Hello!
Can anyone help with translation of a zulu lulaby? The text in the score goes like this:
Thula thul, thula baba, thula sana;
thul’ u bab’uzo fika eku seni;
kukh’in kanyezi ziholel’ u baba,
zimkhan yisela indlel’e ziyekhaya
sobe sikhona xa bonke beshoyo,
bethi buyela ubuye lekhaya.
Tula thula, thula baba
Thula san.
I tried to find translation on the web and used isizulu.net as a dictionary. I suspect the text in the score is with mistakes. This text from web (
http://www.mamalisa.com/?c=69&p=3183&t=es) seems quite good, but I cannot understand the syntax and the logic of the last two lines.
Thula thul, thula baba, thula sana,
Thul'ubab uzobuya, ekuseni.
Kukh'inkanyezi, zi-holel' ubaba,
Zimkhanyisela indlel'e ziyak-haya,
Sobe sikhona ka bonke bashoyo,
Bayathi buyela. Ubuye le khaya.
As far as I could understand it goes like this:
Hush, baby, hush baby (baba = baby?)
Hush, father will arrive in the morning.
There is a star that will lead the father, (star or stars?)
It will brighten for him the road home, ('yisela' — does it mean 'for him'? 'ziyak-haya' — is the spelling correct?)
We will be there everyone [together?] ('beshoyo' or 'bashoyo' and what is it? 'xa' or 'ka' and what is it?)
? he will return home. ('bethi' or 'bayathi' and what is it? 'buyela', 'ubuye' — can't understand what forms are they)
There are also some different text versions on youtube, in one of them the 3rd and 4th lines are (as far as I can hear):
Kukh’ inkanyezi ekanyel ubaa,
ekanyel umama, ekanyel usana.
Does it mean 'There's a star that shines for the father, shines for the mother, shines for the baby'?
(
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3ZqTrkNJDc)
Many thanks for any help!