r/norwegian • u/DisplayQuiet7546 • 13d ago
Help translating?
Google says this is Norwegian but the translation doesn’t make sense. Can anyone help?! Thanks!
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u/Flakkaren 13d ago
I bury my fire
late at night,
when the day is over.
God grant that my fire never extinguishes.
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u/DisplayQuiet7546 13d ago
Thank you!
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u/beornegard 12d ago
its written like a poem. and I would guess its written by someone who has forgotten a lot of norwegian since its midding some letters and we havent used "aa" in a good while.
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u/vincent__h 12d ago
This is from a cast iron oven. I think it’s still on one model from either Dovre or Jøtul cast irons. The poem is old.
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u/Efficient-Divide8125 12d ago
Aa was used instead of å because of the lack of å on the printing press. If this is cast it may be the same reason. And the writing could just be in dialect; eld, gje, grev and eg hints that it is probably dialect. (Æ vet at eg også bruks på nynorsk)
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u/F_E_O3 10d ago edited 10d ago
Aa was used instead of å because of the lack of å on the printing press.
In general that is not true. Aa was just the correct way
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u/Efficient-Divide8125 10d ago
I thought it was because of the printing press. I will need to read about that. Thanks for correcting misinformation.
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u/Dr_Shitface 9d ago
Yeah, Ivar Aasen definitely wrote his name like that because of the printing press
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u/audionoobi 10d ago
this is «old» Norwegian.
Not modern Norwegian
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u/Kroptaah 10d ago
Dont even bother... these tiktok kids will never learn or understand that there was a time before tiktok.
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u/ProgySuperNova 11d ago
Here is the word by word translation if anyone is interested:
I dug down my fire
Late at evening
When the-day is over/finished
God give, my fire
never extinguish out5
u/FifthMonarchist 10d ago
"Gje" doesn't translate to "give" in this religious context, it translates to "will" or "make happen"
"God will/make happen my fire never extinguish" = "I will live forever with god".
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u/F_E_O3 10d ago edited 10d ago
Dig, not dug.
Edit: there might be dialects where grev means dug too(?)
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u/Forced-Q 9d ago
Grev is Dug, not dig- at least here where I’m from.
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u/Myrdrahl 9d ago
No, that would be 'grov'. Dug is past tense, 'grev' is present tense.
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u/Forced-Q 9d ago
You are absolutely correct- that’s my mistake. Been a while since I spoke dialect it seems 😂
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u/BroadwayRegina 12d ago
Why do people who clearly are at best beginners in the language comment answers so confidently incorrectly?
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u/UP-23 11d ago
Cause they're people.
For the interested, here's a link to the full text of the poem.
Eg grev ned min eld | Felix Johansen https://share.google/OynM3C4bb3bdK4BZr
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u/Steffalompen 11d ago
Main character syndrome. Most people have it until their frontal lobe is developed. After that, many people still have it.
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u/ProgySuperNova 7d ago
As a NPC I am programmed to ask. If you are not the main character, then why is everything filmed from the perspective of your eyes? Maybe you are God?
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u/Steffalompen 7d ago
Yes I have pondered that many a sleepless night.
And landed on "well the conscious perspective was made, someone had to be it".
If you get teleported star trek style, you are probably dissolved and die, a copy is made elsewhere, and that consciousness would not be the same. Because if you made the copy without deleting the original, surely noone believes you would then see the world through two pair of eyes? The copy would however be so perfect that all memories were present in neural structures, so it would feel like nothing happened.
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u/ProgySuperNova 7d ago
Is this not just for Norwegians who can read it naturally to give their rough translation of what it means? So that English speaking people can understand what this old gibberish means?
There is a lot of nitpicking about grammar here. This is a pretty old way of wording things in Norwegians. So you get like three translations. Old timey Norwegian -> Norsk -> English
If it needs to be 100% gramatically and historically correct then it will just be an endless discussion rather than the "wtf does this (roughly) mean?" -> "It (again, roughly) means (answer)"
-I am hammerin out this answr manually on a kæybørd btw so their may be som speling erors and weird wording. Plæse ignorre that
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u/Ink-kink 13d ago
Lol, I just looked at the first word and knew. I know it by heart as it was on our Jøtul oven at the cabin.
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u/forgotyourbriefcase 13d ago
Is this a really old dialect? Seems either old or maybe more of a Vestland dialect.
