HELP URGENTLY NEEDED!!

khadeed23
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HELP URGENTLY NEEDED!!

Postby khadeed23 » 2018-03-10, 23:39

Thank you in advance to everyone on this lovely forum. I’m teaching a text called Black Medea by Ernest Ferlita, and as the main characters are mostly Haitian and the plot focuses on the intricacies of Voodoo rituals, there are plenty of (I’m assuming Haitian) Creole words that the editor didn’t bother to translate in the footnotes (I can’t imagine why). Among these words and
phrases are the following:

m’ sé couleve ro (after “Damballah.” I’ve tentatively translated this as “I am a snake,” but I’m also considering “I am a tall snake,” and considering that both translations might be wrong).

Ago-hé: spoken many times like an interjection during a ritual involving Damballah

Mayen ka (followed in English by “beat the drums!”)

Woyo (“Damballah is like a river, woyo.”)

Loyo (“Great serpent, king! I am ready, loyo, but the way is barred.”)

Enhé (also seems to be an interjection: “Enhé, la reine, oh Madeleine!”)

Cord cuts cord (apparently a proverb...)

Any help would be *tremendously* appreciated. I have no resources at my disposal. None of the Creole-English dictionaries I could get, free or paid, covered these words and expressions.

Thank you in advance.

vijayjohn
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Re: HELP URGENTLY NEEDED!!

Postby vijayjohn » 2018-03-20, 3:36

khadeed23 wrote:m’ sé couleve ro (after “Damballah.” I’ve tentatively translated this as “I am a snake,” but I’m also considering “I am a tall snake,” and considering that both translations might be wrong).

Ago-hé: spoken many times like an interjection during a ritual involving Damballah

I think these may both be accurate.
Mayen ka (followed in English by “beat the drums!”)

Maybe something like 'so'? (Sounds kind of like moyen que in French). Are you sure it isn't mwayen ka?
Woyo (“Damballah is like a river, woyo.”)

Maybe "see!"?
Loyo (“Great serpent, king! I am ready, loyo, but the way is barred.”)

I'm tempted to say either this is another interjection or it's from some form derived from the French verb louer 'to praise'.
Cord cuts cord (apparently a proverb...)

Could this just be English?


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