儿歌《Old King Cole》《老国王科尔》
Old King Cole
老国王科尔
Was a merry old soul,
有颗快乐的心
And a merry old soul was he.
有颗快乐的心的人就是他
He called for his pipe,
他叫来了他的笛子手/烟斗
And he called for his bowl,
他叫来了他的碗
And he called for his fiddlers three.
也叫来了他的三个小提琴手
Every fiddler he had a fiddle,
每个小提琴手都有一把小提琴
And a very fine fiddle had he,
每把很好的小提琴都有它的琴手
oh，there’s none so rare
这是如此罕见
As can compare
With King Cole and his fiddlers three
没有什么能和老国王科尔
和他的三个琴手相比
英文歌词:
Old King Cole was a merry old soul, and a merry old soul was he;
He called for his pipe in the middle of the night
And he called for his fiddlers three.
Every fiddler had a fine fiddle, and a very fine fiddle had he;
Oh there's none so rare as can compare
With King Cole and his fiddlers three
歌曲来源及背景:
老国王科尔反映的是包括凯尔特人、罗马人、撒克逊人、亚瑟王在内的古不列颠的历史。蒙茅斯的杰佛里《不列颠诸王史》讲述了不列颠所有国王的事迹，从第一位国王布鲁图斯一直到卡德瓦罗的儿子卡德瓦拉德。但是歌曲可能影射的可能是哪一位国王呢？
Coel Hen
常见的说法是威尔士的传奇国王Coel 被称为'Old Cole' or 'Old King Cole'. 经常有种猜测认为歌曲中的老国王处于罗马时期的不列颠。但是歌曲内容指的确实是14-18世纪。
Cole-brook
19世纪的音乐人及作家 William Chappell创作了大量的群众歌曲, 据猜测歌曲中的"Old King Cole"
词语溯源：
- merry
愉快的，快活的(adj.) 古英语 myrge "pleasing, agreeable, pleasant, sweet; pleasantly, melodiously," 源自原始日耳曼语*murgijaz, 原始意思打开时"short-lasting," (对比古高地德语 murg "short," 哥特语 gamaurgjan "to shorten"), 源自印欧语*mreghu- "short" (参看 brief (adj.)). 准确的同源词是中古荷兰语mergelijc "joyful." -
- pipe
管子； 烟斗； 管乐器；(n.) - 古英语pipe "musical wind instrument,"
又是 "tube to convey water," 源自拉丁语*pipa "a pipe, tube-shaped musical instrument" (同源意大利语pipa, 法语pipe,古弗里斯兰语pipe, 德语Pfeife, 丹麦语pibe, 瑞典语pipa,荷兰语pijp), 均以拉丁语pipare构词意为 "to chirp or peep," 以 "small reed, whistle."的管状派生构词。 "device for smoking" 的意思1590年首次出现. Pipe-bomb1960年认可. Pipe-cleaner1863年首次记录. - 估计是1590年代的烟斗都是管子形状的吧。烟斗的历史百度有介绍。
-
- fiddle 小提琴； [航]桌面柜；(n.)
- 14世纪末期"stringed musical instrument, violin," 。古英语fiðele "fiddle," 有fedele, fydyll, fidel, 拼写早期为fithele，同挪威语fiðla, 中古荷兰语vedele,德语Fiedel "a fiddle;"相关，源头不详。
有种基于音乐及感受相似处的公认猜测是, 拉丁语vitula "stringed instrument" ，拉丁语vitularia "celebrate joyfully,"源自 Vitula, 罗马胜利及欢乐女神。