highlyeccentric: Me (portrait by Scarlet Bennet) (Not impressed)
highlyeccentric ([personal profile] highlyeccentric) wrote2010-06-01 11:34 pm
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Internets, do you speak french?

Because I have here a phrase which I cannot understand in either OF *or* modern French, and I don't think anyone else can either, because my English translations don't look much like the original.

Se je t'en oy parler jamais,
Ja n'i ara fors que t'en fuises
.

First line is fine - "if I ever hear you speak of this...". Second line though, I'm stumped. I'm getting "then it will only *fors* that you *flee/had fled*"

The modern french translation I have of the second line is tu n'auras qu'à t'enfuir, which I do not understand either. I thought ne... que was an "only" construction? I don't know what to make of the à+infinitive construction (it's clearly not the same tense as the OF, but what on earth it IS i do not know, and my Coffman isn't telling me). "You will have to flee?" "You will only flee?"

The two English translations I have give variants on "you'll be sorry you didn't run away". Which sounds nice, but I'm not seeing the negation applied to fuises - it's applied to "i ara fors".

Any french-speakers care to explicate the modern french translation for me? If I can figure out what it says, I can probably sort out the OF.

Damn, I need an OF dictionary.
frith: Cosgrove/Onuki (anime retelling) (Serendipity)

[personal profile] frith 2010-06-01 04:17 pm (UTC)(link)
Simonaque! What is that? Creole? Haitian French? It also looks like it was spelled out by ear? Well, I'll take a crack at it.

Ce (que) je t'en ai jamais parlé or Si je t'en ai jamais parlé

[That (which) I'd never spoken to you of] or [If I've never spoken of it to you]

Je n'y aura fort que tu en fuisses or Y'a n'y aura fort que tu en fuisses where "y'a" is slang for "il", as in 'it', not as in 'he'.

[I but strongly suggest that you flee from it] or [There is but strong reason that you flee from it] I think "fort" just provides emphasis, like in 'hot damn!' and 'powerfully shy'.

[identity profile] mrlachatte.livejournal.com 2010-06-01 09:20 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm thinking the second line is something like "you will only flee to yourself" ie. alone, nobody can help you.