# φύγε κι έλα με ταμένα



## seitt

Greetings

In this song lyric, I think that the singer says, “φύγε κι έλα με ταμένα”, but what does it mean exactly? I guess it could just possibly be “φύγε κι έλα μέθα μένα”. Do either of these mean anything in Greek (the φύγε κι έλα part is okay, btw)?

In case I'm completely barking up the wrong tree, here is the link for the song and the lyrics as far as I've been able to work them out, with the help of various versions available on the Internet:

Φιλεντέμ (Μια παντρεμένη αγαπώ) – Νίκος Ξυλούρης


Μάγια μου'χεις καμωμένα
και τρελαίνομαι για εσένα. 
και τρελαίνομαι για εσένα. 
φύγε κι έλα με ταμένα (?) μέθα μένα (?)



All the best, and many thanks,

Simon


----------



## cougr

Hi Simon,

It's  _με τα μένα (=__ με μένα), _an expression encountered in many songs and poems, particularly those of Cretan and islandic origin.


----------



## seitt

Thank you so much - without your valuable help I'd never have got it!


----------



## seitt

I was just wondering if it might be better spelt «μετά μένα», as «με τα μένα» seems ungrammatical.
 Acting on this hypothesis, I've managed to locate this page, which seems to back this idea up:
http://greek_greek.enacademic.com/98754/μετά
μετά:
νεοελλ.
2. φρ. α) «μετά μένα», «μετά σένα» κ.λπ.
μαζί μου, μαζί σου κ.λπ.

The other uses of μετά seem to be καθαρεύουσα borrowings, but I suggest that here we have a genuine δημοτική use of the form μετά.


----------



## Perseas

seitt said:


> I was just wondering if it might be better spelt «μετά μένα», as «με τα μένα» seems ungrammatical.


Hi,

maybe «με τα μένα» is ungrammatical (yes it is) but it is just how I had it in my mind when I heard the song.

«μετά μένα» seems to be the correct spelling but the strange thing to me is that it combines a word of pure Demotic ("μένα") with a word whose meaning as "με" was met only in phrases of Katharevousa. "μετά" in Demotic means "after". I assume that this "μετά μένα" might be dialectical element.

PS. Very interesting online dictionary!


----------



## seitt

> maybe «με τα μένα» is ungrammatical (yes it is) but it is just how I had it in my mind when I heard the song.


Much obliged - actually I do see your point here because the pronunciation is more like «μετα μένα» than «μετά μένα» as there is no discernible stress on the second syllable of the word meaning "with", which seems to be being treated as a disyllabic proclitic.

Oh well, dialects are always very tricky things.


----------



## cougr

Apologies for the error. A while ago when I had first encountered the term I had interpreted it as "_με τα μένα_"-which as Perseas has implied isn't difficult to do-and even though thereafter I had seen it written as "_μετά μένα_" or it's variant "_μετ' εμένα_" it was the erroneous version which became ingrained in my mind.


----------



## seitt

No problem, and many thanks to all again.


----------



## bearded

To Perseas:
And could it not really mean 'after' ?  Go and come after me.
But maybe my hypothesis is absurd....


----------



## Perseas

bearded man said:


> To Perseas:
> And could it not really mean 'after' ?  Go and come after me.


Then it should be "μετά από μένα", but would someone say to the woman he is in love with "come with me" or "come after me"?


----------

