# Norwegian: "Det var seg en aften" Lyrics: Unknown Word



## 123xyz

There is a Norwegian folk song called "Det var seg en aften" but unfortunately, I cannot find the lyrics to it. I have only found one recording of it so far on YouTube, and by listening to it, I have been able to identify only some of the words. Since the song appears to be in a dialect, that makes matters even more difficult. Therefore, I am hoping that someone here will help me with what I can't identify/translate.

The first stanza, i.e. first four lines appear to be:

Det var seg en aften, jeg tror vesan tanc,
Meg listet en hyve, meg listet ei tanc.
Mitt sorge, mitt hjerte heiktar så hinne,
Jeg søkte meg glede men fann då kun stene.

Presumably much of the lyrics are wrong, but regardless of that, I am wondering what the word in red is supposed to be, after "tror". I am probably not hearing it right, so it might be something quite different, but it sounds as if it were one word spelled "vesan". Does it mean "there was a"? I somehow got the idea that the second part of the first line means "I think there was a dance", but possibly I made some false associations. I hope someone can tell me what the word is actually supposed to be and mean.

Thank you in advance


----------



## myšlenka

Det var seg en aften, jeg tror ved sankthans


----------



## NorwegianNYC

I have a very old hand-written copy of the lyrics, and is says "first and last verse only" (I presume there are more):

Det var seg en aften - jeg tror ved sankthans
Med lyste til livet, med lyste til dans
Med sorg i mitt hjerte, jeg gikk der så ene
Jeg søkte meg glede, men fant dog kun stene

Jeg gikk der så ensom med sorg i mitt sinn
Så fulgte jeg stien i skogdypet inn
Der vandrer så mange i nettene sene
Gud hjelpe meg stakkel, som vandrer alene

I cannot guarantee this is what it says, but I am pretty sure it is close.


----------



## Kadabrium

Det var seg en aften jeg tror ved sankt hans
Meg lystet ei hyve, meg lystet ei dans
Med sorg i mitt hjerte jeg gikk der så inne (ene?)
Jeg søkte meg glede men fann dog kun steiner
Jeg gikk der så ensom med sorget i mitt sinn
Så fulgte jeg stien i skog dype inn
der vandrer så mange i nettene sine
Gud hjelpe meg stakkar som vandrer alene


----------



## Kadabrium

NorwegianNYC said:


> I have a very old hand-written copy of the lyrics, and is says "first and last verse only" (I presume there are more):
> 
> Det var seg en aften - jeg tror ved sankthans
> Med lyste til livet, med lyste til dans
> Med sorg i mitt hjerte, jeg gikk der så ene
> Jeg søkte meg glede, men fant dog kun stene
> 
> Jeg gikk der så ensom med sorg i mitt sinn
> Så fulgte jeg stien i skogdypet inn
> Der vandrer så mange i nettene sene
> Gud hjelpe meg stakkel, som vandrer alene
> 
> I cannot guarantee this is what it says, but I am pretty sure it is close.


So combining this and what I've figured out, and fixing up the grammar,

Det var seg en aften jeg tror ved sankt hans
Meg lystet ei livet, meg lystet ei dans
Med sorg i mitt hjerte jeg gikk der så ene
Jeg søkte meg glede men fann dog kun steiner
Jeg gikk der så ensom med sorget i mitt sinn
Så fulgte jeg stien i skog dype inn
der vandrer så mange i nettene sine (sense of this line still questionable to me)
Gud hjelpe meg stakkar som vandrer alene


----------



## NorwegianNYC

Kadabrium - I will have to edit you here. You have made a couple of mistakes:

Det var seg en aften - jeg tror ved sankthans [this is correct]
Meg lystet ei livet, meg lystet ei dans [I think you are correct. My version is written in old-style script, so this line is a bit hard to decipher]
Med sorg i mitt hjerte, jeg gikk der så ene [this is correct]
Jeg søkte meg glede, men fant dog kun stene [this is correct][not steiner]

Jeg gikk der så ensom med sorg i mitt sinn [this is correct]
Så fulgte jeg stien i skogdypet inn [this is correct]
Der vandrer så mange i nettene sene [this is correct]
Gud hjelpe meg stakkel, som vandrer alene [this is correct]


----------



## Kadabrium

^what is_ stene_ supposed to mean then? I looked it up again at this dictionary
http://www.nob-ordbok.uio.no/perl/ordbok.cgi?OPP=stene&begge=+&ordbok=begge 
where it isn't listed as a word at all.
Also, what does_ vandre i nettene sene _want to say?

I still think the language style here is pretty modern though.


----------



## NorwegianNYC

*Stene* is an old plural (= steiner)
*Vandre i nettene sene* ("wander in nights late" = to be wandering late at night)


----------



## Kadabrium

^Got it. Forgot about the umlaut again.


----------



## 123xyz

Thank you everyone for the replies,

"ved sankthans" makes much more sense  I wouldn't have ever thought of it, though.
Thank you for the complete lyrics as well, I never knew what the two last lines were. I thought they said the following:

Par vandrer som hange i nettene sine
Gud hjelpe meg stakkel som vandrer alene

I thought it means "a couple is walking along like a spider (because "hange" reminded me of "to hang" and spiders hang down) in its webs; God help poor me, who roams alone" .

By the way, what about the second line? The line "med lyste til livet" makes sense - "with a desire for life". However, what would the logic behind "meg lystet ei livet" be? Why does "liv" have both articles there and shouldn't the subject and object be the other way around, i.e. shouldn't the speaker be longing instead of the life? And if it were with "hyve" as some of you suggested, what would that mean? When I listened to it myself it sounded like "hyve" was being said but I never had any idea what that could mean or if it is even a real word.


----------



## myšlenka

123xyz said:


> By the way, what about the second line? The line "med lyste til livet" makes sense - "with a desire for life". However, what would the logic behind "meg lystet ei livet" be? Why does "liv" have both articles there and shouldn't the subject and object be the other way around, i.e. shouldn't the speaker be longing instead of the life? And if it were with "hyve" as some of you suggested, what would that mean? When I listened to it myself it sounded like "hyve" was being said but I never had any idea what that could mean or if it is even a real word.


 ei = not, so "meg lystet ei livet" is in fact quite the opposite - "without a desire for life".

As for the placement of the subject with respect to the object, there is no "should". It all depends on information structure and context, and in this particular case it sounds more natural to put the object first.

The word "hyve" doesn't exist as far as I know.


----------



## 123xyz

Thank you for the information,
I didn't realize that "ei" means "not". I thought it meant "a", as in "ei bok". I think I understand the song now.


----------



## myšlenka

123xyz said:


> I didn't realize that "ei" means "not". I thought it meant "a", as in "ei bok".


_Ei_ has two possible meanings, "a(n)" or "not", but the latter is archaic.


----------

