# BCS: Panonski mornar



## Miliu

Hello foreros,

I've tried to traslate the lyrics of this song of old đole Balašević, and there are three sentences that resist.

The first one says: U ravnici usred njiva gubim elan, nasukan u žitu morski vuk (the original version), while the words in Croatian become "... nasukani žitni morski vuk" (at least Kraljevi ulice so sing it in their fairly slower version). The translation would be: In the plains, amid fields, I lose my impulse, stranded sea-dog amid cereals". 
Is there any grammatical reason to change that "nasukan u žitu= stranded in the cereals" for "nasukani žitni=stranded and done of cereals"?

The second doubt is the following sentence "mog mora nema" : "of me - must - there is not" or "there's no bad dream of me" or something less...senseless?

The last one: what does it mean "Mesec Svetionik" (Mjesec Svjetionik) =month lighhouse?


To je šta pesma reći: kad naučim BCS ponekad "život mi je zato gorak kao tonik!"

Hvala lepo.


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## Duya

Miliu said:


> The first one says: U ravnici usred njiva gubim elan, nasukan u žitu morski vuk (the original version), while the words in Croatian become "... nasukani žitni morski vuk" (at least Kraljevi ulice so sing it in their fairly slower version). The translation would be: In the plains, amid fields, I lose my impulse, stranded sea-dog amid cereals".
> 
> Is there any grammatical reason to change that "nasukan u žitu= stranded in the cereals" for "nasukani žitni=stranded and done of cereals"?



Well, _žito_='wheat' rather than 'cereals' (which would be rather _žitarice_ and sounds awfully unpoetic). Apparently, they didn't mean 'made of wheat' but 'from wheat'.

I can't see a reason why they changed it, and the original sounds far better to me. Maybe they misheard it. 



Miliu said:


> The second doubt is the following sentence "mog mora nema" : "of me - must - there is not" or "there's no bad dream of me" or something less...senseless?



_Moje more_ (nom) > _Mog mora_ (gen): _Mog mora nema_ = 'There isn't my sea' ('My sea is not there').



Miliu said:


> The last one: what does it mean "Mesec Svetionik" (Mjesec Svjetionik) =month lighhouse?


 
Yes, it was meant as direct comparison, so could be written with a dash: _Al' na sreću tu je mesec-svetionik_.


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## Miliu

_Moje more_ (nom) > _Mog mora_ (gen): _Mog mora nema_ = 'There isn't my sea' ('My sea is not there').(Thanks Duya: I've been slapping myself for more than 10 minutes! It was just a "nema mojeg mora"!)




> Yes, it was meant as direct comparison, so could be written with a dash: _Al' na sreću tu je mesec-svetionik_.



[/QUOTE] OK, it's a comparison but..what does it means a "mesec-svetionik"? (the lighthouse of the month? The moon-like lighthouse? )


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## Duya

Ah, sorry, misread the question. _Moon_, not _month_. He meant moon (glowing like a) lighthouse.


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## Vanja

* Moon, not month

(Oh, you were faster... I haven't seen...)

Not moon-like, but "Moon the Lighthouse".


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## Miliu

Hvala dvama!


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## Duya

_Oboma_.  Or, _obojici_, if you know we're both males (we are).


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## Vanja

Duya said:


> _Oboma_.  Or, _obojici_, if you know we're both males (we are).



P.S. This is the second time you speak in the name of others (or answered instead of Anicetus or me). And the second (Cetinski's song first time), wrongly judged  "emotional stuff" . 
It's _oboma _or_ Vama dvoje hvala._


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## Duya

I suppose I wouldn't do well on an E.Q. test...


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## Miliu

Duya said:


> I suppose I wouldn't do well on an E.Q. test...




Thanks for clarifying your sexuality: those final "a" leaded me to think you are women! Sorry.

Therefore, would it be hvala oboma (to 2 males), obema (2 females) and oboma (2 neuters or 1 male+1 female)? 
The declension of oba and dva, is not the same?

Could I simply use the numeral 2 in this situation?: "hvala dvama muzičarima, koncert je bilo fantastičan".



Hvala .....  ! (fill the gap as you prefer!)


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## Duya

_Vanja_ is usually a male name or nickname (from _Ivan_) (thus my mishap), but can also be a female name or nickname (from _Ivana_). So, Vanja is a she . Mine is a male nickname (actually, _Duja_, but that username was taken). Many Serbian male names and nicknames end in -a (less so in Croatia and Bosnia, where they take the -o form), so you often can't tell unless you're familiar with the onomastics.

That stuff with _oba_ is helluva complicated, and I'm not even sure I can explain it accurately. I'll give it a try...

_Oba_ basically means 'both', i.e. 'these/those two'. It is not generally replaceable with _dva_ 'two'. Especially in a dialogue, you would rather use _oba_ to address a pair; _dva_ could only be used in third person: _Dva muzičara su odlično svirala._

Now, the really complicated stuff: _oba_ is usually used as a adjective, i.e. it precedes a noun (which would be in paucal, as with number two): _oba čoveka, obe žene, oba deteta_. However, when you need just a noun, you'd rather use _obojica, obe_ or _oboje_ (both neutrum or mixed-company), as in _hvala obojici/obema/oboma_. Those can have an accompanied noun, but then it acts as a quantifier (like _par, mnogo, nekoliko_), and the noun thus goes into genitive plural: _hvala obojici muzičara/hvala obema violinistkinjama_. _Oboje_ resists the complement: _Hvala oboma dece_ sounds strange to me. 

Note that _oba_ actually behaves like numbers 2-4, so that it has separate "numeral nouns" for m. and n. (but not f.):

oba čoveka : obe žene : oba deteta | obojica muškaraca :  oboje dece
dva čoveka : dve žene : dva deteta | dvojica muškaraca :  dvoje dece
četiri čoveka : četiri žene : četiri deteta | četvorica muškaraca :  četvoro dece


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## Vanja

Vanja is rather a female (nick)name here. In Russian, Vanya is male. But Sasha is for Russian girls/women too (I think it's in fashion now) and Serbian male Vlada is a female Russian nickname (Vlada Rosyakova, famous model). The world is changing.... 



> Could I simply use the numeral 2 in this situation?: "hvala dvama muzičarima, koncert je bilo fantastičan". !



Hvala vam obojici, koncert... or just Hvala vam, without obojici/ vama dvoje i sl. (But two persons can't hold a concert, so you have to greet all forty-eighty of them )





> Hvala .....  ! (fill the gap as you prefer!)



Hvala vam pudlice moje male!


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## Miliu

Wow! In the States lives Obama and in Serbia live obema and oboma!!! As Hugo Chávez (Ugo čavez) would say: Oh, Bama, it smells of sulphur!

Thanks, I promise to be careful when I'll meet a couple of anything in Serbia.


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