Tuesday 29 March 2011

"Thirty days hath September" in the original

The poem (or prose actually) Thirty Days Hath September has long been used to teach school kids the number of days in each month. It is actually a quite old poem of unknown English origin, with the oldest version known dating to the 15th century and written in Late Middle English.

a) Original;
"Thirtey days hath November,
Aprile, June, and September:
Of twyecescore-eightt is but eine,
And all the remnante be thrycescore-eine.
O´course Leap yare comes an´pynes,
Ev'rie foure yares, gote it ryghth.
An´twyecescore-eight is but twyecescore-nyne"

b) Translation;
"Thirty days has November,
April, June, and September:
Of twenty-eight is but one,
And all the remnant is thirty-one.
Of course Leap year comes and stays,
Every four years got it right,
And twenty-eight is but twenty-nine".

c) Modern Jèrriais (spoken on the Island of Jersey) version sent in by a viewer:

"I' y a trente jours en Septembre,
En Avri, Juîn et Novembre.
Les aut's mais sont fanmeux pour
Lus trente' tch'ieunième jour,
Mais l'pouôrre Févri
N'en a qu' vîngt-huit,
Et un vîngt-neuvième pouor les fil'yes
Pouor s'engagi ès années bissextiles!"

2 comments:

  1. Modern Jèrriais version (from http://members.societe-jersiaise.org/geraint/jerriais/30jours.html):

    I' y a trente jours en Septembre,
    En Avri, Juîn et Novembre.
    Les aut's mais sont fanmeux pour
    Lus trente' tch'ieunième jour,
    Mais l'pouôrre Févri
    N'en a qu' vîngt-huit,
    Et un vîngt-neuvième pouor les fil'yes
    Pouor s'engagi ès années bissextiles!

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  2. Cool Thanks! I have a Sercquiais/Jerriais translation of a Bible verse to post in a few weeks. Nice to see someone is actually reading these.

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