Cisilute, ti vuei ben; vorês dâti une bussade e tignîti sul gno sen

In the last entry, we explored the Friulian use of ti vuei ben (I love you). Let's continue now, this time with a song based on a poem about love for a little sparrow. It is unknown who the author of the poem is. The Friulian for swallow is the feminine noun cisile (ci-sì-le), and its diminutive is cisilute (ci-si-lù-te), meaning little swallow, but we hear Zardini sing sisilute, which is simply a variant pronunciation.

Je tornade primevere
cul profum di mil odôrs
dut il mont al mude ciere
ducj a tornin i colôrs

Ancje tu tu sês tornade
cisilute, ti vuei ben
vorês dâti une bussade
e tignîti sul gno sen

vorês dâti une bussade
e tignîti sul gno sen

Dulà vatu, cisilute?
no sta lâ lontan lontan
fâs culì la tô cjasute
di stecuts e di pantan

Reste pûr, reste poiade
sisilute, su chel len
vorês dâti une bussade
e tignîti sul gno sen

vorês dâti une bussade
e tignîti sul gno sen

1. Je tornade primevere (spring is returned) / cul profum di mil odôrs (with its thousand-scented perfume) / dut il mont al mute ciere (all the world is changing guise) / ducj a tornin i colôrs (all its colours are returning). // Notes: Je tornade, equivalent to: e je tornade. Ducj a tornin i colôrs: poetic word order, equivalent to: ducj i colôrs a tornin.

2. Ancje tu tu sês tornade (thou too art returned) / cisilute, ti vuei ben (little swallow, I do love thee) / vorês dâti une bussade (I should like to give thee a kiss) / e tignîti sul gno sen (and to keep thee on my breast). // Notes: As mentioned above, the standardised term for swallow is cisile (ci-sì-le) and its diminutive cisilute (ci-si-lù-te), but some speakers say sisile and sisilute; we hear Zardini sing sisilute. Vorês, equivalent to: o volarès.

3. Dulà vatu, cisilute? (whither goest thou, little swallow?) / no sta lâ lontan lontan (go not thou far far away) / fâs culì la tô cjasute (make thou here thy little house) / di stecuts e di pantan (of little sticks and mud). // Notes: Vatu, equivalent to vâstu. Cjasute (little house) is the diminutive of the feminine noun cjase (house). Stecut (little stick, twig) is the diminutive of the masculine noun stec (stick). In the singular, the final t of stecut is pronounced, but it drops before the final s of the plural. Both stecut and pantan and pronunced with tonic stress on the final syllable: ste-cùt, pan-tàn.

4. Reste pûr, reste poiade (stay oh stay, do rest) / cisilute, su chel len (little sparrow, on that bough) / vorês dâti une bussade (I should like to give thee a kiss) / e tignîti sul gno sen (and to keep thee on my breast).