# Ap to parathiro mou stelno



## duckie

This is from a Pink Martini song called Never on Sunday. First for lines:

 Ap to parathiro mou stelno
 Ena dio ke tria ke tessera filia
 Pou ftanoun sto limani
 Ena ke dio ke tria ke tessera poulia

Full song here: http://www.lyricsdownload.com/pink-martini-never-on-sunday-lyrics.html

What language is that? The song is beautiful..


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## modus.irrealis

Hi,

That's Greek (but written, obviously, with roman letters). I'm not sure if you're also asking for a translation, but I (or somebody else here) could give it a shot.


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## duckie

I would like a translation, I just had to know the language in case I had to post that request in another forum, but there doesn't seem to be a Greek forum


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## modus.irrealis

For a very rough translation, here's my attempt (I should add that the song makes it clear the speaker is a female):

From my window, I send
one, two, and three, and four kisses
that reach the port
one and two, and three, and four birds

Other lines have been edited out for copyright reasons: Flaminius



For anyone's who more knowledgeable than me, I welcome any corrections -- this kind of translating stuff is sometimes too fun to not give it a try.


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## duckie

Much appreciated! She sings it so beautifully I'm almost considering taking up Greek as well, but I'm not sure my brain can handle that


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## parakseno

This is originally sung by Melina Merkouri, a well-renowned Greek actress. It's from the movie "Ποτέ την Κυριακή" (Never on Sunday) in which Melina is one of the main charaters. As far as I know, the song is called "Τα παιδιά του Πειραιά" (The kids/children of Pireus) and it's composed by Manos Xatzidakis.


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## ireney

She really sings in a very cute way!! And her accent is pretty good (but then all Spanish speakers do amazingly good with Greek).

As to the translation there's only one minor mistake:

"penies" is not "hardships" 

Greek Bouzouki and Greek baglamas are both played with the use of a plectrum.

Plectum in Greek is Πένα so playing with a plectrum is Πενιές (penies).

Changing penies  means changing the tune in this case. So, when the night falls, the city changes its tune and goes to something more "light", "fun" .

It's a quite famous song by the way and I think it was translated into French way back then as "Les enfants du Pirée "


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## duckie

Great info - I'm going to have to see that film!

So the line should say:

Which when evening falls
tells me songs
and changes its tune
it fills up with youth

Thank you all for your great help, I really like this song


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## ireney

duckie said:


> Great info - I'm going to have to see that film!
> 
> So the line should say:
> 
> Which when evening falls
> tells me songs
> and changes its tune
> it fills up with youth
> 
> Thank you all for your great help, I really like this song



Right duckie! And thanks for the link, I just LOVE this song!!

P.S. You will enjoy one scene of that film more if you know the real story (from Greek mythology) of Medea.

Edit: Hey they Greek one comes with subtitles in English! Not as accurate as modus' translation though!


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## modus.irrealis

ireney said:


> As to the translation there's only one minor mistake:
> 
> "penies" is not "hardships"



Thank you for the correction, but a small question: do you mean is not here "hardships" or is not "hardships" period? I was thinking it was πενίες, but that word shows up 6 times in google so maybe it doesn't exist.


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## Kevman

Γεια σου modus,

According to my research, πενία (accent on the ι) means "indigence", "poverty" or "want"--none of which normally pluralize in English.

Bouzouki picking in a rembetiko song seems to be πενιές (accent on the ε).


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## modus.irrealis

Kevman said:


> Γεια σου modus,
> 
> According to my research, πενία (accent on the ι) means "indigence", "poverty" or "want"--none of which normally pluralize in English.
> 
> Bouzouki picking in a rembetiko song seems to be πενιές (accent on the ε).





ireney said:


> Kev got it modus



Thanks to both of you. That makes sense.


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