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Translation - Turkish-English - gurbet elde bir başıma kimim var ki? senden...

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Title
gurbet elde bir başıma kimim var ki? senden...
Text
Submitted by kafetzou
Source language: Turkish

gurbet elde bir başıma kimim var ki? senden başka...
öldüm desem bir damla su verenmi var senden başka?
kekik kokan dağlarım yok
bülbül öten bağlarım yok
tutunacak dallarım yok
kim varki; senden baÅŸka?

Title
while I'm in a foreign land who do I have for myself?
Translation
English

Translated by kafetzou
Target language: English

while I'm in a foreign land who do I have for myself? other than you ...
if I said I was dying, is there anyone who would give me a drop of water other than you?
I have no mountains with the scent of thyme
I have no vineyards with the nightingale singing
I have no branches to hold onto
who do I have, other than you?
Remarks about the translation
This is a bridge translation.

I wasn't sure about the "for myself" part.
Also, the concept of "gurbet elde" means literally "in the hands of exile" - it's a very common concept in Turkish, but it doesn't exist in English. I translated it as "while I'm in a foreign land".
Validated by IanMegill2 - 31 October 2007 03:48





Last messages

Author
Message

29 October 2007 00:26

IanMegill2
Number of messages: 1671
If I say I'm dying...?

CC: kafetzou

29 October 2007 12:06

kafetzou
Number of messages: 7963
Well ... I wondered about that too, but it's definitely past tense. I'll ask a Turkish expert. Serba?

CC: serba

30 October 2007 07:53

serba
Number of messages: 655
"if I say I am dying "

I think this is better.

it is not "bones" it is "thyme"

CC: kafetzou

30 October 2007 08:09

IanMegill2
Number of messages: 1671
;;

30 October 2007 08:12

IanMegill2
Number of messages: 1671
Maybe we could imitate that "past progressive-type" in English with:
If I said I was dying...
?
although it's actually a conditional form...

30 October 2007 11:50

kafetzou
Number of messages: 7963
Oh man - kemik = bones, kekik = thyme!!! OOPS!!!

Thanks for the suggestion, Ian - I did it that way, although to be honest I really don't understand this construction. This means that the verb "ölmek" means "to die", but also means "to be dying" - how confusing! But I remember now that it has come up before - in a translation of an old poem or something.

Thank you serba!!!

CC: serba