "itch"); mačio is a fish and piri a pot (Sowa); bašavel is to play an instrument (Sowa), and najfeder is "best" (Miklosich, under feder); čumidel is to kiss and čham the cheek (Sowa); guło is sweet (Miklosich, under gudlo); džanel is to know and prindžarel to recognize (Sowa); pocinel is to pay, pačal to believe or trust, and čal- to be filled or sated (Sowa); ma barar tud is "don't puff yourself up" (Miklosich, under baro, gives the Carpathian ma barar tut, "sei nicht stolz", "don't be proud"), and ma forbids (Sowa); vaš is "for the sake of, on account of" (Sowa, "wegen"); phagerel is to break (Sowa); a rani is a switch or rod, and sano is slender (Sowa); kathyr łate is "to her, by her" (Miklosich, under katar, gives German Romani gotter, "towards", and English Romani kater, "to"); horeder, "deeper", is the comparative of choro, "deep" (Sowa); veš is a forest (Sowa, "Wald, Forst"); barunia is the Carpathian baruno, "of stone" (Miklosich, under bar, "steinern"); thovel is to put or lay (Miklosich, under ki), and with man, "myself", it is read as "lie down" in songs 19 and 20; ki o is "to the" (Miklosich, under ki); tełe is "down" (Smart and Crofton); jarmin is cabbage or sauerkraut (Miklosich, under armi, gives Carpathian jarmin), and kurmin millet or millet porridge (Miklosich, under khurmi; Sowa kurmen, oat groats); łubni is a harlot (Sowa); a gadžo, plural gadže, is anyone who is not a Rom (Miklosich, under gadzo). Soha in song 25 is read as "with what", the instrumental of so, "what", with the h that this Romani has for s between vowels, as in raniaha, "with a switch", and piraniaha, "with my sweetheart".
Some words are loans from the neighbouring languages, Polish, Slovak, Hungarian and Romanian, and are rendered from those languages: grajcar, the kreuzer; palenka, brandy; nuta, a tune; łavutaris, a musician; karčma, a tavern, and karčmarka, the woman who keeps it; pekarka, a baker-woman; krivdica, a wrong (Polish krzywda); pulica, a shelf; šałata, salad; čy, "or"; ani, "not even"; bo, "for"; meg, "even, still" (Hungarian még); hanga, voice (Hungarian hang); pajtaš, a comrade (Hungarian pajtás). These readings rest on context or on general Romani usage rather than on the dictionaries: lid'ał, "you carried off"; pre, "on, upon" (Sowa), read in songs 1 and 9 as the Polish na, "for", as in na co, "what for"; adynba in song 6, read as "would you but give", from the stem dyn-, "gave", seen in dyniomas and dynia, the rest of the form unexplained, and grajcarenca, "with kreuzers", an instrumental, which the English gives as the thing given; perna, "they will fall", in songs 14 and 15, given as "fall on" (song 22 has tełe perna, "they will fall down"); dîzorate dena, "they will hand (me) in at the little town"; ligend'iomas, "I carried"; mindro in song 14, read as "my" (Smart and Crofton cite Paspati's minro, "my", and the tales of this book have mindro phrał, "my brother", and mindro dad, "my father"), though the last line of that song, mindro šero na javła tud, remains uncertain; rat'ar andre in song 19, "from the night, within"; m'aveł in song 24, read as "let it be". In song 4b the ła, "her", whom the singer cuts in three, may be the fish; the Romani does not say. Left in Romani, because no dictionary at hand explains them: badžios (4b), ranca (7), kîrvošno (8; perhaps akin to kirvo, a godparent, Miklosich under kirivo), felig (10), na tramava (11, 12; na is "not"), ici-ja-moł me-že-dava (11, already marked doubtful by Kopernicki), vignia and its diminutive vignica (16, 16a), łeketa (17), prajtora (22), gava (23; perhaps akin to gav, a village, Miklosich) and dudečka (25).
No English translation of these songs is known to us.
© 2026 Tianmu Anglican Church. This English translation is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0: you may share and adapt it for non-commercial use with credit to the Good Works Library, tianmu.org. The source text keeps its own terms. For other uses, see Rights and Reuse.
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Source Text: Ghilia
Polish Romani text as printed by Kopernicki (1930), pp. 250–255, in his orthography, with his headings; his footnote markers, whose notes stand with his French translation, are left out; each page's two columns are read left column first, and the one line-end hyphen (16ᵃ) is joined.
1. Antek Mirga
Romano grajo!
Pre soste man lid'ał?
Čy pre čuri, čy pre pori,
čy pre chandž'ikica?
2. (le même)
Kana mange džava,
so tuke mukhava?
Mukhav tuke, mukhav
mro čačio łavoro.
3. (le même)
Čajori romani,
sałas mri pirani.
Šełen te kaml'omas,
me tud na mukhl'omas.
4. (le même)
Andr'e pani o mačio,
andr'e romni e čavo.
