The Lullabies of Europe
 
Romanian lullabies
 

Hear samples of lullabies in Romanian, follow the words, sing along and understand in English. You will find the audio samples below, with the lyrics. More about Romanian Lullabies

Haia, Haia, Tiny is the Bath (lyrics below)

 

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  Get asleep my tiny baby
Tiny you are when it starts your sleep
Nani, Nani, Your Mother’s Baby
Haia, Haia, Tiny is the Bath
Nani, Nani My Sweet Tiny Baby!
 
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Get asleep my tiny baby
Culcă-te, puiuţ micuţ
Sample (MP3)

Go to asleep my tiny baby,
Try to sleep and get asleep
Till the white dawns break the day.
Then wake up as a grown child.
Till tomorrow at the (white) dawns.

I wonder who invented this song,
I guess it was firstly uttered by a tiny mouth of a baby
When his mother left him sleeping
And found him singing.

Abua – bua – bua,
Abua, your mother will gently kiss you
Don’t be afraid of dragons in the forest
Your mother is forever protecting you.

My baby with tiny eyes like dark blackberries
Your mother will go to forest
She’s going to bring woods from the trees
And make biscuits just for you.

Culcă-te, puiuţ micuţ,
Scoală-te mărişoruţ.
Culcă-te şi te abuă
Până mâine-n dalbă ziuă.
Şi te culcă şi adormi
Până mâine-n dalbe zori.

Doina din ce s-o făcut?
Dintr-o gură de mic prunc.
L-o lăsat maica dormind,
L-o aflat doina zicând.

Abua, bua, bua,
Abua, ţucu-l maica,
Nu te teme tu de zmei,
I-a goni maica pe ei.

Puişor cu ochi de mure,
Maica-i dusă la pădure,
Ţi-a aduce gătejoare
Şi ţi-a face scovergioare

About Get asleep my tiny baby
This is an old lullaby from Western and Central România (Cluj, Bihor, Năsăud ) still sung by mothers living in the countryside. It can be heard in different versions. It is also mentioned in the school textbooks as sung by a great Romanian folk singer, Maria Tănase who lived between 1913-1963 and made a great contribution to the aknowledgement of the Romanian folklore abroad. In this lullaby, the mother is fondling and telling endearments to her baby and wishes him to sleep all night in order to be a grown up child at dawn. Her words seem to be spontaneous, telling about the creator of the most well-known Romanian song ‘doina’. The mother concludes that this is so old and pure that it can have as the origin a baby’s genuine and naïve singing. Then, the mother encourages her baby not to be afraid of the bad creatures in the forest because she is going to protect him forever. In the last stanza, the mother compares her little baby’s eyes to blackberries, which is a very suggestive image and makes us think of the steady love of people for nature in the countryside. Following are some characteristic expressions used in this lullaby: Abua – onomatopoeia/ mimetic word expressing the idea of getting asleep; doina – old traditional song; ţucă-l maica – a regional expression/ phrase meaning the wish of a mother to kiss her child or any child; gătejoare, scovergioare - old, regional, archaic and diminutive words, e.g. scovergioară is a diminutive from scovergă (a small cheese biscuit with a curly or twisted shape, cooked in oil).

Nani, Nani, Your Mother’s Baby
Nani, nani, puiul mamii
Sample (MP3)

Nani, nani, your mother’s little baby
Nani, nani, your mother’s little baby
Tiny baby of thy mother
I wish you be strong

Nani, nani, your mother’s little baby
Nani, nani, your mother’s little baby
Cute and strong
Proud as a young oak

Nani, nani, your mother’s little baby
Nani, nani, your mother’s little baby
Baby of thy mother, tiny baby
Sleep my baby, peacefully sleep

Nani, nani, puiul mamii,
Nani, nani, puiul mamii,
Puişorul mamii mic,
Facete-ai, maică, voinic.

Nani, nani, puiul mamii,
Nani, nani, puiul mamii,
Frumuşel şi voinicel,
Mândru ca un stejerel.