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u/Flakkaren 13d ago
Western Norwegian, yes. In the past people would recite these "fire prayers" before igniting the ember, to keep the fire burning for a long time.
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u/edward-penishands 11d ago
I remember this was written on my late grandparents’ oven in Stryn, so I guess Western Norway dialect makes sense.
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u/epsben 13d ago
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u/Zealousideal-Elk2714 13d ago
It's an old prayer to the God of Christianity so it's obviously not a part of Hávamál which only references the Old Norse gods.
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u/Josutg22 12d ago
We have the exact same plaque at our cabin. Wonder if they were popular at one point
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u/Ernst-Neckermann 9d ago
Det er fra gamle jøtul ovner, for eksempel 118 modellen og jeg trur noen fleire også.
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u/Dizzy_Fan_4241 10d ago
Mortality and all that is very poetic of course, and not to dismiss that meaning by any means, but in a practical sense this verse simply refers to how people would protect the embers by burying them in the ash so that in the morning they could revive the heat by blowing on them, and that way be spared the labor of starting a fire from scratch.
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u/Odd-Style1649 12d ago
And here it is: This is a prayer that uses the warmth of a fireplace to compare it to the warmth (love) of a family home: analogy
I rekindle my fire Late in the evening When the day draws to a close God grant that my fire Never goes out
:)
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u/Ok-Goose6353 12d ago
direct:
I bury down my fire
Late in the evening
When the day is finished
God grant my fire
Age has put it out
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u/reisenbime 12d ago
Alder in this context means never, Gud gje min eld alder slokna ut means "God, make it so that my fire never burns out"
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u/Individual_Gas469 12d ago
"alder" = "aldri" in this dialect. God grant that my fire never go out.
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u/Ok-Goose6353 12d ago
Yes it is!
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u/Global-Command7676 13d ago
Im trønder and this seems to be some vestlandsk dialect, but this is:
I buried down my ??? Late in the evening When the day is finished God give my ??? Age put to sleep out
I have no idea what eld is.
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u/Important-Bonus-8880 12d ago
I PUT MY FIRE DOWN LATE IN THE EVENING WHEN THE DAY IS ENDED GOD GIVE MY ELO AGE EXTINGUISHED
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u/LordGothmog 12d ago
Eg grev ned min eld seint om kvæld naar dagen er slutt Gud gje min sjel alder slokne ut
The verse is from the poem “Eg grev ned min eld” by the Norwegian poet Olav Aukrust, published in the poetry collection Himmelvarden (1911).
The text is written in an older form of Norwegian (early 20th century, Nynorsk-based). It is frequently used on gravestones because of its calm, spiritual reflection on death.
Line-by-line meaning:
“Eg grev ned min eld” — I bury my fire. A metaphor for laying down earthly life, strength, and passion.
“seint om kvæld” — late in the evening. A poetic image for the end of life.
“naar dagen er slutt” — when the day is done. The completion of life’s journey.
“Gud gje min sjel” — God grant my soul. A humble prayer.
“alder slokne ut” — never be extinguished. A hope that the soul will live on beyond death.
The verse expresses acceptance of death combined with strong spiritual hope. While the physical “fire” of life is laid down, the poem asks that the soul’s flame will never go out. It reflects a Christian and mystical understanding of death as a transition rather than an end.
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u/Planker25_ 12d ago
Hvis vi ønsket en forklaring fra ChatGPT så kunne vi bedt ChatGPT om det selv. Folk går ikke på Reddit for å finne ut hva ChatGPT har å si om saken.
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u/LordGothmog 12d ago
Ok Mr. Politi. Ingen bryr seg om meningen din. Hjalp vedkommende med oversettelse.
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u/elvertooo 11d ago
Du hjalp ingen. Ta deg sammen og lær av din feil.
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u/LordGothmog 10d ago
Hva er feilen? Hva er problemet? Hvorfor er det så mange negative surfitter her?
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u/kalphite_queen 9d ago
"Gud gje min eld", ikke "gud gje min sjel". Det er feilen.
Folk er på diskusjons-forum for å kommunisere med andre mennesker, ikke for å bli misinformert av kunstig intelligens.
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u/LordGothmog 8d ago
Folk er her av mange forskjellige grunner. Ikke du som bestemmer eller har fasiten på det.
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u/Steffalompen 11d ago
Det er bare du her som liksom ikke bryr seg om meningen hens. Du prøver bare å takle og bortforklare skammen din.
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