Łe čavores mukhl'omas,
mukhl'omas;
kia łeste gel'omas,
gel'omas.
4ᵃ (variante). Magda Mirga
Andro pani e mačio,
andre romni e č'avo.
Łe č'avores lil'omas, lil'omas,
łe romeste dyniomas, dyniomas.
4ᵇ (variante). Gierka
Andre piri o mačio,
andre romni o čavo.
Trinende ła čind'iomas
ki'o badžios ligend'iomas.
5. Antek Mirga
Nane oda łavutaris,
kaj mri nuta bašaveł;
bašaveła oda čavo,
oda najfeder łavutaris.
6. (le même)
Devła, devła, adynba man
trina, štare grajcarenca;
trina, štare grajcarenca,
the pijā' me palenkica.
7. (le même)
Gel'a romni panieske;
o čavoro pa' łate;
chudl'a ła rancatar,
čumidl'a ła čiamatar.
8. (le même)
„Kiej ja pudem za virh kosić,
kto mi budzie fristyg nosić?
I za vodom“, pał o pani?
Mri kîrvošno pirani.
9. (le même)
Džava mange, džava
barunia karčmate;
barunia karčmate,
pre guła mołate.
10. (le même)
Džava mange, džava,
kaj man na džanena
romore, gadžiore,
felig manušore!
10ᵃ (variante). Jan Čoron
Džava mange, džava,
kaj man na džanena.
Roma man na džanen,
gadžie na prîndžiaren.
10ᵇ. Magda
Džava mange, džava,
kaj man na džanena.
Oj, sar man chudena,
dîzorate dena.
11. (la même)
Džava, džava, na tramava,
hanga dava, vicînava.
Ko vaš łeske, devła, džała,
ici-ja-moł me-že-dava(?).
12. de Jurgov
Džava, džava, na tramava,
šero baro, me łes chava;
oj! šeroro baroro, (ou pharoro?)
trito kało d'ivesoro.
13. Antek Mirga
Džava, džava, kaj kamava,
kaske kamav, pocinava.
Meg oła karčmarkake,
kaj mange pačiała.
13ᵃ. Magda
Džava, džava, kaj kamava,
kaske kamav, pocinava.
Čy pekarka, pekarkake,
meg odoła ternia čake.
14. Antek Mirga
Oj mamo, mamo, ma barar tud.
Perna roma, našna tud,
perna roma, našna tud,
mindro šero na javła tud.
15. Magda
More, more, ma barar tud.
Perna roma, našavna tud.
— „Sar man the našavna,
mandar na čal'ona“.
16. Antek Mirga
Roma, roma, so tu kerdž'iał?
Andre mro gav vignia čindž'iał.
„Me tri vignia phagerava,
the tra romnia tutar łava“.
16ᵃ (variante). Jan Čoron
More, more, so tu kerghiał,
k'andre mro gav vignia činghiał?
„Tri vignica phagerava,
the tra romnia manca łava“.
17. Antek Mirga
Kanà man, kanà man
kali phuv učiarła,
učiar man, čaije,
tira łeketaha.
18. (le même)
Dynia mrodeł parno d'ives.
Phučiav tutar, so tu kames?
. . . . . . . . . . .
19. (le même)
Devła, devła, rat'ar andre!
Te thova'-man kathyr łate,
kathyr łate, čiororate,
andre kal'a łepedate.
20. (le même)
Mard'ahas ma' mridaj
ła sania raniaha,
kaj me man thod'omas
mira piraniaha.
21. (le même)
Oj mareł ò deł, mareł
ko krivdica kereł;
meg odołes horeder,
ko bareder kereł.
22. (le même)
Veša, veša, bare veša!
Sar san učies, mre pajtaša?
E pajtaša tełe perna.
E prajtora tełe perna!
23. (le même)
Na somas me khere,
na džanav, ko javl'a.
Javl'as mri pirani
pał o churdo gava.
24. (le même)
Pre pulica e piri
jarminatar, kurminatar,
m'aveł the šałatatar.
Ma łe ła, more, ma łe ła,
bo joj jehas łubniori th'aveła.
25. (le même)
Pijava, pijava,
soha pocinava?
Nane man dudečka,
ani duj grajcara.
Source Colophon
Izydor Kopernicki, Textes tsiganes: contes et poésies avec traduction française, fascicle 2 (Kraków: Polska Akademja Umiejętności, 1930), pp. 250–255, songs 1–25 with the variants 4ᵃ, 4ᵇ, 10ᵃ, 10ᵇ, 13ᵃ and 16ᵃ. Public domain. Transcribed from the page images of the New York University copy, digitized by Google (Google Books drESAAAAIAAJ); Kopernicki's French translation, printed below each page's Romani, is not reproduced, nor are his footnotes or their markers. Kopernicki's letters are kept as printed, including ł, č, š, ž, dž, ch, kh, ph, th, the apostrophe in l', d', t' and č', and the accents in à, ò, î and ā.
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