ever17のあの曲を英語で再解釈しました English re-interpretation of that song from ever 17 (ever 17 ネタバレ注意spoiler alert)
der Mond das Meer その月とその海
song: der Mond das Meer. if you are not familiar with the title, its advised to read through ever 17 before reading this. it is a good VN!
searched around on wiki for greek deities and concepts. not an expert in this area. i just wanted to translate it into classic English style. not a native speaker. do not know how to make lyrics singable either.
all my best.
長弓背負いし 月の精
the spirit of Moon Selene was tottering along,
the bent Bow upon her slender back
夢の中より 待ちをりぬ*8
awaits her destined meeting, she is There,
with a certain someone, from a within a dream
今宵やなぐい*1 月夜見囃子
Tonight the Arrow of the quiver is set,
from the Bow She plays birthed forth Music of moonlit Ages.*2
早く来んかと 待ちをりぬ
If thou wouldst not come...the Music waits nevermore.
眠りたもう ぬくと丸みて*7
"I was getting sleepy!" as she rolls into a warm round Thing. *3
眠りたもう 母に抱かれて
"I was getting sleepy!" as she is cuddle by her Mother and kin. ("the Moon and the Sea")*4
真櫂5掲げし 水の精
She plys that crafty Oar of Truth, Metis the anima of Water.*6
夢の中より 待ちをりぬ
awaiting her destined meeting,
with a certain someone, from a within a dream
今宵とりふね うずまき鬼
Tonight He adjugates the heavenly Bird's Boat*7, the Ogre*10 stirring the gyres.
早く来んかと 待ちをりぬ
If thou wouldst come sooner...I cannot wait ever longer... Here.
眠りたもう ゆるゆる揺られ
I was getting sleepy. Let me sway, bobbing and weaving, with the waves...
眠りたもう 海に抱かれて
I am getting sleepy...embraced by the Ocean.*9
*1 https://www.weblio.jp/content/やなぐい
quiver for arrows
*2 my understanding of this pathos through Nietzsche's "The Birth of Tragedy Out of the Spirit of Music"
also the metaphor works if it applies to Tsugumi
*3
according to weblio it has the meaning of
完全で、欠けたところのないこと。また、全部を包含していること "a state of wholeness and completion all-inclusive of elements".
人名、特に稚児に用いる "in personal names, especially for young children."
and it is also used to dentoe a spatial concept:
城郭の内部。近世の城郭で内郭・外郭の外周をいい、その位置から本丸、二の丸、三の丸などと称する。「—の内」
The interior of a castle. In modern castles, it refers to the perimeter of the inner and outer walls, and is called Honmaru, Ninomaru, San-no-Maru, etc., depending on its location. The "inside of -."
this to me conjures the image of a womb or a mound or a pod.
I was also able to associate it with the metaphor usage of comparing a female to a freshly minted coin in Oscar Wilde's Salome.
it does have this nuance in modern Japanese. 金銭のこと。会話で親指と人差し指とで輪をつくって示すこともある。
coincidentally weblio also says it could be used as either a unit of old weight system or a unit for counting old Japanese paper (which were very valuable back in history).
"
㋐重さの単位。一丸は50斤で、約30キロ。
㋑和紙を数える単位。一丸は、半紙では6締め、奉書紙では10束。"
(from 丸, weblio)
I do not like that archtype and psychoanalysis stuff. I leave those out.
also see *7 for extra implications in later context.
*4 based on Thetis of greek mythology.
Not exclusively Tsugumi.
Do not forget YouHaru.
it's (spirit of) "The Moon" and (the anima of) "Sea".
Achillies, is perhaps Shounen, regardless of which.
Achillies is perhaps you, or You.
*5
真櫂 an embelished form of 櫂 which is 《「か（掻）き」の音変化》 according to weblio.
as in 足掻く "to struggle",
weirdly, the weblio has those two definitions ready for further decontruction of the theme.
(1) 手足を振り動かしてもがく。じたばたする。「水面に浮かび上がろうと—・く」
to struggle while flailing limbs around, to figet. " [subject] struggles in order to emerge above the surface of water".