Nani, nani, puiul mamii,
Nani, nani, puiul mamii,
Puiul mamii, puişor,
Dormi, puiule, dormi uşor.

About Nani, Nani, Your Mother’s Baby
This is another very old cradle song which has its origin in one of the south regions of Romania, Oltenia.

It is short and only repeats specific words for inducing peace and sleep to the baby: nani is a typical mimetic word very often used in a lullaby; maica means my mum. In Romanian, it is common to address a baby by the words my mum to show affection.

Haia, Haia, Tiny is the Bath
Haia, haia, mică baia,
Sample (MP3)

Haia, haia, tiny is the bath
Cuculică, tiny baby girl
I say twenty-one,
Give me at least one.

Lululică, cuculică
Tiny haia, tiny baby girl
Hai, hai, hai, hai, hai, hai,
Hai, hai, dear grandpa Mihai, hai, hai

Haia, haia, tiny is the bath
Haia, hai, hai, how many children have you got?
I’ve got twenty-one,
Give me at least one.

Haia, haia, mică baia,
Cuculică, fată mică,
Douăzăşi şi unu
Dă-m şi mie unu.

Lululică-n cuculică,
Haia mică, fată mică
Hai, hai, hai, hai, hai, hai,
Hai, hai, moş Mihai, hai.

Haia, haia, mică baia,
Haia, hai, hai, câţi copii ai ?
Douăzăşi şi unu,
Dă-m şi mie unu

About Haia, Haia, Tiny is the Bath
This is an old song from Banat region (Western part of Romania), using the numbers, which is not common in lullabies. In this lullaby, cuculică is a diminutive, mimetic word meaning a kind of tiny birdie/cuckoo; and lululică is another diminutive expressing the rocking of the baby.

 
Nani, Nani My Sweet Tiny Baby!
Nani, nani puişor
Sample (MP3)

Nani, nani my sweet tiny baby
Nani, nani my sweet tiny baby
Till tomorrow at noon
Till tomorrow at noon

Be you grow bigger and stronger
Be you grow bigger and stronger
Dearest tiny baby of thy mother
Dearest tiny baby of thy mother.

Nani, nani puişor,
Nani, nani puişor,
Până mâni la prânzişor,
Până mâni la prânzişor.

Tu să creşti mai mărişor,
Tu să creşti mai mărişor,
Dragul mamii puişor,
Dragul mamii puişor.

About Nani, Nani My Sweet Tiny Baby!
This anonymous lullaby is also very old and sung in all the regions of Romania.

It begins with the typical words for suggesting ‘sleep’ to the baby: nani, nani, and with the diminutive words for ‘midday’: prânz, prânzişor.

Tiny you are when it starts your sleep
Culcă-mi-te mititel
Sample (MP3)

Nani, nani, your mothers baby
Nani, nani, your mothers baby
Tiny you are when it starts your sleep
But a grown child when your sleep ends.

Then you’ll watch the sheep
In the fields full of flowers.

To watch the ducklings
In the fields full of snowdrops.

You’ll watch the little lambs
In the fields full of hollow-worts

Nani, nani, puiul mamii,
Nani, nani, puiul mamii
Culcă-mi-te mititel
Şi te scoală măricel.

Să te duci cu oile
Pe câmpul cu florile.

Să te duci cu bobocei
Pe câmpul cu ghiocei.

Să te duci cu mieluşei
Pe câmpul cu brebenei.

About Tiny you are when it starts your sleep
This is also an old, archaic cradle song from Muntenia region (Southern Romania). The mother wishes her baby to grow and be able to take care of the sheep and lambs and ducklings in the fields. Little children in the countryside always play in the fields among little animals and flowers. They also take care of these animals when they grow up. Mititel, măricel, bobocei, ghiocei, mieluşei, brebenei are one-word diminutives in Romanian in order to compare the baby’s tiny environment with the natural elements which are also tiny and cute.

 
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