(3) 馬などが前足で地面をかく。また、そのようにして進む。
「馬は—・いた。（馬車ノ）車輪は廻らぬままで、…石ころの上を引きずり出した」〈伊藤整・馬喰の果て〉
A horse or other animal treads the ground with its front feet. Also, to go forward in this way.
The horse was struggling.（The wheels of the wagon did not turn, and the horse dragged itself over the pebbles.〈伊藤整・馬喰の果て〉
*6 YouHaru+YouAki. Anima as in plural of Animus.
*7 apart from an archaic form of 船取り (taking the ship by force). it could also be a reference to
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/鳥之石楠船神#cite_note-2
which is called 天の鳥船 (ama no tori-fune, the Heavenly Bird's Boat).
i do not know japanese folklore and history of Japanese shintoism very well. but according to the wiki the name of the boat is just called "天" and driven by another deity in 『日本書紀』. "天" in this context implies the Kanjis [合 meeting, conjugation＋鳥 bird]. But in 『古事記』 its just 天鳥船神 the Heavenly Bird Deity that drives it. and some other deities etc..
"しかし『日本書紀』の同段では天鳥船神は登場せず、事代主神に派遣されたのも稲背脛という別の者になっている。稲背脛は「熊野諸手船、またの名を天[合＋鳥]船」という船に乗っていったというが、『古事記』では天鳥船神が使者となっている。また熊野諸手船は美保神社の諸手船神事の元である。" (鳥之石楠船神, wiki)
from *3 ---also in Japan the names of the ships and boats typically have 丸 at the end.
and in names of katanas and music instruments according to weblio on the word
船の名に用いる。「海神—」 used in the names of marine vessels, [watatsumi-maru]
刀・楽器その他の器物の名に用いる。「蜘蛛切(くもきり)—」 used in naming katanas, music instruments or instruments in general [spider-cutting -maru]
鳥之石楠船神 was also said to be vice-envoy of 建御雷神 Takemikazuchi, a major Japanese deity of lightning and swords.
hence either it is connected with "shounen", or the player, if the phrase ぬくと丸みて is referring to swords .
in referring to ships / boats, it is likely Sara, or Hokuto, or You ("shynny boy", the one who sent the boat powered by Craft). Sara was referred to as being migratory fish by Nakazawa in her character song (while her father takeshi the cuckoo bird who had the connotation of "never being able to see the autumn moon" in 百人一首. Cuckoo birds in Sino-Japanese culture also has the implication of being birds "then, I'd rather return home" from a quasi-mythical, quasi-historical anecdote. (「不如帰去」（帰り去くに如かず。＝ 何よりも帰るのがいちばん）) https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/ホトトギス
when referring to music instrument, three, Tsugumi, Sara and Coco.
*8
りぬ
"would be there"
*9 "Ocean" instead of "Sea".
I wanted to incorporate also the aspect of Japanese sea deities into the translation.
In my imagination the Sea here has elements from Watatsukami. The sea deity being referenced in the famous VN op 鳥の詩 "tori no shi" in Air.
「わたつみのような強さを守れる（様に）」 pray be that you may guard that fortitude which is like god-in-sea-sponge.
Ōwatatsumi no kami (大綿津見神, "great deity of the sea") is believed to be another name for the sea deity Ryūjin (龍神, Dragon God) and also for the Watatsumi Sanjin (綿津見三神, "Three Watatsumi gods"), which rule the upper, middle and lower seas respectively and were created when Izanagi was washing himself of the dragons blood when he returned from Yomi, "the underworld".
( https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/ワタツミ)
.
also i meant to refer to this
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontus_(mythology)
Pontus was Gaia's son and has no father; according to the Greek poet Hesiod, he was born without coupling,[2] though according to Hyginus, Pontus is the son of Aether and Gaia.[3]
In a Roman sculpture of the 2nd century AD, Pontus, rising from seaweed, grasps a rudder with his right hand and leans on the prow of a ship. He wears a mural crown, and accompanies Fortuna, whose draperies appear at the left, as twin patron deities of the Black Sea port of Tomis in Moesia.
"rising from seaweed, grasps a rudder with his right hand and leans on the prow of a ship." this is a nice touch.
the "old Man of the sea" is variably, shounen, 桑古木涼権, and Blickwinkel.
Tharmas from Blake's mythology.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oceanus
*10 "titanic ogre"= Orc (Blake)